Hiiraan Online

Sunday, September 01, 2013

This has seen a large number of visitors who used to visit the Coast purely for leisure seek alternative destinations in what is set to cut back significant revenues from one of the biggest earners for the country.

According to Mombasa and Coast Tourist Association chairman Mohammed Hersi, the first half of the year has been bad for business.

The region is still reeling from past insecurity incidents that prompted western governments to issue travel advisories to their nationals.

“We are still very far from recovery and it may take a bit of time to recover,” Mr Hersi said on telephone.

Last year, Kenya earned Sh96 billion from the tourism sector, a 1.92 per cent drop from Sh97.9 billion in 2011. Total visitor numbers stood at 1.78 million, 0.3 per cent lower than in 2011.

Almost all foreign leisure seekers to the Coast relied on charter flights and in the absence of such flights, the region could be the worst hit from drastic reduction in arrivals.

Last year, a decline in the number of charters coming in directly through the Mombasa International Airport led to a 20 per cent reduction in the number of arrivals. The decline was also attributed to the insecurity incidences experienced at the coast in much of last year.

BUT ALL IS NOT LOST.

Nordic Airlines, serving travellers from the Scandinavian countries, Condor Airline from Germany and SN Brussels from Belgium, which are now serving the coast region with chartered flights will now boost prospects in the region.

“With these, things are set to change. But, things could change for the better should we have more charters to the region,” Mr Hersi said.
CRUISE SHIPS

The government is also set to allow more international flights to fly directly to Mombasa International Airport in an attempt to reverse the dwindling fortunes of the tourism sector in the region.

Last year, four charter flights and cruise ships pulled out of the region thanks to insecurity coupled with the Eurozone crisis.

In early 2012, leading French holiday airline, XL Airways, suspended flights to Kenya’s coast indefinitely. A lot of European tourists depended on this airline to reach the Kenyan beaches. Earlier on, two tour operators, African Safari Club and Long Couriers, who guided French tourists at the coast, folded.

South Africa’s One Time charter airline also pulled out due to financial challenges.

“There are indications that a number of charters serving the region may resume soon,” Mr Muriithi Ndegwa, the Kenya Tourism Board managing director, said in an interview.

“As a result of the intervention of the Kenya Defence Forces in Somalia, there was a big reduction in piracy levels in the Indian Ocean waters. If that trend continues, we expect cruise tourism will continue rebounding,” he said.

MITIGATE LOSSES

Early this year, there was a sign of a recovery of cruise tourism when four cruise ships docked at the port of Mombasa.

The tourism board had been betting on domestic and regional tourists to mitigate the losses arising from the reduced inflows from the West.

But the high cost of flights to the coastal region is prohibitive even for the local middle class who would prefer to fly.

“Direct flights to Coast from within the country are very expensive which discourages domestic tourists,” he said.

Other destinations like Masai Mara, Nairobi, Bogoria, Baringo, Nakuru, Naivasha and Mt Kenya have, however, gained with many of them remaining fully booked in the past few weeks according to the tourism board. Many of these destinations are now catering for a significant domestic market.

“Some are even reporting growth from visitors in regional markets. We’ve seen Uganda being one of the fastest growing source markets for the country. There’s a gradual shift whereby domestic and regional tourism is contributing more and more to the overall kitty,” Mr Ndegwa noted.

Besides Uganda, other countries with increasing number of tourists to Kenya include Tanzania, Ethiopia, South Sudan, Rwanda and Burundi.