Director – Tourism Resilience and Crisis Management Centre – Eastern Africa; Kenyatta University
She holds First Class Honours in Tourism Management as well as Masters and PhD in Tourism Management. Her areas of interest include Climate change vulnerability, mitigation and adaptation, Crisis management in tourism, Geospatial analysis, tourism governance and regional development, tourism management and marketing and Community tourism development.
She has wealth of experience in tourism management from work and training engagements with Aigas Field Centre in Scotland, where she was involved in extensive travelling across Scotland with tourists. During this time, she was also attached to the Scottish Government Agency for the Natural Environment; the Scottish Natural Heritage. In addition, she has worked at Lewa Wilderness Trails tourist Lodge for many years, rising through the ranks to become the manager of one of the top luxury safari lodges in Africa.
She has worked at Kenyatta University for the last 10 years, during which time she held different administrative positions such as the Postgraduate Studies Coordinator, the Examinations Coordinator as well as the Chairperson of the Department.
She has developed a good capacity in the fields of Erasmus+, networking, Higher education programmes, mentoring, international development and cooperation, hospitality, and intercultural communication. In this regard, she has created numerous collaborations with Institutions and Universities within Kenya, Africa and the World. Through these collaborations, more than 10 students have spent several months in Europe and USA on Semester Abroad Programmes and internships. Additionally, 12 staff have been facilitated to spend over a week each in Europe on staff mobility programmes through similar initiatives.
Dr Munyiri has researched extensively on areas related to Crisis Management in Tourism. She successfully completed her PhD thesis on Vulnerability and Adaptation of the Tourism Sector to Climate Change in Kenya. She was the lead researcher in a series of research projects commissioned by the National Tourism Crisis Management Steering Committee under the Ministry of Tourism and Wildlife, which is made up of stakeholders drawn from public and private sectors and the academia. Some of these studies included a countrywide assessment of the Impact of Covid-19 on Tourism in Kenya, the Measures taken and the Recovery Pathways as well studies on recovery strategies such as Domestic Tourism Growth, Digitizing the Tourism Industry, Product Improvement and Diversification and Creating Tourism Inventory in Kenya.
She has hosted numerous national, regional and international workshops in Kenyatta University. Particularly, in April 2019, she gathered the Ambassador of the European Union, Vice Chancellors of several Eastern Africa countries, other university officials; ERASMUS+ alumni; and representatives from the African Union and European Union to a seminar to provide capacity building and to steer improvements in Higher Education in the region (and in Africa at large) by promoting ERASMUS+ to countries in Eastern Africa which have little or no representation in the Erasmus+ programme.
Her appointment as Director of the GTRCMC in Kenyatta University involves providing leadership in development, implementation and monitoring of the Centre’s Strategic, Risk and Crisis Management plans; mobilizing resources in liaison with the Centre’s Board, the line Ministry and GTRCMC in Jamaica; to spearhead research and dissemination of findings on crisis preparedness, response and recovery, risk prevention and management and provide policy and strategy direction to the Government and other stakeholders in the tourism industry in the region; undertake training and capacity building in relevant areas and maintain close collaboration with relevant institutions.
