Regional ports plan meeting to promote cruise tourism

Other features include the slave markets of Zanzibar, River Nile and Lake Victoria.

The Table Islands and Robinson Islands of South Africa are also common tourists’ destination within the region.

It is estimated that about 14 million people use cruise ships every year.

The peak season is between November and March, during the European winter season.

Cruise calls at Mombasa port has dropped from 20 vessels in the 2005/2006 season to just eight.

The port expects to receive eight to 10 vessels this season, which would start in November and end next April, according to Abercrombie and Kent Kenya director Auni Kanji in an earlier interview.

This compares poorly with the 53 cruise vessels expected between November and April next year in South Africa, which has well established eight ports.

South Africa is hosting the 2010 World Cup in June, next year, that will also be a big boost to the cruise tourism.

Holiday makers

Since cruise holiday makers consider the tourist destination as a package, the CIOA is looking forward for the regional ports to work together and form a cruise circuit.

Apart from infrastructural challenges, a Value Added Tax introduced in mid this year by the Kenyan government on marine and port services will hurt the cruise industry in the East African region.

International cruise ship operators locked horns with KPA recently over the VAT threatening to withdraw their cruise lines from Mombasa, which would also affect Dar es Salaam and Zanzibar.