Breaking News: At least 10 feared to have drowned in Makueni river
More Coast hotel workers to be sent home next month
What you need to know:
- Hotel occupancy is between 10 per cent and 30 per cent compared to 30 per cent and 60 per cent in the same period last year.
- The hotels that are still running, he said, had sent some permanent staff on leave to cut costs. Some were surviving on bank overdrafts while others had reduced monthly salaries by half, he added.
- Kenya Association of Tour Operators Coast branch chairperson Monika Solanki said more than 1,000 tour firm employees had been laid off and 900 tour vans were lying idle.
More than 30,000 hotel workers have been laid off and more are expected to lose their jobs next month as hotels close due to lack of tourists.
Twenty-five hotels and 20 tented camps and lodges closed, according to Kenya Coast Tourist Association chairman Mohamed Hersi, as the low season sets in. Most were casual staff and workers on short-term contracts.
Further, of the 1,000 tour vans in the coast region, 900 are parked in garages.
Hotel occupancy is between 10 per cent and 30 per cent compared to 30 per cent and 60 per cent in the same period last year.
Those that closed are in Malindi, Watamu and Diani resort towns while the camps and lodges are in Tsavo East, Tsavo West and the Maasai Mara.
Mr Hersi warned that more workers would be sent home next month as some hotels in Kilifi and Kwale counties will close.
Weekly charter flights from Europe to Mombasa are now four compared to 20 in the same period last year.
PERMANENT STAFF ON LEAVE
The hotels that are still running, he said, had sent some permanent staff on leave to cut costs. Some were surviving on bank overdrafts while others had reduced monthly salaries by half, he added.
Mr Hersi, who is also the Heritage Hotels chief executive officer, attributed the decline in international tourist arrivals to non-essential travel warnings issued by the UK on Mombasa, Tiwi in Kwale County and Mtwapa in Kilifi County.
“Although the non-essential travel warnings were issued against Mombasa, in Europe they are interpreted to cover the entire country.
“That is the reason places like the Maasai Mara, for which no travel advisories have been issue are also affected.”
Kenya Association of Tour Operators Coast branch chairperson Monika Solanki said more than 1,000 tour firm employees had been laid off and 900 tour vans were lying idle.
“Some tour vans have been converted into matatus so the struggling tour firms can stay afloat,” she said.
