Hoteliers cry foul over tourist evacuations

PHOTO | AFP British tourists arrive at the Moi International Airport in Mombasa on May 16, 2014. The United Kingdom has closed its Mombasa consulate over security concerns.

What you need to know:

  • Some tourism players think move is political and want Kenya government to open talks
  • They said Kenya was paying for making wrong political choices, especially when it comes to its foreign relations.

Players in the tourism industry have termed the evacuation of tourists from the Coast a deliberate economic sabotage.

They said Kenya was paying for making wrong political choices, especially when it comes to its foreign relations.

The Kenya Association of Hotelkeepers and Caterers (KAHC) and the Mombasa and Coast Tourist Association (MCTA) leaders said the evacuation of British, Australian and French tourists from hotels in the South Coast raises more queries than answers.

“I have never seen this in all my 30-plus years in the industry. This happens elsewhere, not in Kenya, and only when the host country is at war or severely threatened by war and insecurity. This is not the case with Kenya, that is why we believe it is sabotage,” said KAHC Kilifi County chairman Philip Chai, who is also the general manager of Lion in the Sun Hotel owned by Italian billionaire Flavio Briatore in Malindi.

Mr Chai termed the evacuations as “the last nail on the tourism coffin for Kenya”. He added that although they were totally uncalled-for, “they are a result of choices we made and we were told that choices have consequences”.

The director of MCTA Millicent Odhiambo said the evacuations will cause “massive job layoffs” and greatly affect the economy. The British issued an advisory this week urging their citizens to reduce all but essential travel to Mombasa and Lamu, which are major tourist destinations, as well as sections of Nairobi. The Americans have also issued caution.

Mr Chai said a silent war between Kenya and the West has been going on for sometime and the evacuations are a culmination of the souring relations.

“There has been a deliberate war to kill the tourism industry because I believe the West is unhappy with Kenya diverting her allegiance to China. The signs have been there for sometime. First, it was calls for foreigners not to visit shopping malls, restaurants and eating places,” he said.

“Then it went to insurance companies in Europe warning clients that they risked losing compensations in case something happened while they were on holiday in Kenya. Then they went ahead to refuse to pay insurance cover for travellers to Kenya.”

He termed the move by the West as “a poisonous jab to Kenya’s economy” which will have devastating effects.

Mr Chai warned that the Chinese, like the Europeans, are not up to any good for the country, but were seeking wealth to exploit for their motherland.
“It’s only a matter of time before we see them looting the country like their predecessors or even worse. Surely, even if they pretend to be building infrastructure for Kenya, they will buy equipment from factories in their country and not locally,” he said.

He further warned that Chinese are not known to be fighters of terrorism and Kenya should be able to stand on its own without aid from the West, in the event that the attacks continue.

“When the Westgate attack occurred, we saw Israelis, Americans and Britons helping us, not the Chinese,” he said.

He added that the entire Coast, from Vanga in the south to Mambrui in the north, will be hit hard. Among those to suffer, besides hotels are, vegetable suppliers, landlords and Kenya Revenue Authority.

Heritage Hotels chief executive Mohamed Hersi described the evacuations as “bad for the industry” but blamed the tourists’ home countries for taking a hasty action and extending cancellations to the end of October.

“Fortunately, they conducted the evacuations during the low season. I feel that the action was exaggerated. They should not have extended the cancellations to October,” he said.

According to Mr Hersi, the way forward is for Kenya to engage governments of source markets such as Britain, France, Germany, USA and Australia on a one-on-one basis in order to come up with a workable formula.

Bahari Beach Hotel Operations Manager Godfrey Juma said Kenyans should be hopeful as all was not lost. Mombasa County Commissioner Nelson Marwa has assured tourists and people visiting the region that the area was a safe destination.