Safari Park steals the show during tourism contest

Safari Park Hotel walked away with the lion share of this year’s National Tourism Competition awards held last week.

The hotel located on the Thika Superhighway in Nairobi won 10 out of the 27 awards in different categories including guest relations, waiters, housekeeping supervisor and cooks’ local cuisine.

The hotel was closely followed by Villa Rosa Kempiski, located in Westlands, which scooped eight awards, in the fete, which was in its 20th edition.

Speaking at the award ceremony, Utalii College Principal Kenneth Ombogi said the number of participants this year has declined.

“Last year, the number of participants was 160 employees. In total, there were 74 employees who participated in this year’s competitions,” said Mr Ombogi.

The decline in number has been attributed to the difficult times that the industry is going through, which has led to job losses.

“Many investors in the sector are losing business. Many establishments have no guests. Many employees are going home empty-handed, still many others are being declared redundant,” said Mr Ombogi.

Kenya Tourism Board Managing Director Muriithi Ndegwa underlined the importance of the competition saying it keeps the service industry on its toes to deliver quality services to its clients. The ceremony also saw two other hotels — Intercontinental and Hilton — walk away with three and two employee awards respectively.