Fort Jesus in Mombasa. Unesco has declared it a world heritage site. Laban Walloga.
Away from the pretty villas, the boutiques and other five-star establishments that earn the coast tourism a name - the grey, aged Fort Jesus stands out like a solid statement of architectural defiance.
Fort Jesus has just added a new feather to its hat: a Unesco recognition as a World Heritage Site that will see its profile rise higher than it did as a military garrison.
Although this 418 year-old former Portuguese fort, curved from a coral, has stood out as a tourist destination the number of visitors has stagnated over the years.
Mbarak Abduqadir , the curator of The Fort Jesus Museum expects the number of tourists to take a dramatic turn.
“When Lamu was nominated as a world heritage site, it received many visitors and boosted the coastal tourism industry, “ Mbarak said.
But Lamu has failed to effectively exploit its nomination thanks to poor infrastructure. Over 80km of road between Witu and Lamu remains untarmacked, and the site has not received many guests as expected.
There are also no direct flight from Mombasa and one has to drive about 120km to Malindi to catch a flight to Lamu, which tourism players cite as a serious challenge.
The elevation of Fort Jesus now puts it at par with other world heritage sites including the Old City of Jerusalem, the pyramids at Giza Egypt and Vatican City.
Fort Jesus was picked from among sites from 40 countries that were deliberated on during the 35th session of the Unesco’s World Heritage Committee held between June 19 and 29 in France.
Statistics from Fort Jesus show that the number of visitors including locals has remained at around 170,000 visitors per year in the last four years save for 2008, when it declined to 130,000 visitors due to post election violence.
The elevation to the Unesco list comes at a time when the fort has initiated an education programme that has seen the number of visitors increase significantly in the recent past.
“The number of visitors in the month of February and March this year grew by over 6,000 each month and the trend is expected to continue following the revival of the education programme and hiring of 2 more education officers which has attracted a good number of students to the site,” Mbarak said.
The fort is part of the Mombasa city tour circuit that includes, Old Town, Old Port, Akamba Handicraft, Mamba Village and Ngomongo Village- a Coast communities cultural centre.
Industry players say that the Kenya Tourists Board (KTB) should now put more energy on cultural tourism as is the case in safaris and beach destinations.
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