Nyeri hoteliers fret over low occupancy despite Stefani beatification buzz

Guests from Italy arrive at Our Lady of Consolata Catholic Cathedral, May 22, 2015, ahead of the beatification of Sister Irene Stefani, PHOTO | JOSEPH KANYI | NATION MEDIA GROUP

What you need to know:

  • The officials were reacting to a news item aired on a local television channel that highlighted a situation of people sleeping in tents and attributed to an overwhelming accommodation crisis being experienced.
  • Trade and Tourism Executive Secretary Stanley Miano attributed the low occupancy at the hotels to the move by the Catholic Church to offer international guests accommodation at their own facilities.
  • The tourism docket has made available a visitor’s guide intended to lure the guests into visiting the various tourist attraction sites in the county.

Nyeri hoteliers are fretting over low occupancy of guests in hotels within the region.

Officials of the Nyeri Hoteliers Association noted that the occupancy in hotels was at 40 per cent, contrary to the impression created by the media that there was a crisis in accommodation.

The stakeholders said they had not felt the much anticipated influx in the guests expected to attend the much-awaited beatification ceremony of Sister Irene Stefani.

The officials were reacting to a news item aired on a local television channel that highlighted a situation of people sleeping in tents and attributed to an overwhelming accommodation crisis being experienced.

The Trade and Tourism Executive Secretary Stanley Miano further attributed the low occupancy at the hotels to the move by the Catholic Church to offer international guests accommodation at their own facilities.

“The housing of catholic delegated at the catholic facilities has affected the accommodation business in town but all is not lost,” he said.

He added that the homestay accommodation strategy had been successfully implemented and an impressing number of guests had booked into the some of the registered homes.

Nyeri Hoteliers Association Deputy Chairman Arthur Muchiri said accommodation was in plenty in hotels and expressed optimism of an increase in the number of hotel bookings in the remaining days.

BOOKINGS LOW

“At the moment the number of bookings is low but we expect things to change in the remaining days of the ceremony,” he said.

The executive secretary downplayed claims that the inflating prices in accommodation was an attempt by the hoteliers to exploit guests, arguing that the business world was propelled by competition and the event of prices going up was inevitable.

“Business has its own challenges and inflation of prices is one of them, which is as a result of competition. It is normal for such to happen when there is an expected increase in visitors,” he said.

Mr Miano, however, cautioned lodging facilities management of scaling up prices and pushing away visitors.

The tourism docket has made available a visitor’s guide intended to lure the guests into visiting the various tourist attraction sites in the county.

“We have a visitor’s guide that will serve our guests so that they stay here for even more than a month,” said the executive secretary.