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Importance of Supranational Structures towards Transboundary Ecotourism Development: Case of Serengeti-Mara

In the East African Community (EAC) region, coordinating policies and regulations on tourism was geared towards increased coordination and pooling of resources towards tourism-related improvements in areas of improved road and air access, fewer visa restrictions, increased cross-border movement of people and goods, and more harmonization of national policies as well as on safety and security. This objective can only be achieved through creation of supranational structures with clear defined roles. In EAC region, the East African Tourism Wildlife Coordination Agency (EATWCA) is mandated with this task of marketing the region as a single tourism destination. A single tourist visa and a comprehensive roadmap for developing a brand strategy to promote East Africa as a single tourist destination is part and parcel of this strategy. Thus, transboundary tourism destinations such as Serengeti-Mara ecosystems are better managed by such supranational structures. Further, the East African Tourism and Wildlife Conservation Agency was created as an implementing agency for EAC tourism activities on conservation of tourism destinations like Serengeti-Mara. These agencies are limited to marketing and publicity which automatically limits its operations. Within it there is the East African Tourism Wildlife Conservation Association mandated to coordinate policy on conservation, but is yet to function. Thus, the inadequacy of supranational structures limits policy coordination in transboundary ecotourism destinations such as Serengeti-Mara. The study used questionnaire, interviews and focused group discussion to collect primary data while secondary data were collected using journals, documents, acts, legislations, sessional papers and conventions/protocols on tourism. Data were analyzed using descriptive statistics. The qualitative data were analysed by consolidating emerging themes from the key informant interviews and topic analysis. Quantitative data were analysed using descriptive statistics such as frequencies and percentages. Data were presented in form of tables, pie charts and narrations. The results indicate that although the East African Tourism Wildlife Coordination Agency (EATWC) and East African Tourism Wildlife Conservation Agency (EATWCA) are responsible agencies to coordinate policy on marketing at regional and international level and conservation, they do not capture other pillars of ecotourism. Consequently, policy coordination is majorly dependent on state agencies such as KWS, TWS/TANAPA or Narok County government (Kenyan side). The 1983 bilateral agreement between Kenya and Tanzania overrides regional policy agreement in areas of tourism. The bilateral agreement is statist in that it empowers state agencies/parastatals with function of tourism policy coordination. Therefore, the EAC tourism policy should be reviewed by creating supranational organizations to oversee policy coordination in shared ecosystem. These organizations would be supported by supra-national agencies at bilateral level that would specifically implement ecotourism development in shared ecosystems such as Serengeti Mara. With supranational agencies, it would be easier to coordinate policy by information exchange and sharing International Journal of Scientific and Research Publications, Volume 9, Issue 5, May 2019 623 ISSN 2250-3153 http://dx.doi.org/10.29322/IJSRP.9.05.2019.p8977 www.ijsrp.org