Africans In China

Zebras at a Kenyan game reserve. Chinese government officials made up half of all foreign travel bookings in 2007. Last year. the government launched a campaign to crack down on overseas travel for officials.

April 27, 2009: China is clamping down on junkets organized by government officials, which could take a bite out of the country’s tourism spending in Kenya and other African markets.

China’s sprawling land mass includes more than 30 province-level administrative regions, each with their own local government and thousands of officials.

Many organise trips abroad under the auspices of learning from other countries. But in some cases, civil servants do little more than take in the sights and finance shopping sprees with public money, according to recent reports in state media.

Four salt industry officials from Hainan province were fined this week after they were found to have spent Sh7.3 million of public money on travel abroad without carrying out any government business, reported Xinhua news agency.

Faking invitations

Officials have also been caught faking invitation letters for visas.

In August 2007, Xu Wen’ai, vice-procurator-general of Anhui province, was sacked after a delegation from his department was found to have fabricated an invitation from the Finnish government for a visit to the country.

Kenya may also have benefited from such jaunts.

Though there are no clear figures on the purpose of Chinese travellers’ visits to the country, about half are either government officials or businessmen, estimates Henry Yim, marketing manager for the Kenya Tourist Board in Hong Kong.

But a government campaign launched last year to crack down on overseas travel for officials appears to be working.

More than 500 planned trips involving 4,000 people were blocked by authorities during the second half of last year, according to local media reports.

Tour operators have noticed the impact. Shen Hui Ru, manager at Sino-Africa Safari in Beijing, a tour operator specializing in trips to Kenya and Tanzania, said government officials typically made up half of all bookings during 2007.

Last year, visitor numbers were significantly down.

She believes officials were advised not to travel because of important events that required their presence at home.

“Central government gave some orders banning this kind of trip. It was not considered a good time to travel with an earthquake happening and the Olympics taking place.”

The campaign comes as global business travel is also on the decline owing to recession in major economies.

However Brenda He, director of Dubai’s department of tourism office in China, said tour operators simply need to change the focus of their offering to attract Chinese officials.

“Don’t use the traditional sightseeing itinerary, that doesn’t work anymore. You need to focus on building ties with the country and showing them investment opportunities,” she told Business Daily.

Lily Tang, China manager for Kenya Airways, said that the airline has seen a strong uptake in Chinese business people travelling to Africa.

“We don’t see so many African traders coming in but there are so many Chinese merchants sending people out. We had to upgrade to a 777 earlier than planned.”

(bdafrica.com)