Traders count losses over fears of Al-Shabaab attack
Laban Walloga | Nation A Kenya Army jeep at the Ishakani border point in Kiunga as it heads for the battlefront in Somalia on October 27, 2011. Hotels, restaurants and supermarkets are suffering lower sales as customers shun crowded areas due to the heightened state of security.
Hotels, restaurants and supermarkets are suffering lower sales as customers shun crowded areas due to the heightened state of security.
The Nairobi Central Business District Association chairman Timothy Muriuki said that in addition to extra security costs, businesses were losing up to Sh100 million daily in sales.
“Bars and restaurants are not having customers especially in the evenings,” he said.
The Village Market marketing manager, Mr Dominic Mbugua, said that events that draw crowds to the shopping complex and night life activities were the most adversely affected.
The Village Market last week cancelled the Halloween Family Party, which last year drew close to 7,000 people and the weekly Maasai Market, which mainly attracts tourists interested handicraft.
“Popular night time events have seen reduced numbers of patrons with many preferring to shop during the day,” he said adding that customers were combining errands to minimise the number of times they visited social and entertainment spots.
The Mombasa Pubs, Entertainment and Restaurant Association of Kenya chairman, Mr Roberto Miano, said business at the coast had reduced after locals and international visitors were warned to avoid crowded areas.
The Kenya Tourism Federation chairperson, Ms Lucy Karume, said safari and beach holidays were still popular.
“Presently, there are thousands of tourists who are enjoying their safari and beach holidays as planned,” she said.
Ms Karume reassured tourists that Kenya’s wildlife parks and reserves were located away from the exclusion zone that foreign governments have warned their citizens against visiting.
“The tourism industry is observing the recommendations that no safaris should be done within the 150km of the Somali border,” she said.
Mr Mbugua said that the cost of security had more than tripled as the Village Market remains on high alert with consumers’ spending habits changing to minimise risks.
Additional security officers are in place using metal detectors to screen people’s bags as they enter the centre,” said Mr Mbugua.
Uchumi Supermarkets chief executive Jonathan Ciano said the number of customers in its outlets had not reduced significantly. Sarit Centre’s public affairs co-ordinator Peter Moll said that the mall had hired guards equipped with scanners to search bags and individuals as a precautionary measure.
He said even though the actual cost of additional security were not available, the mall would spend more on the services.On Monday evening last week, the police asked the public to keep away from crowded places following two grenade attacks in Nairobi in which one person was killed and 30 others injured.
Another attack on a van transporting the Kenya Certificate of Secondary Education examinations materials in Mandera left four people dead.
Elgiva Bwire Oliacha alias Mohamed Seif was on Friday sentenced to life imprisonment after he pleaded guilty to being involved in the attacks.
