International passengers arrive at JKIA on August 19. The airport reported a 12.2 per cent drop in first half foreign passenger arrivals. PHOTO | FILE | NATION MEDIA GROUP
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The travel warnings were issued following a string of gun and grenade assaults that have hit Nairobi and the coastal towns of Mombasa and Lamu.
Moi Airport in Mombasa, a tourist magnet, has not been spared as it reported a 20 per cent drop in foreign arrivals in the half to 69,246 passengers.
Jomo Kenyatta International Airport reported a 12.2 per cent drop in first half foreign passenger arrivals as effects of the West’s travel warnings weigh down on the tourism sector.
Data from the Kenya National Bureau of Statistics show that foreign arrivals at Kenya’s main airport dropped to 358,977 passengers in the six months to June, down from 409,130 in the same period last year.
The bureau attributed the drop to the travel advisories issued against the country on retaliatory attacks from terrorist group, Al Shabab, over Kenya’s military deployment in Somalia.
Moi Airport in Mombasa, a tourist magnet, has not been spared as it reported a 20 per cent drop in foreign arrivals in the half to 69,246 passengers. The travel warnings were issued following a string of gun and grenade assaults that have hit Nairobi and the coastal towns of Mombasa and Lamu.
This has cut the occupancy level at the coast to below 20 per cent during the high-season, which starts in July, when hotels operate at more 90 per cent. The hotels say they need bed occupancy of between 60 and 70 per cent to break even.
This air passenger data offer a sneak preview of what is happening in Kenya’s tourism sector, which has seen more than 40 hotels at the Coast closed down since March, shedding thousands of jobs as security fears pushed bed occupancy to a record low.
The closure of the hotels and drop in foreign arrivals at Kenya’s main airports reflects the poor state of a sector that is one of Kenya’s top foreign exchange earners and supports auxiliary sectors like handicraft makers, taxi drivers, fishermen and farmers at the Coast.
“This means an additional loss of business for the coast till at least the last quarter of 2015,” said Jaideep Vohra, the managing director of Sarova Hotels, which runs the Whitesands, the Stanley and Panafric, in a recent statement. “We are currently in the peak season but if you go anywhere in the country you will still find beds.”
A number of charter flights have discontinued flights to Kenya and more have issued notice to terminate services. The drop in passenger traffic comes in a period that has seen Kenya spend billions on the expansion of JKIA aimed at boosting trade and cementing its status as a regional commercial hub.
A new airport is being built to handle 20 million passengers when completed, with the first phase set to be finished in 2016. There is also the new Terminal 1A, which is an extension of the existing airport, and is expected to handle 2.5 million passengers that will ease congestion at the East Africa’s main air travel hub.
It will be fully operational before December.
The JKIA was built in the 1970s to handle 2.5 million passengers annually and has been struggling to handle more than six million people a year as its regional importance grew. But reduced foreign arrivals are easing pressure on the Kenya Airports Authority.
Kenya has in the past rebuked Britain, the United States, France and Australia for issuing the warnings about travel to Kenya. Kenya called the alerts “unfriendly”, saying they would fuel panic and play into the hands of those behind the gun and grenade assaults.
