A new mobile payments application, which connects bank cards to local mobile money platforms like M-Pesa and Airtel Money, has been launched, enabling visitors to Kenya to cut reliance on cash or local intermediaries when paying for goods and services.

The app is dubbed TouristTap and has been developed by financial technology firm Craft Silicon. It enables visitors to make payments even to small businesses that typically do not accept foreign currency or card payments through PDQ (Process Data Quickly) machines.

Users can link their debit or credit cards to the app and make payments directly from their smartphones using near-field communication (NFC), a wireless short-range technology that enables a linked devices to share data securely.

Travellers can input a merchant’s till or paybill number, or send money directly to a mobile wallet, and complete the transaction with a tap and PIN, with payments processed in Kenyan shillings.

“Tourists have had to get a local SIM card to get a mobile money account, use local cash, and rely on a local person to pay for them,” Craft Silicon founder Kamal Budhabhatti, told the Business Daily.

TouristTap is developed in partnership with KCB Bank as the payments partner and the global payments processor Visa. It also supports other payment providers such as MasterCard.

“Essentially, we are converting the traditional card currency into mobile money, regardless of the currency the tourist has in their account. We are converting it to Kenyan shillings for M-Pesa payment,” KCB’s Head of Digital Channels, Johnson Ondincho, said.

“Currently, payments in Kenya are very fragmented, and cards do not work with M-Pesa a lot. We see this as a bridge between these two closed-loop ecosystems.”

The move is expected to broaden participation in Kenya’s tourism value chain by enabling small and informal businesses to accept digital payments from international visitors.

Kenya’s tourism sector generated approximately Sh500 billion in revenue in 2025, according to the Tourism ministry data.

“We are supporting only the Kenyan shilling for now, but plan to expand it to enable merchants to receive payments in foreign currencies like the US dollar,” said Mr Budhabhatti.

“Established hotels and airlines are benefiting from Kenya’s growing tourism sector, but now small sellers of handcrafted goods, street food vendors, and local guides will also be able to reap from it,” he said.

, with visitor arrivals rising sharply following the introduction of a visa-free policy at the start of the year.

Data from the Kenya National Bureau of Statistics (KNBS) shows that arrivals through the country’s two main airports and other borders grew by 48.1 percent to 1.8 million in the first nine months, reflecting renewed momentum in the sector.

Tourism Cabinet Secretary Rebecca Miano said lack of accessible payment systems has historically led to missed economic opportunities, particularly for small enterprises.

“The ability to move from airport to lounge, from safari vehicle to souvenir stores, from a tour vehicle to a vibanda, without the friction of cash-based systems, is now a baseline requirement,” she said.

TouristTap is positioning itself as a critical link between international spending and Kenya’s largely mobile money-driven marketplace. Latest Communications Authority (CA) data shows that Kenya added 9 million mobile subscriptions in the year to December 2025, bringing the total to 51.36 million.

Safaricom’s M-Pesa commands 89 percent of subscriptions, while Airtel Money has an 11 percent share.

Craft Silicon has indicated plans to expand the tourist payment platform across East Africa, which would see it support transactions for users of MTN’s Momo in Uganda and Tigo Pesa in Tanzania.

→ dmusau@ke.nationmedia.com

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