New tourism rules will make holidays expensive, warns hotels lobby

Travellers’ Beach Hotel in Mombasa. Hotels in Mombasa and Kilifi counties are doing brisk business spurred by the secondary school head teachers’ conference. PHOTO | FILE

What you need to know:

  • The Magical Kenya Tourism Health and Safety Protocols now require tourism facilities to establish and maintain a documented list of emergency contacts, reporting system and evacuation procedures for any arising health-related incidents at the facility.
  • For tourism facilities, testing of staff members will cost Sh3,000 and this means for each staff member who requires this certificate, the establishment has to fork out Sh6,000 to comply with the bi-weekly validity per month.
  • This is an astronomical cost that these facilities will have to shoulder and possibly pass on to the guests.

You may have to dig deeper into your pockets to go on holiday when hotels and tourism facilities reopen.

This is after stakeholders in the tourism sector came up with new protocols that will be expensive to the facilities, a cost that will be passed down to tourists.

The Magical Kenya Tourism Health and Safety Protocols now require tourism facilities to establish and maintain a documented list of emergency contacts, reporting system and evacuation procedures for any arising health-related incidents at the facility.

Tourists will now be required to declare in advance their travel history and medical status before visiting facilities.

The protocols, which will be adopted once the hotels adhere to measures by the Health ministry and the economy is reopened, will now introduce a new normal to a sector that has borne the brunt of the pandemic, as almost all hotels were shut, letting go thousands of workers.

Tourism Cabinet Secretary Najib Balala said the main objective of the protocol is to ensure service provision meets World Health Organization (WHO) guidelines and Kenya’s Ministry of Health measures aimed at preventing spread of Covid-19.

“These protocols will ensure a safe experience for visitors/guests and service providers, while helping rebuild trust and confidence hence increasing and sustaining demand for holiday and investment in the destination,” Mr Balala said.

However, an analysis of the protocols shows that facilities will require additional investment to be able to adhere to the new regulations.

For instance, the protocols now demand that staff at tourism facilities should have valid Covid-19 certification that should not be more than 14 days old and from a recognised government-approved facility. They also need to conform to Covid-19 prevention guidelines prescribed by the Ministry of Health (MOH).

“Establishments shall also provide staff with appropriate, quality and sufficient approved PPEs (masks/face shields, gloves, gowns/aprons, caps and boots or boots covers) as appropriate. The staff shall also maintain physical distance of 1.5 metres from guests at all times,” part of the new protocols say.

For tourism facilities, testing of staff members will cost Sh3,000 and this means for each staff member who requires this certificate, the establishment has to fork out Sh6,000 to comply with the bi-weekly validity per month. This is an astronomical cost that these facilities will have to shoulder and possibly pass on to the guests.

The Kenya Association of Hotel keepers and Caterers Chief Executive Officer Sam Ikwaye said it will now be costly not only to visit these facilities, but also run them as the players adjust to the new normal, with some of the protocols expensive and restrictive to the guests.

“The sector cannot afford to pay salaries. How will they afford to pay Sh6, 000 per employee for tests?” he posed. “It is going to be costly and that is how we need to look at the new normal. Unfortunately, the government is not helping, especially on the costs. We are being told to shoulder it.”

The protocols as envisioned are also bound to see other establishments shut down, as they require additional investments, which the sector players say are trickling in slowly and late.

“Our wish would be for the government to simplify these protocols and work with them on compliance, especially with county governments. Make this testing free. That way, it will not become an expense for investors,” Dr Ikwaye said.

On Thursday, Tourism Principal Secretary Safina Kwekwe said the government has already allocated Sh2 billion to support the renovation of facilities and the restructuring of business operations.

However, the sector players say they are yet to receive the funds as modalities on how to access it are being worked on.

Swahili Beach general manager Jeff Mukolwe urged the government to fast-track the allocations of the funds to the hotels.

“As we speak now the government is yet to release the funds and it is becoming unbearable to maintain hotels,” he said, adding that more needs to be done to cushion the industry from total collapse.

Dr Ikwaye said: “We have been having issues in the sector since December and with Covid-19, we are on our knees. We did not have good business over Christmas and New Year, and we used lots of money to prepare for Easter. We cannot expect guys to invest money they do not have.”

The new protocols also expect the facilities and the tourist accommodation, food and beverage outlets to institute a Food Safety Management System (FSMS) to prevent contamination with regard to clients, staff and supply chain workers.

“Tourism practitioners shall redesign the physical workspace and work processes to ensure compliance with physical distancing of not less than 1.5 metres apart and institute hygiene operations, sanitation and minimised contact between persons,” the protocols read in part.

Dr Ikwaye says this means the owners of these facilities will have to dig deeper into their pockets as they seek to meet these new obligations. Even then, they are not assured of visitors.

“It’s a good bold move to reopen, but they need to factor in a lot more. Training of personnel, affordability, remodelling of hotels and the extra costs. Inasmuch as you want people to spend these amounts, where are the visitors? International travellers are cancelling till December, yet locally, competing expenses exist. So who will be coming to these facilities? There are many concerns,” Dr Ikwaye said.

The PS, on the other hand, urged the players to consider pocket-friendly rates to attract domestic tourists.

“Following the slump in international tourist numbers, it is prudent for hoteliers to look forward to reopening to encourage more domestic tourists to sample their hotels by coming up with affordable rates. Let us keep our focus on domestic tourism to ride on the drastic drop by foreign tourists in the face of the pandemic,” she said.