Economy

Charter plane tourists get Sh3,000 rebates

balala

Tourism cabinet secretary Najib Balala. PHOTO | FILE

Tourists flying to Mombasa and Malindi on charter airlines will enjoy a Sh3,000 ($30) subsidy in a new plan to boost Kenya’s ailing hospitality industry.

Tourism secretary Najib Balala on Thursday announced a Sh1.2 billion package that will from January see tourists offered a Sh3,000 rebate on chartered flights whose seats are 80 per cent occupied.

The planes will also be exempted from paying landing fees at Moi International and Malindi Airports in an incentive that will run to June 2017.

Passengers going through Kenya’s main airports pay taxes and levies through their tickets and it is not clear whether the fees will be scrapped to accommodate the levies.

“One of the challenges we face in stimulating coastal tourism recovery is the relatively high costs experienced by our visitors. It is a simple fact that it is often cheaper to go somewhere else,” said Mr Balala.

Official data shows that the number of international visitors arriving through Moi International Airport in Mombasa decreased to 53,084 in the period to September from 94,750 in a similar period last year.

Kenya’s tourism industry has been on a decline since the Somali-based Al-Shabaab terrorists stepped up their attack on the country in 2013.

Official data shows that the number of international visitors arriving through Moi International Airport decreased to 53,084 in the period to September from 94,750 in a similar period last year.

This hit international chartered airlines hard. They are slowly returning to Mombasa after withdrawing operations last year.

Tourism is a vital foreign exchange earner for the country but a two-year slump has forced hotels to shut, cut jobs and sent the shilling to lows seen three-and-a-half-years ago.

Besides hotels, tourists support auxiliary sectors like handicraft makers, taxi business, fishermen and farmers.