REGIONAL AND NATIONAL MEETINGS OF THE PANEL OF EXPERTS ON THE REVIEW OF THE EAC CLASSIFICATION CRITERIA FOR TOURISM ACCOMMODATION ESTABLISHMENTS AND RESTAURANTS

The EAC Sectoral Council for Tourism and Wildlife in their 7TH and 8th meeting held in March 2017 and May 2018 respectively, directed the EAC Secretariat to coordinate review and update of the EAC Criteria for classification of tourism accommodation establishments and restaurants.

The Sectoral Council also guided that the review of the criteria process be done by the Panel of Experts assisted by an Internationally recognized expert. In this regard, an International expert recommended by United Nations World Tourism Organisation (UNWTO) was identified and is working closely with the Panel of Experts to finalise the criteria review process.

To this end the first Regional consultative meeting of the Panel of Experts from the five partner states was held in August 2022 in Kigali, Rwanda and thereafter National consultative meetings in the EAC countries was held virtually. Subsequently, the Association courtesy of the East African Tourism Platform (EATP), attended a Regional meeting in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania, aimed at reviewing the comments from the national forums for consideration into the final document. The review process is still in progress and we will keep you updated on the exercise.