Good tidings for tourism as LOT polish charter touches down at Moi International Airport Mombasa with 252 visitors on board.#MagicalKenya #TembeaKenya pic.twitter.com/oNrM002Vvc
— Kenya Tourism Board (@magicalkenya) November 3, 2018
Why are government agencies so mediocre sometimes yet they can afford to pay for good services? Well, this time Kenyans on Twitter have had enough of the mediocrity.
About a week after the historic inaugural Kenya Airways to New York flight, the LOT Polish Charter made it’s maiden flight to Mombasa on Saturday night.
The Kenyan Tourism board came under fire after they posted blurry images on their official Twitter account when the LOT polish charter landed at the Moi International Airport in Mombasa. Being it’s maiden flight, this was meant to be a moment of national pride so you would think that the Board would at least try and put some work into it and maybe budget for good photography but NO!
They chose to take photos with a phone camera and upload them on Twitter, for the whole world to see. KOT led by Marcus Olang expressed their disappointment in the Board for choosing to showcase Kenya in that light.
There are so many professional photographers in Kenya. So many. But no, you choose to be stingy. You choose not to pay someone for their skill. Instead, you post this poor quality, out of focus nonsense.
Are you truly proud of this? Are you? https://t.co/6dzSTQImjm— The Ungovernable (@marcusolang) November 4, 2018
“There are so many professional photographers in Kenya. So many. But no, you choose to be stingy. You choose not to pay someone for their skill. Instead, you post this poor quality, out of focus nonsense. Are you truly proud of this? Are you?” read Olang’s tweet.
KOT did not spare the Kenya Tourism board even one bit. They jumped on Olang’s tweet and shamed the Board for such shoddiness.
Mediocre shots! Yet you'll find there was a budget for it.
— #RexTheBrand (@rex_maina) November 4, 2018
https://twitter.com/ShyroKiki/status/1059320687352000512
They will indicate it cost a million shillings to secure the service of that "photographer ".
— Jon (@jonmkush) November 5, 2018
The bigger question here is, is it that Kenya Tourism Board does not have budgets for photographers or is it that there was budget allocated for a photographer but someone pocketed it?
This was probably the worst way to showcase Kenya, clearly there was nothing magical about those images.
On Saturday night, the Lot Polish Charter made its maiden landing in Mombasa with 252 tourists on board. The flight was received by senior government officials in conjunction with the Kenya Tourism Board (KTB) at the Moi International Airport at around 8.35 pm.
This is a major boost for tourism in the country as it will be flying Mombasa twice a week, translating to about 500 visitors to the Kenyan coast every week. This comes as the tourism sector last week welcomed the extension of the Charter Incentive Programme aimed at supporting the recovery of international tourism to the Kenyan Coast.
The charter airlines enjoy a waiver on landing fees and a passenger subsidy of Ksh. 3000 per seat filled for a period of two-and-a-half years. This is expected to boost tourist charter flights from the traditional source markets of the United Kingdom and larger Europe.
The charter only applies if the aircraft lands at either Moi International Airport, Mombasa, or at the Malindi Airport.
This was a historic moment for Kenya but clearly the Kenya Tourism Board didn’t get the memo.
Why do you think government bodies/agencies can’t pay creatives to get the job done?