We ask the world to see us as one destination, then make visitors experience eight systems. A traveller can link the Maasai Mara, Serengeti, gorilla trekking in Uganda or Rwanda, Zanzibar and a Kigali conference. On paper, few circuits are stronger. In practice, it remains costly, slow and full of avoidable friction.
The East African Community (EAC) recorded about 8.5 million international arrivals in 2024, against 7.7 million in 2019, roughly 110 percent of the pre-pandemic level. Receipts reached $7.7 billion in 2023. Recovery matters, but competitiveness means visitors move easily, spend more, stay longer, and return. We are not there.
