Tourism woes to top talks in Uhuru’s visit to Coast

Tourism stakeholders expect President Uhuru Kenyatta to address challenges in the sector that have led to a drastic drop in arrivals at the Coast during his tour of the region.

The President is expected to host a tourism summit at State House, Mombasa, on Wednesday.

On Monday, hoteliers said easing of air travel and increased marketing should be at the top of the agenda for the summit.

Kenya Association of Hotelkeepers and Caterers (KAHC) Kilifi County branch chairman Philip Chai said the President should open Moi International Airport to more scheduled flights.

At the moment, Turkish Airlines is the only carrier from Europe which operates scheduled flights from Istanbul to Mombasa with two regional airlines, Ethiopian Airlines and RwandAir. Other airlines, including Qatar Airways, have applied to operate flights but have been turned down by the Ministry of Transport.

The hotelier said following the sharp drop in charter flights, there is need for the government to allow more international airlines to fly to Mombasa.

German leisure airline Condor, Small Planet from Poland and Meridiana Fly and Neos Air from Italy operate charter flights to Mombasa.

“The reason why tourism is on its knees in Malindi is because there are very few charter flights from Italy to Mombasa,” he said.

Mr Chai also wants the President to intervene on the slow progress in expansion of the Malindi airport.

“We want Malindi airport to be expanded so that it can handle direct flights from Europe to boost international tourist arrivals,” he said.

DUTY EXEMPTION

KAHC Coast executive officer Sam Ikwaye, said he expects Uhuru to address the challenges hotel owners face in accessing duty exemption on importation of building materials.

“Although the government exempted duty on importation of materials to enable hoteliers to renovate their establishments, they are unable to benefit from the incentive due to red-tape,” he said.

Mr Ikwaye added that he wants the President to address the controversy surrounding the construction of the Ronald Ngala Utalii College.

“The building of the college has been politicised yet it could help address the challenges of lack of training opportunities in the region,” he said.

“If there are officials who were involved in corruption let them face the law but let the construction of the college continue,” he added.

Kenya Association of Tour Operators Coast branch chairperson Monika Solanki, welcomed the President’s move to host the Tourism Summit in Mombasa.

“Things are not going on well at the Coast as the number of international visitors is very low. We hope the Summit will come up with ways to uplift tourism in the region,” she said.

In Diani, Swahili Beach Resort general manager Jeff Mukolwe, said he expects the President to fast track the expansion of Ukunda Air Strip.

The expansion project seems to have stalled, he said.

“Currently, only small planes can land at the Ukunda air strip. We want it to be expanded so that it can handle bigger planes for tourist arrivals to improve,” he said.
He also wants the Kenya Tourism Board to prioritise marketing on the African continent rather than Europe due to low number of tourists coming to Mombasa  from the Western countries.

Sarova Whitesands Beach Resort general manager Raj Jadhav said the hotel was busy owing to locals and conferences. International guest numbers, he added, were at four per cent. He called on the marketing agency to do more marketing in overseas markets to woo more holidaymakers to come to Mombasa.