Kenya Tourism Board Wooing Indians And Bollywood!

- Planet Bollywood Special Correspondant           Let us know what you think about this story

I was way back in 2006 that the Indian High Commission in Kenya organised a retrospective of Shah Rukh Khan’s “critically acclaimed” and commercially successful films. A spokesperson for the High Commission said, “Shahrukh Khan Retrospective is expected to further promote friendship between the peoples of India and Kenya”. Unfortunately nothing concrete emerged. But things are finally moving.

The tourist department of Kenya is trying to woo Bollywood producers to shoot their films in the African country.

According to the Kenya Tourism Board (KTB), there has been an upswing in the number of Indian tourists visiting the country and close to 40,000 people visited Kenya between January and October 2010, up 34 per cent over the same period the year before.

KTB Marketing Director Jennifer Opondo said the board is now marketing Kenya as an ideal location for film shooting.

"After due diligence with the Indian film production houses, the Kenya Film Commission is expected to come out with a policy that would facilitate film shooting," Opondo said.

"We are working in coordination with the Kenya Film Commission and are studying the dynamics of Indian film production houses so as to able to support them in their endeavours," she said.

"The Kenya Film Commission has been acting as one stop shop for the filmmakers now, cutting across the tedious licensing regime prevalent earlier," Opondo said.

"The commission has also started suggesting suitable sites for film shooting to the production houses visiting Kenya," she said.

She also said that having gained foothold in the Indian market with a representative office, KTB is likely to increase promotional investments in India.

"The opening of our representative office in India last year has laid the foundation for us. All I can foresee now is there will be improvement in budget for promotional investments in India," Opondo said.

More News ...