Government backs TouristTap in drive to formalise revenues

From left: Craft Silicon Group CEO Kamal Budhabhatti, Peter Brooks, Director, CyberSource Solution for Visa in East Africa and Chad Pollock, GM and Vice President, Visa East Africa. [Courtesy]

Kenya has endorsed the newly launched TouristTap platform, an innovation which aims to transform the industry towards digital tourism economy.

Speaking at the official launch of the platform in Nairobi, Tourism Cabinet Secretary Rebecca Miano described the platform as a “timely and transformative solution” aligned with Kenya’s ambition of building a globally competitive, digitally enabled tourism ecosystem.

“I must confess that I am already in love with this product,” she said, underscoring its potential to simplify transactions for both international visitors and local users.

The TouristTap platform seeks to eliminate payment friction across the tourism value chain by enabling seamless, secure and cashless transactions from arrival to departure. The platform integrates payments across airports, hotels, national parks, local markets and even informal traders such as kiosks, tuk-tuk operators and street vendors.

“This is the gap TouristTap is closing,” she said. “Every touchpoint of a visitor’s journey will now become smoother, more modern and user-friendly,” Miano said.

The platform introduces a unified cashless ecosystem designed to enhance transparency, streamline transactions, and strengthen revenue collection.

The platform, developed by Craft Silicon, has now been officially recognised by the Government of Kenya as an authorised payment option across key tourism touchpoints. 

Craft Silicon Group CEO Kamal Budhabhatti said the platform marks a new era of convenience and efficiency in the tourism ecosystem.

“TouristTap represents a new era of convenience for travelers visiting Kenya. By enabling secure, cashless payments across the tourism ecosystem, we are not only enhancing the visitor experience but also supporting financial inclusion, transparency, and operational efficiency for service providers,” he said. 

From the payments ecosystem, Chad Pollock, general manager and vice President for East Africa at Visa, highlighted the importance of payments in shaping visitor experience.

“Tourism is one of Kenya’s most important economic engines, and how visitors pay is a critical part of the experience. Through Visa’s global network and secure payment capabilities, TouristTap enables travellers to pay seamlessly and securely wherever their journey takes them, while helping tourism players operate more efficiently and transparently. This is how digital payments can unlock growth across the entire tourism value chain,” he said.

Representing the acquiring partner, Johnson Ondicho said the initiative aligns with KCB Bank's commitment to driving digital payments adoption and supporting key sectors such as tourism with scalable and secure financial solutions.”

With its robust infrastructure and strategic alliances, TouristTap is expected to redefine how visitors engage with Kenya’s destinations, ensuring every transaction is simple, secure, and fully digital.