The tourism sector in Kilifi County and like other parts of the Coast region has suffered a number of challenges for sometime now.
Coupled with the Covid-19 pandemic, the sector literary went down on its knees, affecting hundred of thousands of Kenyans depending on this sector for survival.
More than 6,000 workers in the tourism sector are believed to have lost jobs with some beings sacked after hotels closed door due to lack of guests.
However, there are renewed hopes of tourism recovery after the August General Election.
This is after a section of leaders running for various elective posts, made an input to their manifestos over the different ways of revamping the sector.
Hoteliers and other sector players speaking in different interview expressed hopes that the sector might roar again if the mitigation measures as put up by the politicians will implemented.
Speaking in Kakoneni, Jilore ward, Malindi County, ODM gubernatorial candidate Gideon Mung’aro said his first tackle on the revival of the health sector is through marketing Kilifi as a tourist destination.
That he said will attract tourists to its destinations well known like Malindi, Watamu, Mtwapa and Kikambala. He also said that he will open up the Kilifi Tourism Circuit that will stretch between Malindi town to Tsavo East, Arabuko Sokoke and connect to Kilifi town, which also a chain of beach hotels stretching all the way from Bofa beach to Ngala beach.
“We shall not market only Malindi resort town as a tourist destination but rather, we shall have fully package to market the entire Kilifi county as a tourism circuit. This literally means that the tourists can sleep at a hotel in Malindi, then travel through the Tsavo highway to the national park to see elephant and the other big five and then return to their hotels in Malindi. It has never happened and we want to pioneer it because it will open the tourism sector in the North and some other region,” said Mr Mung’aro.
He further added that once the sector blossoms, then then jobs will be created and revive lost hopes for the hundreds who are at home after the sector collapsed.
According to Amina Mnyazi, a sector player and an ODM MP aspirant for Malindi, she has outlined a number of interventions that include, improvement on infrastructure, including opening more roads, repair those in dilapidated situation and also put on street lighting in different parts of Malindi town and it’s environs. That she said will ensure there is security for both the community and tourists.
If you look around Malindi constituency at the moment, you will be taken aback by the sorry state of affairs in as far as tourism is concerned. In the yesteryears when tourism was at peak, we had more than 30 hotels operating within Malindi and they would register a big number of guests. That is no more and we only have about three hotels that are operational. The situation is dire and that is why in my manifesto as Malindi MP, one of the key areas will be bringing in a legislation at the national assembly that will compel the government to come up with recovery measures to the revive the collapsed hotels. I will also push for the government to make sure that there is a completely re-check on the visa fees charged at the visitors into the Kenyan destination,” she said.
Ms Mnyazi also said that she will work together with the sector players to make sure that Malindi also targets a new market for tourists who wants to come to Malindi.
“We had depended on the Western nations for many years and it’s now time to look into other areas of interests including the Far East and also in the Middle East where we can have new markets for our hotels,” she said.
With the election just a month away, tourism players are optimistic that it will come with its goodies as outlined by the politicians in their manifestos.
According to Ms Maureen Awor, the current chairperson of the Hotel Keepers and Caterers Association North Coast branch, the August General Election is the reality checker on the revival of the ailing sector.
“We have engaged our politicians in various forums and we have told them to maintain peace so that this sector is not affected in anyway by the election,” she said.
Ms Awour said one of the problems affecting the tourism sector in Malindi is the delay from the national government in expanding the Malindi Airport to allow directs flight and big plans to bring in tourists to the resort town and it’s environs. She says the government has been slow on the issue hence affecting the already suffocating sector.
“If the government can expand the runaway at the Malindi international airport, then we shall have a stride. Every time leaders speak about the expansion of the airport, which is a good Idea. In fact Kenya Tourist Board (KTB) is doing a lot to market our destinations. For example if they say that they are marketing Malindi and Watamu for example, the first thing the tourists would ask is if they have a direct access to these destinations. Some of the visitors would see the route like coming to Malindi through Nairobi or through Mombasa airport is not healthy,” she said.
She said that the new governments (both county and national) that will come after August must look for new investors to pitch camp in the hotel industry because it’s a gem that has been left to rot, despite its usefulness.
“We want to ask the governments that are coming in to look for new investors in this sector, provide good incentives that will make them feel free to operate in the sector,”she said.
Elizabeth Marini, the owner of Ocean beach Resort in Malindi called on the government to make sure that roads and paveways in Malindi town and it’s environs are clean and smooth to enable visitors to around without any hindrances.
“Our expectations are that the coming government must work hard on the improvement of the infrastructure. We need good roads and pavements where tourists can leave their hotels and walk in and out of the town. That will bring in more money to Malindi,” she said.
One of the tour operators at the Coast Mr Abeid Karume said the sector has been on the decline bit express hope that the future looks bright with several interventions that the national government has done.
“We have having ups and downs with this sector in the last three years. But since the government took measures about the the covid pandemic the situation has started to improve. We have several visitors now coming and we hope the new county government will even strive for more measure to make this sector vibrant again,” he said.
Mr Karume said as tour operators, they are however still struggling to get more number of visitors to the region because the number of visitors had reduced by almost 50 per cent in the last two to three years.
“We used to handle over 200 visitors a week who would visit Watamu and Malindi for holidays, but that has not returned to par. We need the sky to open, like Moi International Airport so that we can have more charter flights to this region,” he said.
Joseph Olekitiro a curio shop seller in Malindi decried the slump in business but expressed hope that the new governments that will be formed after the August General Election will address their plight.
“We suffered a lot at the height of the covid-19 pandemic and for now business is slowly coming back. The numbers however are still low. What we can ask from our politicians is for them to make sure peace prevail during and after election,” he said.
