Sixty-Five-year-old travel management company, Express Travel Group (ETG) has rebranded to Hemingways Travel.
Hemingways Group CEO Ross Evans says the rebrand and related investment is in response to emerging opportunities for growth and the need to enhance the travelers experience, at a time when travel is experiencing unprecedented disruption and changes in needs.
To drive the new strategy, former Hemingways Group finance director, Joseph Kithitu, has been appointed the new managing director of Hemingways Travel.
Latest statistics from the Ministry of Tourism indicate that the tourism industry has registered growth and contributed to a GDP) of 10.4 percent, and employed 990,000 people.
Despite being one of the hardest-hit industries in the wake of Covid-19, Kenya’s tourism earnings grew by 65.4 per cent to Sh146.51 billion in 2021, up from Sh88.56 billion in 2020.
This has been credited to the implementation of various interventions by the government to mitigate the effects of the pandemic on the sector, including a focus on domestic tourism.
This reflects the increasing prevalence and investment in domestic tourism in Kenya.
According to Statista, the travel and tourism market is forecast to grow at an annual growth rate of 10.47 per cent up to 2026.
Speaking during the rebrand announcement, Evans said as part of the process, Hemingways Travel would expand its offering to the leisure market, to the level it has become renowned for in the corporate travel market, as well as leveraging its operations as a premium inbound destination management company.
“We remain very focused on delivering for our corporate travel clients and are now expanding our proposition to leisure travelers by offering a full suite of premium travel services, and the valuable benefits of using an experienced travel agent, something that, we believe, has become more important as a result of the Covid 19 pandemic,” he said.
He noted that Hemingways Travel clients can now adapt to the changing demands of travel by taking advantage of new technologies that will enhance the traveler experience, and offer complete peace of mind.
Tourism and Wildlife Cabinet Secretary Najib Balala lauded the move noting that technology, innovation, and collaboration, did enable the tourism sector to ride the difficult Covid period.
“Innovation, digitization and expansion to leisure travel is a sure win for Hemingways Travel and any other sector players looking to thrive in the tourism and travel sector, as the industry continues to recover from the pandemic,” said CS Balala.
According to the Annual Tourism Sector Performance Report 2021, new vision strategies such as digitisation have supported sector recovery, and Hemingways Travel has made significant enhancements to its platform to meet changing industry needs.
“Hemingways Travel is using technology to drive our new strategy and our new online booking tool is one example. The booking platform integrates third-party tools to bring unrivalled flight and hotel content to customers, and a smooth and convenient booking experience all supported by an experienced team of qualified travel consultants”, said Kithitu.
Hemingways Travel is one of East Africa’s premier travel management companies and a member of Hemingways Hospitality Group of companies.
Established in 1955, it offers both corporate travel management services and leisure travel services.