TOURISM IS LOW AND SLOW IN BURUNDI | CONTROVERSIAL FRIDAYS
super super freaking lazy but a video had to be made though in today's video I'm going to be listing 10 reasons why I think tourism is failing or is not taking off at a pace that is supposed to in Burundi before I begin the topic I just want to thank everybody that is currently subscribed to the channel I thank you guys for being faithful and I thank you guys for staying loyal this whole time on the channel don't go anywhere I'll be right back just so we can start the video Welcome everybody to yet another video this is Not.So.Burundian here today coming to you with another episode of controversial Fridays today is an interesting topic and I'm not I'm not even going to talk anymore let's just jump straight into the 10 points why I think tourism is being held back in Burundi without any further Ado let's get into it and reason number one from me would be that uh Burundi has a tarnished image and I mean that in the sense that for the longest time ever we've been known for civil war we've been known for political unrest and we've been known for uh okay this is not something that we are internationally known for but if you are burundian a burundian that follows up on Burundians on social media you know that the diaspora is particularly unhappy with the way Burundi is with the current status in Burundi at the moment so we have a tarnished image in the sense that the media that is put out there about Burundi and the media that persists to this day is for the most part just negative media negative media in the sense that if you were to go searching on Google on Google right now or on on YouTube at the moment most of the thumbnails that will pop up are you know about the events in 2015 2010 2005 which was a period in time when it wasn't so particularly uh Pleasant to live to live in Burundi at the time because you know the war Islands the guns the grenades and all of that so that's what you would find in Burundi at the moment and this being the the image of Burundi that is put out there I don't think that is an image that uh that would pretty much encourage or Draw in the tourists to come to birdie so in that sense our image is tarnished and we as a country I feel like we are not doing enough to clean up that image and even if we can't clean it up well at least we could we're not doing enough to flood the Internet with with the opposite of what's already out there if that makes any sense our image is tarnished and we are not doing enough to clean up the dirt that is on the internet with regards to Burundi so that's my reason number one why uh tourism is not taking off as we would like it to be or as it should reason number two is that um okay so basically tourism for me uh begins at the airport you know at the point of arrival the airport is where we welcome anybody who's anybody that wants to to come visit Burundi for whatever reason and that being said we have in my opinion in my humble opinion without um and I don't mean to uh insult or come off as condescending to the people involved or to the people that are in charge of the airport but we have an airport that is really old we have an airport whose staff seems to be unmotivated uh we have an airport with a subpar Lounge regardless of whether it's a VIP lounge or a regular lounge or economy economy uh passengers but my point is that the airport is really old the lounges are really old as soon as you come in through the gate when you're Landing the baggage check-in is really subpar the floor is not well maintained the bathrooms are not well maintained like it is honestly a shame that we still have that airport running to this day it's the same thing that's been existing since it was ever built really in my opinion so that's the the other the other reason why I think we are not able to attract tourism as much as we possibly could one and two on my recent uh Twitter um Escapade no not Escapade that's not the word that I want to use uh I'm on Twitter a lot of the time not for posting I'm not known for posting anything on Twitter but I like to go on Twitter to read and uh the one thing you would notice especially every time a topic about the airport pops up is that you have a lot of the diaspora that is in my opinion ashamed to invite their friends non-burundians to Burundi just because of what the airport looks like and that's just us missing out on potential tourists that could compound over the years you know it's one person tells the other tells the other and the tourism industry just grows like that so that's one of the reasons why in my opinion I think tourism is being held back the airport is really not so inviting and the diaspora is not does not feel encouraged to invite people over because of that that's reason number two reason number three would be that our country our country as a whole really has uh poor infrastructure the roads are not really all that good the Internet isn't that good whether or not it be cellular internet or dedicated internet providers that you know provide internet through Wi-Fi services it's not that good and the third reason under infrastructure would be that um burundi's virtual guidance system is virtually non-existent what I mean by that is that um when it comes to Virtual assistants I'm basically talking about you know uh stuff like Google Maps it is usually up to the individual businesses to map out their locations and fill in all of the information that is required on Google Maps for people traveling within Burundi to easily find them but at the same time it could also be a campaign that is government ran in order to encourage or rather sensitize these people to map out their businesses on Google Maps on websites or whatever so in the sense that's what I mean by the virtual guidance system is pretty much non-existent and you know without a virtual guidance system it becomes somewhat of an inconvenience for a tourist to move around the country because then they need to hire these agencies that deal with uh helping out tourists travel within the country or if not an agency they need to hire out individuals and that means that they spend money that they could have otherwise saved up to enjoy more when it comes to sightseeing and just overall traveling within the country so when you have to incorporate a third party to help you navigate around the area then usually that just it takes away from the privacy of touring in place you know what I mean yeah so for me that's a reason number three why I think tourism is being held back in Burundi all right reason number four why I think tourism is held back in Burundi Burundi has an anti-camera environment what I mean by that is if you want to promote tourism number one you have to stand for individual content creation it is the individuals that create content that help advertise a country if not a country she just a particular place of interest to tourists and so when a country is anti-camera as a whole if the culture's Auntie camera if the environment is anti-camera with regards to laws and culture then it it defeats the whole purpose of uh wanting to promote tourism in a country so you know the only way to promote tourism is through content creation and the government cannot run that campaign on its own you need individual content creators to be able you know to help out in the process when it is not so easy to move around with the camera when that when there are so many restrictions as to as to places that individuals can film with cameras then it just it defeats the whole purpose of trying to sell the country to a global market so an uh an example of this would be for instance uh you you you could bring in a drone into the country it's it's fine to bring in to bring a drone into Burundi but when it comes to Flying the actual drone as they completely other process I filled out the form that was required to register the Drone and have it accepted or rather green lit to fly and this was four five weeks ago and I haven't heard I haven't gotten any response from the aviation Authority ever since and even when you in even when you read the form when it comes to stuff like you need to register a drone for every time you want to fly and you have to State the exact place and time that you plan to fly the Drone in this is already way too many restrictions like you can already tell that this is that that that these questions that you have to answer are pretty very much anti-drone in most countries any drone that weighs less than 250 grams is basically considered a toy of some of some sort and any uh because you know it's lightweight it can really cause no harm if you were to fall on somebody from the sky and so here they don't have that here any any drone is a drone and all drones have to be have to undergo have to undergo the same type of scrutiny and if you if you were to put drones to the side when it comes to you know stuff like you know just moving around with the cameras vlogging if you want to Vlog around the market area if you want to Vlog around a uh a busy street in town if you want to Vlog around a touristic site you will find all these little inconveniences here and there and a lot of the inconveniences really is usually brought about by our favorite men in blue you know the police everybody has this sense of assumed Authority and I don't even think there's a law or policy that controls camera but you know you have people assuming Authority and so you might come across uh inconveniences that stop you from filming freely in public there is that and the other thing is that you have a culture of people that are very camera shy you know they assume that they have a um uh what's the word I'm looking for uh usually you cannot be expected you cannot expect it of you cannot expect of other people to uh respect your privacy in public ground what I mean by this is is that uh if you are in a public space it is upon the individual to ensure that they maintain their privacy so basically if if you and I are outside and I'm filming and I happen to direct the camera in your direction you cannot you cannot then tell me that uh do not feel me or I do not allow you to film me the permission is not yours to give if it is in a public setting it is thus then left to the individual to ensure that they are private so if you if you have a hat then you would cover up your face like that because you're in public what I cannot do is enter your house and stop filming because then I'm entering in a in a private compound private area but anyway that's the topic for another day so yeah that's reason number four and uh reason number five is that um I don't know how to say this in the way that uh does not make make me uh how do I say this without coming off as insulting or as pointing fingers to specific individuals out there but I'm going to try uh to say this in the safest way possible that I know how which is um in my opinion I feel like the the workforce that is put up to lead or oversee tourism the tours the tourism sector is somewhat uh unexposed unmotivated and un understanding they are not so understanding of what the whole concept of Tourism is let me just take a quick sip of water and come back and explain okay so the the workforce that has been set up to oversee the tourism sector for me is unmodernized you cannot use people that are not modern to oversee the tourism sector where it is expected for the most advanced uh populations in the world to come visit the said touristic uh sites which happens to be a country that is the topic of discussion today and so in my opinion I feel like the people that work in the Ministries you know the people that work in places of touristic attractions to me the people that are made to oversee those sites are they are not as exposed not as motivated as they should be in order to make sure that you know tourism takes off in these places you know they do not put enough effort into advertisement they do not put enough effort into you know sensitizing people and put enough effort into reporting to the government to the things that are missing reporting to the government of the budget that could potentially that is required to potentially change or Revitalize these particular sites and I don't want to talk too much about this particular point but I know a lot of you get in a sense what I'm trying to say and reason number six why I think tourism is not taking is not taking off as as well as it should be is that for the most part I feel like the push I feel like the push towards tourism in Burundi is somewhat seasonal so what I mean by that is only during the month of May to September that the push to tourism begins to take up steamed so it's uh May June July August September it's within these five months in a year where people begin to you know begin to talk about tourism people begin to push tourism and just encourage tourism in a way you know everybody puts content out there and you know burning internet is flooded with touristic um with a theme of Tourism for five months only in June of September then after September everything just everything just dies out no talk of Tourism nothing and to me that's the reason why you know tourism doesn't take off because you know promoting tourism in a country that is trying to find footing in the uh favorite touristic destinations of the world this is a job that has to be done all year round not just seasonal January all the way to December there has to be a push throughout all 12 months of the year in order for you know the tourism industry to really take off in Burundi and I'm afraid five months in a year is just not going to cut it it's not going to cut it at all and so that's the reason number six why I think tourism is not taking off as well as it should and then reason number seven would be the touristic sites in Burundi are not well serviced I get it there has to there has to have been a point where all of these sites were built and created but ever since then in my opinion they have not been well maintained at all very little is being done to revitalize these that particular site and very little is being uh very little assistance in monetary value is being pumped into these sites to enhance them to make them better you know the same thing that you saw this year is going to be the same thing that you see the next year and within the next five years so on and so forth without any change for instance if you take a look at uh the the the the museum that place has been looking the same ever since the day it was built there has been little to no change at all in that little zoo in my opinion they should have changed the location of that Zoo a long time ago changing location bringing new animals bringing new species expand the area but ever since I came here in 2006 to this current date I'm afraid that place has been looking the exact same but then when you go to the hot springs which is another um favorite talk of uh the tourism industry the hot springs are another disappointment really okay so basically you you have the hot springs that uh that where water boils and overflow overflows and then they they build these little streams that take water from the hot spring and take um have they have the water flow from the hot spring all the way to these little man-made pools that they create where the hot water flows into and people get to you know swim within the hot water the tiles within these little pools are dirty these are tiles that needed to have been replaced a long time ago or cleaned you know washed towels are dirty um the metal doors that restrict water flow you know because uh after swimming or when the water gets cold they open up these little metallic doors to let the water flow out and then they close to let the fresh water come in Rusty doors unpainted I mean come on like there's not enough that's there's not enough uh funds that's that is being pushed into revitalizing these said particular touristic sites the example that I gave being Museum and the hot water Springs that are currently available in the country and then reason number eight for me would be that um I feel like there isn't enough finances that are being pumped into the tourism industry by the government and in my opinion it's not something that I hold against the government really because you know we are a small country we are a small economy that has other things to worry about at the moment other important things not like uh the budget of our government is going towards other important things and tourism is not at the at the top of the list I get that and so that is the reason why there isn't enough finances being jumped into the government and so that's the reason and that's the reason why tourism is not taking off because you know there isn't enough support from the government and it's and I understand why there isn't but you know there's going to be there's gonna come a time when a budget needs to be allocated to tourism if you want tourism to then someday pay back you know you either put no money at all into it or put a huge amount into it because if you're gonna keep throwing uh crumbs of finances into tourism you're never going to get anything back it's just basically going to be raining in the desert so yeah that's the reason number eight for me and then reason number nine as to why I think tourism is not taken off and I have said this many many many times for me it's basically look language for me is an issue seven countries in East Africa only two countries speak French and they are not the main economies of East Africa and Burundi being one of the two countries that speak French we are at a disadvantage when it comes to uh promoting tourism within our country I don't know how we're gonna change it but you know changing from French to English would be one way to go and you know there was one subscriber that commented on my last clip if you haven't seen that clip I'll just post a link to that clip up here he said that he didn't think that language was such a big deal because he gave France as an example he said look at France that is a favorite touristic destination in the world and my response to him was that well Burundi is not France Burundi is a small country that is looking to build a footing in the tourist industry and if you are not a major touristic attraction then you you are the boo you are the boot licker in this scene you need tourists they don't need you you're not drawing them in regardless anyway so you might as well do what it takes to make sure that you draw them in France did a lot when it comes to selling the country until it became uh until it got to a point where it was a thing of prestige to be known to have been in France at any particular point in time you know just taking a picture with an Eiffel Tower is a thing of dreams for people it's not the case of Burundi so we have to do whatever it takes to make sure that we are a favorite touristic destination and French is holding us back it's not holding France back because it doesn't matter whether you speak French or not people want to go to France not the same for Burundi and so yeah language is holding us back all all of the other five East African countries speak English and coming to Burundi I'm afraid is an inconvenience to most people because they have to think about language barrier and we are not a favorite touristic destination anyway so how do you bring them in I say get rid of French replace it with English I don't know what you you I don't know what your opinions are but feel free to comment in the comment section and then point number 10 which is the very last point is I feel like I don't know as uh burundians as a collective we do not understand the potential that tourism has for Burundi which is the reason why tourism doesn't take off because we do not know how to build an environment that is touristic friendly we do not know how to go about boosting the sale the selling of Burundi to the world we are unexposed and I think we I don't know we just don't know how really we don't know how I might speak for myself as an individual but you know I think I can speak for most people that we we are yet to understand what tourism is to do for us as a collective and so that being said cannot push something whose potential or whose income whose level uh we we are unable to support something whose benefit we do not understand and yeah so that would be the last point for me and that's pretty much it for this Friday this controversial Friday that comes to you every week and that's going to be it for me really until next time I'll see you guys in the next video foreign
2022-10-15 13:42
