The Kenyan minister for Tourism Mr. Najib Balala Tuesday signed a bilateral agreement with the South African Minister for Tourism, Marthinus Van Schalkwyk, on modalities to encourage tourism investment in both countries reports KBC.

The memorandum of understanding (MOU) which will last for five years also seeks to educate citizens of the two countries in tourism, share information on market trends and exchange culture.

"There is an urgent need for African destinations to embrace the phenomenon of co-petition instead of competition." said Balala.

Balala added that in the past, Kenya and South Africa regarded each other as competitors, a trend that was now eliminated, after the signing of the MOU.

He noted that Kenya was recognized as a core market by South Africa. Similarly, South Africa is an important market for Kenya, as the country receives about 30, 000 tourists annually from South Africa.

On his counterpart, Marthinus stated that tourism was an important economic component for both Kenya and South Africa in terms of contribution to Gross Domestic Products (GDP), foreign exchange earnings, employment and poverty alleviation.

He also urged the two countries to not only rely in inter-continental tourism but instead encourage intra-continental tourism so as to create a positive image of Africa.

The agreement on tourism between Kenya and South Africa reflects the spirit of NEPAD, which in 2001 identified tourism as an important vehicle to address the current challenge facing the Africa continent.

Meanwhile, Balala also said that the ministry of tourism will seek to have a permanent seat on the Kenya airways board to harmonize Kenya Airways and the Ministry of Tourism marketing strategy.

He said his ministry is discussing the issue with treasury.

The development comes in the wake of an industry standoff between unionizable workers of the airline and the management that saw a number of flights canceled or delayed for two straight days.

Following the industrial action by the Aviation and Allied Workers Union - AAWU analysts are now forecasting that the airline could lose millions of shillings and at the same time dent its image.

The two days strike came at a time when the airline was showing signs of recovery following record losses the company returned the last financial year.

The industrial action affected clients on the United Kingdom, France and Amsterdam routes.

Balala notes that though the effect on the local economy cannot be quantified immediately, it was costly and immense saying such an action should not reoccur in future.