TRA licence classes for Kenyan hotels and restaurants
Which Tourism Regulatory Authority class covers a Kenyan hotel, guest house or restaurant, how grading works, and how to check a licence on the register.
By Achekam · · 4 min read · For Hospitality businesses in Kenya
You have signed the lease on a guest house in Naivasha, or you are turning a family restaurant in Mombasa into something bigger. Among the permits, inspections and registrations, one regulator matters for every tourism business in the country: the Tourism Regulatory Authority. Knowing which of its licence classes you fall into, how your establishment will be graded, and how anyone can check your licence saves time and awkward questions from tour operators and corporate clients later.
This piece walks through the TRA's classes for accommodation and food businesses, the grading system it applies, the incentives it describes for investors, and how to keep the paperwork, and the VAT on your purchases, in order.
Which class covers your business
Kenya's Tourism Regulatory Authority licenses tourism businesses in classes, as it sets out on its website:
| Class | What it covers |
|---|---|
| A | Hotels, villas and guest houses |
| B | Restaurants, foods and beverages |
| C | Safari operators and boat excursions |
| D | Camping equipment for hire, nature parks and reserves |
| E | Private zoos, general vendors and beach operators |
| F | Entertainment facilities |
A guest house falls in Class A. A stand-alone restaurant or café falls in Class B. A lodge that runs its own restaurant, game drives and evening entertainment may touch more than one class, so ask the TRA which licences the whole operation needs rather than assuming one covers everything.
Grading under the EAC Classification System
The TRA says the East African Community (EAC) Classification System applies to the classification and grading of tourism accommodation and catering establishments in Kenya. Grading is separate from licensing: the licence says you may operate, and the grade describes the standard of what you offer.
For an owner, the practical point is that grading criteria drive spending. A higher grade usually means upgrades to rooms, kitchens or public areas, and those upgrades are capital decisions that belong in a budget and, once bought, on the fixed-asset register. Whether a given piece of work counts as an asset or a repair is the subject of refurbishment: asset or repair.
Duty and VAT exemptions for tourism investment
The TRA says customs duty and VAT exemptions are given to investors in the tourism sector to establish or upgrade their facilities and services. If you are building or refitting, ask the TRA what an exemption would require before you order equipment, not after it has cleared customs. Keep every approval letter together with the supplier invoices it relates to, so you can always show which purchases an approval covered.
The TRA also says it is mandated by the Tourism Act to formulate guidelines and prescribe measures for sustainable tourism, and that tourism trade associations follow codes of ethics approved by the Authority. If you belong to an association, its code is part of what you have signed up to.
Checking a licence on the TRA register
The TRA website lets the public verify a licence, and it publishes lists of entities, including those it has licensed and those it has suspended. That works in both directions:
- For your own business: check that your listing is correct after each renewal, because tour operators, travel agents and corporate travel buyers may check it before they book.
- For businesses you deal with: before you contract a safari operator for guest excursions, or refer guests to an entertainment venue, check that it is licensed and not on the suspended list.
A short note on file of when you checked, and what the register showed, is useful evidence if something later goes wrong.
Keeping licence papers and purchase VAT in a Kenyan workspace
A workspace registered as Kenyan at sign-up makes the Kenya pack its default and, on activation, sets the shilling (KES) and the Africa/Nairobi time zone unless they are already set. Your books then run in the currency and the time zone your licences and returns use.
Achekam's Document Centre keeps a business's files in folders: you can upload single files or whole folders, preview and download them, rename, move and tag them, archive and search them, and when a file is replaced the earlier versions stay behind it. A simple layout for licensing:
- a folder per licence, holding each year's certificate as a new version of the same document;
- the grading report and any action list from the assessors;
- exemption approvals, filed with the invoices they relate to;
- a note of each register check you made on other businesses.
One limit applies to every Kenyan business buying equipment or stock today. Supplier bills and purchase orders do not use a Kenyan business's own VAT rate: they offer 15% or 0% and default to 15%. Check the VAT on every supplier bill line by hand against the supplier's invoice before you post it, and take extra care with purchases covered by an exemption, so the input VAT in your books matches what you can actually claim.
Renewals and the rest of the compliance file
The licence sits alongside your other proofs of good standing. Clients and tenders that ask for a TRA licence may ask for a tax compliance certificate as well; getting a KRA tax compliance certificate covers that one. Set a reminder for each renewal well before the expiry date, and after renewing, check that the register shows the new licence.
The Tourism Regulatory Authority's website is where hotels, restaurants and other tourism businesses apply for licences and where anyone can verify a licence or look up the lists of licensed and suspended businesses.
Confirm your class with the TRA, put the certificate and grading report in one place, and check your own listing once a year. It takes an afternoon, and it answers a question every serious client will ask.
General guidance only, not advice on your own circumstances. Tax and payroll rules change: check the current position with the authority or your adviser.
