Interview with Deepa Darbar, Director of Sawa Sawa Africa
Deepa Darbar is Director of Sawa Sawa Africa, a Kenya-based company that organizes and manages destinations across East Africa.
Question: This is your second trip to Morocco, what could you say about your contacts today with Moroccans?
Answer: My first trip took place in 2013 and I spent a week in Morocco to learn about the Moroccan potential for tourism in Kenya. At that time, the potential was enormous, but the major problem was the lack of an air connection with Kenya because there were no direct flights. Now Royal Air Maroc serves Nairobi three times a week and soon it will be 4 weekly flights and it’s only 6 or 7 hours of flight. Now Moroccans can come to Kenya and go on safari.
Q: What is the Kenyan tourist offer for Moroccans?
A: Kenya is a unique product because we have a diverse and rich product combining things that are not found together anywhere else in the world. For example, we have wonderful wildlife, we have some of the most natural places in the world to view wildlife. We have a multitude of parks and national parks, parks that do not have the same animals. And we have a lot of diversity of landscapes…
Q: What do you expect from Moroccans?
A: We are a new destination for Moroccans who are used to traveling to Europe, so traveling to Africa is a new concept… It would be fantastic for us if we could have as many visitors as possible from Morocco to Kenya.
