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Coast, parks lose out in Easter holiday tourism boom

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Visitors arrive at Lake Bogoria Spa Resort for the 2014 Easter holiday. PHOTO/SULEIMAN MBATIAH.

Insecurity fears saw traditional tourist destinations suffer declines as new circuits benefited from an explosion in domestic tourism over the Easter weekend.

Hotels at the Coast recorded below normal activity while upcountry destinations like Naivasha, Nakuru, Nanyuki, Kisumu and Kakamega reported more visitors.

Kenya Association of Hotelkeepers and Caterers (Coast branch) executive officer Sam Ikwaye said most hotels in the region reported bookings of between 70 and 90 per cent. Despite election jitters last year, Easter bookings were upwards of 90 per cent.

“We had a good turnout and the heavy presence of police, especially in Mombasa, was a confidence booster for tourists,” Mr Ikwaye said.

Hoteliers had resorted to reducing prices for domestic tourists in order to boost numbers during the holiday, but still lost a considerable number of local tourists to other destinations.

“VAT  has greatly affected the domestic market. The cost of going on holiday has gone up. With the ban on night travel , which is  the main transport mode to the Coast,  many people are opting to travel to closer destinations like Nakuru and Naivasha,” Mr Ikwaye said.

Naivasha Sweet Lake Resort and Masada Hotels manager Patrick Munene said the hotel had recorded its best Easter bookings in years.

“All our 130 hotel rooms were fully booked. In fact, we had to turn away some clients as we could not cope with the demand,” he said.

The town’s tourism facilities also got a big lift from sports enthusiasts enroute to the Great Rift Rugby Tournament in Nakuru town.

Kenya Association of Hotelkeepers and Caterers (Rift Valley region) chairman Ken Korir said Sarova Lion Hill, which is inside Lake Nakuru National Park, was fully booked way before Easter. Lake Bogoria Spa Resort and Soi Safari Lodge in Lake Bogoria were also near full capacity.

Lake Bogoria Spa Resort is the only hotel in Kenya with natural warm water due to the hot water springs, which are said to have medicinal value.

“We are hopeful that once the setting up of 60 cottages and another 150 rooms is completed we will be able to cope with the high number of accommodation requests during a season like this,” general manager Lydia Dentewo said.

Western Kenya also reported a 20 percentage point increase in Easter bookings with the industry attributing the upturn to insecurity fears in leading destinations.

“There is a great improvement compared to last year. The bookings are averagely above 60 per cent compared to last year’s 40 per cent,” said Western Kenya Hospitality Leaders Association chairman Robinson Anyal.

In contrast, hotels in the foreign tourist-reliant Maasai Mara Game Reserve had low bookings because of the security concerns as potential customers opted for Tanzania and South Africa.

READ: Uhuru says tourism sector "on its knees" after attacks

“The government has to intensify its fight against terrorism or else we will lose out on tourism, which is one of the highest foreign exchange earners,” Tour Guides and Drivers Association national chairman Andrew Mungatana said.

Most of the bookings at the Mara were by domestic tourists, he added.

Terrorist attacks along the Coast and North Eastern as well as Nairobi have hurt tourism to the extent that some hotels have sent workers on unpaid leave or declared redundancies to manage costs.

Siana Conservancy chairman Sammy Nkoitoi told the Business Daily that it was yet to recall staff who were laid off because of the slowdown.

“Normally during this season we employ more people but since early March we have been on a slowdown forcing us to send some of our staff on compulsory leave,” said Mr Nkoitoi.

East Africa, Commerce and Tourism secretary Phyllis Kandie said two weeks ago that the number of international visitors to Kenya had declined by seven per cent since the Westgate Shopping Mall terrorist attack last September.

Of the 1.2 million tourists that visited the country last year, 171,000 were Britons, 116,000 Americans and 81,000 Italians.

The Tourism ministry aims to broaden the tourist source market to Asia and targets to bring 100,000 visitors from China by 2016 compared to the 40,000 who visited Kenya last year. It is also seeking to encourage domestic tourism.

Reports by Sandra Chao, George Sayagie, Wanjiru Macharia, Angela Oketch, Macharia Mwangi and Wycliff Kipsang.