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Tourism players appeal for
lifting of travel advisories
Written By: Daniel waitere
Posted: Sun, Jan 27, 2008
Hoteliers and curators in the Coastal city of Mombasa are raising
the red flag over huge losses incurred due to post election
violence.
Over ten tourist hotels in Malindi and South coast have closed
business while an estimated 1500 curators are faced with a similar
predicament.
Kenya Association of Hotel Keepers and Caterers Coast branch
Chairperson Mohammed Hersi is now asking foreign missions that
have issued travel advisories to their citizens to lift them
saying the security situation in the country has improved.
Hersi has termed the travel bans as unfair, adding that most of
the information being sent out of the country concerning the
violence is exaggerated and harmful to the country's economy.
Meanwhile, Lake Nakuru National Park says it is losing over 2
million shillings daily in revenue following the post election
violence.
The park's senior warden Charles Muthui, said daily gate
collections have dropped from 2.8 million shillings to a paltry
200,000 shillings per day.
The warden warned that unless corrective measures were promptly
taken to reverse the trend, lack of funds will cripple
conservation programmes at the park.
Lake Nakuru National Park is the second most popular tourist
attraction in Kenya after Maasai Mara.
Lake Nakuru National Park Management committee Chairman, Joseph
Muya, said Lake Nakuru Lodge had sent home 80 employees on
compulsory leave and retained only three workers in each
department.
The tourism sector stands to lose 4 billion shillings this month
if the current political crisis is not resolved fast.
On the other hand the Kenya Tourist Board Managing Director
Ongonga Achieng however says the projected number of visitors had
been expected to hit 250 000 for the first quarter of this year
but the number might not be realized.
He says that an impact assessment study is being carried out to
establish the overall loss for the sector that heavily depends on
perception.
Ongonga blasted the western countries for what he termed as unfair
treatment of Kenya and asked the western media to be fair in their
reportage of the crisis in the country noting that the political
standoff in the country has been blown out of context.
But despite the falling fortunes in the tourism industry Ongonga
is optimistic that all is not lost and that the sector will pick
up in due course.
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