Monday, September 01, 2014
MOMBASA, Kenya,-- Kenyan President Uhuru Kenyatta on Saturday promised to deal with security challenges at the coastal city of Mombasa to promote tourism.
Speaking in Mombasa, Kenyatta assured tourists and locals that visiting coast beaches safety was guaranteed.
The country's tourism suffered a decline in the number of tourists arriving since September 2011 when the Somali militant group, the Al-Shabaab, carried out the kidnappings of tourists in the Lamu archipelago and the kidnapping of the Spanish volunteers.
Kenya has witnessed several hit-and-run grenade attacks in recent months in the capital, Nairobi, and in northern Kenya and Mombasa port city, including the recent killing of more than 95 people in the coastal region in June and July.
The country's international tourist arrivals for 2013 declined by 15.8 percent to 1.49 million from 1.78 million in 2012. The drop in foreign tourists is largely attributed to increased terrorist attacks that have hit the country.