Coast hoteliers fear further visitor decline after Ebola outbreak

What you need to know:

Hotels at the Coast say they fear cancellations after the World Health Organisation (WHO) designated Kenya as a “high-risk” zone for Ebola because it was a major transport hub.
No Ebola cases have been confirmed in Kenya.
Kenyan tourist arrivals have already been hit this year by attacks at the Coastal, some claimed by Islamist militants.

Kenya’s hoteliers are fretting over the impact of the Ebola outbreak on bookings as thousands of tourists who had planned trips to Africa this year put off the plans.

Hotels at the Coast say they fear cancellations after the World Health Organisation (WHO) designated Kenya as a “high-risk” zone for Ebola because it was a major transport hub. No Ebola cases have been confirmed in Kenya.

Kenyan tourist arrivals have already been hit this year by attacks at the Coastal, some claimed by Islamist militants.

“It looks like Kenya is jinxed, especially this year. We had the attacks, then advisories and now Ebola stares at us,” Millicent Adhiambo, CEO of the Kenya Coast Tourism Association, told Reuters.

Kenya last week banned entry of passengers from Liberia, Guinea and Sierra Leone into the country due to the outbreak.

The national carrier Kenya Airways has also suspended flights to Monrovia in Liberia and Freetown in Sierra Leone.

Tour operators told Reuters that the bulk of cancellations are from Asia, which has had its own share of health crises. But visitors from the US, Brazil and Europe have also scrapped their plans or delayed trips.

Ebola has so far claimed more than 1,200 lives. More than 40 hotels at the Coast have closed down since March and shed thousands of jobs as security fears pushed bed occupancy to a record low.

READ: 20 coast hotels shut on low bookings

Kenya Association of Hotelkeepers and Caterers says the industry could lose Sh40 billion this year as occupancy in Coast hotels during the high season that started in July remains below 20 per cent.

Tourist arrivals in Kenya fell 15.8 per cent to 1.49 million last year as security worries kept visitors away.

Tourism is one of Kenya’s biggest foreign exchange earners, employing 150,000 people.

Britain, the US, France and Australia in May issued travel warnings following a string of gun and grenade assaults that hit Nairobi, Mombasa and Lamu.

The hotels say they need bed occupancy of between 60 and 70 per cent to break even.

The low occupancy has seen the hotels cut jobs and place workers on unpaid leave. Auxiliary sectors like handicraft makers, taxi drivers and farmers have also been hit hard.