Sluggish tourism recovery keeps 20,000 out of Coast hotel jobs
Local tourists at a deserted public beach in Mombasa. Kenya has been hit by a series of attacks by Somalia’s Al-Shabaab terrorists in the past two years. PHOTO | FILE
Less than 10 per cent of the more than 22, 000 hotel workers who lost their jobs have been hired back, a signal that Kenya’s tourism is far from recovery.
Kenya Union of Domestic, Hotels, Educational Institutions, Hospitals and Allied Workers (Kudheiha) said that only 2,000 of the 10,000 permanent hotel employees who were laid off during the low tourist season were back at work.
Zack Osore, a Kudheiha official, said that another 12,000 who had been hired on contract are yet to resume work due to fewer international tourists.
Tourism is a vital foreign exchange earner for Kenya, but a two-year slump has forced hotels to shut down and cut job numbers, sending the shilling to four-year lows.
“Some of the 2,000 permanent workers who returned to work between mid-July and last month worked on rotational basis or as casuals as most of the hotels lack international guests,” said Mr Osore.
“At the moment, European charter flights to Mombasa are only seven a week compared to 40 a week in the same period in 2011, contributing to low international tourist arrivals at Moi Airport.”
The sluggish job market shows just how badly the industry has been damaged by a spate of Islamist militant attacks that have killed hundreds.
The union says that Coast hotels witnessed increased activity during the August school holiday and the Mombasa International Agricultural Show, which lifted domestic tourism.
“The domestic market cannot sustain the industry as Kenyans go on holiday in droves only in August, December and April,”said Mr Osore.
The Kenya Association of Hotelkeepers and Caterers (KAHC) says hotel occupancy this week has dropped to between 20 and 40 per cent from 70 and 100 per cent last month.
Visitor numbers fell to 284,313 in the five months to May from 381,278 in the same period last year, a drop of 25.4 per cent. That followed a fall of 4.3 per cent a year before that.
Kenya has been hit by a series of attacks by Somalia’s Al-Shabaab terrorists in the past two years.
Gunmen raided Nairobi’s Westgate shopping mall in 2013, the coastal towns in 2014 and the Garissa University College in April this year. More than 400 people have been killed.
PAYE Tax Calculator
Note: The results are not exact but very close to the actual.
