Tourism Incentives
Customs duty/VAT exemptions are given to investors in sector to either establish or upgrade their facilities and services in order to achieve quality services and destination competitiveness.
TRA processes letters for recommendation by the Cabinet Secretary to The Commissioner of Customs Services (Kenya Revenue Authority) and conducts compliance checks in conjunction with other relevant government agencies from time to time.
Customs duty exception is provided for under the East African Community Customs Management Act, 2004, Fifth Schedule, Part B, Item 21 for the following items:-
1. Washing machines
2. Kitchen ware
3. Cookers
4. Fridges and freezers
5. Air Conditioning Systems
6. Cutlery
7. Televisions
8. Carpets
9. Furniture
10. Linen and Curtains
11. Gymnasium Equipment
The items listed under East African Community Customs Management Act, 2004, Fifth Schedule, Part B, Item 21 must be engraved, printed or marked with the logo of the tourist hospitality establishment importing for its use.
Others Include
- Tourism Boats imported by a Licensed Tour Operator and Ferry Boat, parts and accessories but not including batteries and sparking plugs.
- Refrigerated trucks and refrigerated trailers (These may be used by hoteliers for outside catering services).
- Sightseeing buses
- Battery operated vehicles
- Overland Trucks
- 4 x 4 Imported Vehicle for Tourism use by a Licensed Tour Operator
- Water Treatment effluent plant (may be used by Hoteliers recycling their water)
- Application Form (VAT/Customs Duty Exemptions)
- Customs Duty Exemption Requirements for licensed Hotels and Accommodation facilities
- Duty Exemption for 4 x 4 Imported Tour Vehicles, Refrigerated trucks and Trailers and Battery Operated vehicles
- Duty Exemption for Overland Trucks
- Duty Exemption for Sight-Seeing Buses
- Tourism Boats imported by a Licensed Tour Operator and Ferry Boat, parts and accessories but not including batteries and sparking plugs
- VAT exemption on 4X4 vehicles locally assembled vehicles for tourism
Visit our License Application Portal to apply for a service today.
Facilities eligible for Tourism Incentives
- Homestay: Is a form of accommodation located in rural, urban or peri-urban areas in which the guest stays with the home owner of the family unit, regularly interacting with the host, sharing common family facilities and taking part in family activities and in this way availing the guest a more-intimate interactive experience of the host’s way of life.
- Villa: A detached or semi-detached fully-furnished private house or holiday home, usually luxurious in nature, with its own grounds and which is rented out to a selected clientele or used as a holiday home.
- Service Flat/Apartment: A fully-furnished apartment with separate living area, kitchen/kitchenette, bathroom and sleeping quarters and available for short-term or long-term stay and providing guests with amenities for daily use.
- Condominium: A building or complex comprising of many individually-owned apartments.
- Hostel: An accommodation system designed to suit people on a budget. It is usually inexpensive, catering mainly to the youth and usually lacking in privacy and comfort with shared sleeping and bathroom quarters.
Online listed facilities covered under the Tourism Act 2011
- Class A Enterprises:
(i) Hotels
(ii) Members clubs
(iii) Motels
(iv) Inns
(v) Hostels
(viii) Ecolodges
(xi) Service flats
(xii) Service apartments
(xiii) Beach cottages
(xiv)Holiday cottages
(xv) Game lodges
(xviii) Bandas
(xx) Villas
(xi) Homestays
(xii) Guest houses
Class B
(i) Restaurants