KENYA’S COASTAL TOURISM FRATERNITY GETS A BREAK AS UK LIFTS CRIPPLING ANTI TRAVEL ADVISORIES
(Posted 19th June 2015)
The UK has finally lifted their crippling anti travel advisories which had banned all but essential travel to the Kenya coast, blanketing the almost entire coastline from Malindi over Watamu, Kilifi, Shanzu, Bamburi, Nyali to the city of Mombasa itself and on to the Tiwi beach at the South coast.
Organizations like SKAL International, obsessed by irrational fears and up-played worries over potential litigation, used the advisories as a pretext to cancel their world congress in Mombasa. It has since however been suggested that fear over not reaching large enough numbers was the most likely cause, trying to avoid having too few members pay up and attend, leaving too little money in the kitty to finance the visit of the bigwigs.
Be that as it may have the advisories, unprecedented against Kenya in the choice of language and intensity, almost wiped out the coast hospitality industry with many resorts closed and thousands of jobs lost in the process.
Kenya’s tourism stakeholders, as well as the Kenya Tourism Board, were swift to welcome the long overdue change in the advisory and KTB issued the following statement in response:
Start quote:
The Kenya Tourism Board is delighted to announce the removal of the FCO travel advisory for Mombasa and the entire stretch of the Kenya coast from Watamu to the border with Tanzania, on 18th June 2015. Whilst the south coast has always remained open for business, tourists will now be able to once again enjoy the majority of the Kenya coast, with the only exclusion now being Malindi and areas further north, including Lamu County.
Kenya’s coastline offers 500km of tranquil Indian Ocean beaches and the following areas are all open for tourists to enjoy:
• Watamu
• Kilifi
• Mtwapa
• Shanzu
• Bamburi
• Mombasa (including Mombasa Island)
• Nyali
• Likoni
• Shelly
• Tiwi
• Diani Beach
• Galu Beach
• Kinondo
• Msambweni
• Funzi Island
• Shimoni
• Wasini Island
The following airports offer access points onto the Kenya coast:
• Moi International Airport (Mombasa)
• Ukunda / Diani Airport
Kenya received 117,201 visitors from the UK market in 2014 and has always been a leading destination for safaris in British consumers’ minds. With the re-opening of Mombasa and the area of the Kenya coast north of Mombasa, British consumers will once again be offered a wider beach offering, either combined with a safari in one of Kenya’s 59 national parks or as a stand-alone holiday.
Muriithi Ndegwa, MD, Kenya Tourism Board commented, ‘We are delighted with the Foreign and Commonwealth Office’s decision to lift their travel advice for Kenya’s coast from Watamu to Diani as announced today. While our operators have continued to send their guests to the southern areas of the coast including Diani, Wasini and Msambweni we look forward to welcoming guests back to Mombasa and the beautiful coastline of Watamu and Kilifi.’
Phyllis Kandie, Cabinet Secretary for East African Affairs, Commerce and Tourism, also welcomed the decision by the British government to lift the travel advisory against non-essential travel to Mombasa, Kilifi, and Watamu and beyond as timely. She called the move a major boost to the tourism industry and appealed to other countries to follow suit. ‘This is a huge endorsement to our recovery efforts, and we look forward to working together with our stakeholders to turn the sector around’ she said. The Cabinet Secretary reiterated government efforts on security improvement and alluded that the move would contribute immensely towards tourism recovery efforts.
End quote
With the arrival figures of the first few months only recently reported to be down by another quarter compared to last year, the news of the change in language and scope of the advisories will no doubt inject some renewed confidence into the market and will give Kenyan hospitality and safari businesses a much needed second wind to weather the final fallout of the advisories while being able to once again hard sell the coast and bring back those visitors lost over the past few years to other beach destinations.
The annual Magical Kenya Travel Expo will this year take place in September at the Kenya coast and hosted buyers will no doubt be able to see for themselves what wide range of options is available to them when booking their clients into Kenya’s beach resorts. Watch this space for breaking and regular news updates from across Eastern Africa.
