Musings from scenic Cadenabbia and lessons for beloved Kenya

Italy is known for the Pope, its football teams, cuisine and wines.

Some add the Roman Empire, erupting volcanoes, and the island of Sicily to the south. But those who study geography add the alpine lakes and their spectacular beauty.

In 2025, over 104 million tourists visited Italy; I shall be in the statistics for 2026.  Why so many tourists, and are there any lessons for us?

Italy has no Big Five but has beaches. Its key tourist anchor is history, well preserved. Italians want “to keep their way of life". 

That is what we want to see. Can we learn from them? Don’t we want visitors to see animals in their natural habitat?

Why not humans in their natural habitat? Are beaches not admired for their naturalness? Unspoilt?

Italians keep their ancient villages, with narrow roads. Modernisation keeps the character of the buildings, and a lot of effort is put into keeping a pattern, no grandiose buildings.

The churches are an integral part of this built heritage. Whether you walk through the picturesque Cadenabbia or Bellagio, something about the place's life and times is alluring.

The owners of the houses go about their lives in their natural settings. Think of tourists coming to Kenya to see fishermen bringing fish onshore early in the morning, or someone picking tea or harvesting nduma (arrowroots)?

Everyone in Italy markets the country. From the taxi driver to the waiters. By the time we got to Cadenabbia, from Milan, a one-hour drive, I knew the celebrities who live on the shores of Lake Como, an alpine lake with spectacular beauty.

I knew George Clooney, Sylvester Stallone and Madonna have property around Lake Como. Ever heard of Como 1907 FC, partly owned by former Arsenal greats, Thierry Henry and Cesc Fabregas?  

I knew Italians love working in Switzerland because the pay is better (remember Burundians in Kenya?). What stories do you share with taxi drivers? 

Selling destinations is about emotional connections. That is why Italians evoke well-known personalities.

By the time you ask where these stars live, you are hooked! Why don’t we leverage our prominent people to hook tourists? Think of Wangari Maathai and all the freedom fighters?

What of prominent world leaders? Who has made money from US Theodore Roosevelt’s visit to Kenya in 1909, or Obama more recently? 

Where did the current Pope work in Kenya? What about Baden Powell, the founder of the Scout movement? Queen Elizabeth? Even the bad guys; where did Idi Amin live in Kenya?

A good example: One villa in Cadenabbia was a holiday home for former German chancellor, Konrad Andenaur.

Think of our president working from Uganda or Tanzania! We need to weave stories around heritage buildings and personalities around them. Buildings or even parks without a story are dull.

The other big attraction in Italy is nature, spectacular beauty and views. If you have visited Ndaka-ini Dam, you have seen Lake Como! 

Just replace tea with wealthy homes and forests. Add ferries and a road around the dam. This is besides house owners who don’t block each other’s views!

Taking ferries to see the small towns around Lake Como is fun for 11 euros round trip. Money flows to Italy in many ways, beyond hotels and accommodation; shopping is big, and designers are busy with handbags, shoes, and clothes, reinforcing the Italian fame for style.

Add the wines and food. Italians, from my few days' experience, eat very little but are very healthy. Remember the Mediterranean cuisine?

Tourists are experiential, like boat rides, eat-outs, sightseeing, meeting with ordinary people and something else I found curious: root tourism; descendants of Italians in the diaspora coming to find where their ancestors came from.

Can we tap into Portuguese, Britons, Arabs, Indians, Australians and other nationalities who once made Kenya their home?

We are excited about 2.8 million tourists. Using the ratio of Italy's population to tourists, we should target 90 million tourists. If each spends $1000, do your maths and marvel.

One curious question is how Italians who live by Lake Como think about the high prices and economy tailored to tourists.

I looked hard and did not see a supermarket around Lake Como, and a trip to Bellagio left no doubt that prices are high. Remember Venice in Italy complaining over tourists? Too many!

Something else caught my attention: retreats. The quiet and scenic views are therapeutic and trigger intellectual work.

Many intellectuals and universities visit the alpine resorts for intellectual retreats. I met one German university that was on retreat on mathematical sciences. Think of an intellectual debate with Ndaka-ini in the background.

Our retreat was on the social market economy and regulations. How can we give capitalism a human face? How can state and private sectors work together to create jobs, improve our welfare and leave no one behind? How can regulations be optimal?

Curiously, I did not see grandiose buildings in Bellagio or Cadenabbia, only a few V8s and G-Wagons. It seems that, despite all the stars and wealth, modesty is the way of life around Lake Como. 

Kenya needs some deconstruction: how we think of each other, wealth, and what is economic and social success.

Beyond the fine food, reflections and scenery, this visit linked historical dots; we studied the alpine lakes and interlocking spurs in Switzerland, which extend to Italy. I saw them after four decades. Let’s keep our dreams alive.

The Italian roads have lots of tunnels because of mountains in northern Italy. One question left my head spinning. Why don’t we have ferries on Lake Naivasha like Lake Como?

Why not on Masinga Dam or Ndaka-ini? Do we fear water? Crime was the last thing on my mind, but I saw Carabinieri. Remember The Godfather movies? 

Back home, I am now convinced the potential of Kenyan tourism is immense and untouched, too tied to beaches and the Big Five. 

What have we done with our “Lake Comos” in the Rift Valley? Why not build retreats and thinking spaces not just for tourists, but for the weary, tired of screens and fast urban life? 

Finally, Ethiopian Airlines flew us from Nairobi to Milan and back; why not Kenya Airways?