Kenya Launches TouristTap Cashless Payment Platform to Digitise Tourism Value Chain
Craft Silicon has unveiled TouristTap, a new cashless payment platform designed to digitise transactions across East Africa's tourism sector, from airports and hotels to national parks and informal service providers including local markets, kiosks, and transport operators. Launched in Kenya, the platform enables travellers to make payments using NFC-enabled mobile devices by entering local till numbers or mobile payment details and completing transactions with a secure PIN - eliminating the need for cash handling or currency exchange.
The platform addresses a long-standing challenge in East African tourism, where fragmented payment systems and cash dependency have inconvenienced visitors and limited revenue tracking. Its integration across both formal and informal service providers is expected to advance financial inclusion by bringing small-scale operators into the digital economy - particularly significant in tourism-dependent regions where many businesses operate outside formal banking systems. Visa's East Africa General Manager Chad Pollock highlighted the role of seamless payment infrastructure in shaping visitor experiences and unlocking tourism growth, while KCB representative Johnson Ondicho noted the platform's alignment with broader digital payments expansion efforts. The initiative supports Kenya's wider digital transformation agenda, which prioritises the integration of technology into key economic sectors.
Source: Daily News Tanzania
