Naomi Campbell's Kenya tourism role causes row

[VinterKvinna]

I hope I am ok to post here, but I saw this today, and thought it was very wrong. Her mum is Jamaican, and father unknown - maybe could be from Kenya. Does the debate justify her role there, or should it have been a Kenyan national?

"The appointment of British supermodel Naomi Campbell as Kenya's tourism ambassador has caused a Twitter storm in the East African nation.

Many queried why it had not been given to a prominent Kenyan like Hollywood actress Lupita Nyong'o.

Others leapt to her defence, saying the debate already justified her role.

Kenya's tourism sector has been badly hit by coronavirus, with visitor numbers down by 72% between January and October last year.

"The sector hence lost over 110bn Kenyan shillings [$1bn, £738m] of direct international tourists' revenue due to the Covid-19 pandemic," Kenya's Tourism Research Institute reported last month.

The country is famous for its wildlife safaris and beach resorts.

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Kenyan Tourism Minister Najib Balala said the deal with Ms Campbell was done over the weekend after he met the model, who is currently on holiday in Kenya."

sorry - link: www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-africa-55635390

I initially thought it strange to appoint a non-Kenyan. But in some ways it makes sense to have a foreigner who has themselves been a visitor/tourist, promoting the country to other foreigners.

And reading further about her social media following and wealthy friends, I imagine that's the clientele they're aiming at. She'll probably get lots of freebies and promote them positively on SM. She's not necessarily going to be the face of a 'Visit Kenya' ad campaign.

I didn’t know about this. I can see why the East African community are not pleased. I think I would probably feel the same.