Nairobi. Terrorism has exacted a heavy toll on tourism in Kenya
with losses of up to Ksh40 billion this year, stakeholders in the sector
said on Tuesday. There has been a drastic drop in arrivals, with hotels
reporting as low as 20 per cent occupancy.
The Kenya Association of Hotel Keepers and Kenya
Union of Domestic, Hotels, Education Institutions, Hospitals and Allied
Workers (KUDHEIHA) said in a joint briefing that the sector had taken a
beating from travel advisories.
The group did not give the revenue and arrival
figures for this year but last year Kenya earned Ksh96 billion from
Ksh1.52 million international tourists. Many in the sector had hoped
revenue would go past the Ksh100 billion mark this year. The country has
suffered a series of attacks that led to a number of Western nations,
including the United Kingdom and the US, the main source of tourists,
advising their citizens to avoid Kenya. (NMG)
Cancellations have seen hotel occupancy go down to
about 20 per cent, leaving the industry to operate below a third of its
capacity.
“We are going through a hard time. The figure of
Sh40 billion is a conservative estimation, the damage is definitely
bigger than that if you include all affected income generating
ventures,” said Kenya Association of Hotelkeepers and Caterers national
chairman Jaideep Vohra, who is also the managing director of Sarova
Hotels.
KUDHEIHA secretary general Albert Njeru said the
situation had seen up to 20 hotels at the coast close down — five in the
South Coast and 15 in the North Coast.
“These are hotels that employ not less than 100
Kenyans each. It is a serious crisis and we could sink deeper if
mitigation efforts are not taken immediately,” Mr Njeru said. The two
organisations said the government was not helping matters by delaying
taking measures to revive the sector.
For instance, the government announced at the
beginning of the year that it had allocated Sh200 million for the Kenya
Tourism Board to run marketing campaigns to boost the sector’s recovery
but the money has yet to be released.
The stakeholders are now demanding that an
independent ministry be created to handle issues affecting the sector
given its importance to the economy as the second biggest foreign income
earner.
“The current minister is not giving the sector its
due attention because she handles three dockets at the same time,” Mr
Vohra said.
To revive the sector, the stakeholders have called
on the government to adopt “open sky policy” in the aviation sector for
increased flights in the country as a tour destination.
According to KAHC chief executive Mike Macharia,
the closed air policy is further chocking the industry, making tourists
opt for other destinations with similar products in the neighbouring
countries
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