Kilifi politicians have said that they will turn to other western markets as new frontiers to revive tourism in Malindi and it’s environs.
Traditional, Malindi resort towns had been depending on Italians for most of the tourism undertakings but their numbers have continued to dwindle by the day.
Addressing residents during a political rally in Kijiwetanga and Musoloni in Ganda ward, Malindi MP aspirant Amina Mnyazi and ODM gubernatorial candidate Gideon Mung’aro said reviving the sector was the only solution to address the plight of many residents.
Ms Amina said the sector with the potential of employing more than 6,000 people in Malindi has not recovered fully after the covid 19 pandemic and the norm of depending on the Italian market.
“We all know the potential of this area in terms of tourism. But after it faced its dwindling fate, our people lost jobs and the situation is not any better,” she said.
“The problem we have been having is depending on the Italian market. I will now work together with the tourism players and push for new frontiers for this sector. We shall target the Anglophone countries and the Germans to also come to Kenya and Malindi in particular. If this happens then we shall be sure of creating job opportunities for our people many of them are currently at home after being laid off,” she said.
Tourism has suffered a number of challenges for some time now. Coupled with the Covid-19 pandemic, the sector literary went down on its knees, affecting hundreds 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 their doors due to a lack of guests.
Mr Mung’aro said his first tackle on the revival of the tourism sector is through marketing Kilifi as a tourist destination.
He told Kijiwetanga residents that he held talks with the British Ambassador on the way forward for the revival of tourism in Malindi and the entire Kilifi County.
“I held talks with the British Embassy on how we can together inject life into the tourism sector in Malindi. Among the issues is to develop an open area for traditional cuisines prepared along the beach line stretching from Buntwani to Sabaki. We shall have local kiosks assembled around that stretch, each with different kinds of delicacies where tourists will be able to sample some of our finest local foods,” he said.
He promised to open up the Kilifi Tourism Circuit that will stretch between Malindi town to Tsavo East, Arabuko Sokoke and connect to Kilifi town, which also has 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 a full 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 the 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 regions,” said Mr Mung’aro.
He further added that once the sector blossoms, then jobs will be created and revive lost hopes for the hundreds who are at home after the sector collapsed.
He said his administration if he becomes the Governor shall concentrate on improving infrastructure in Malindi town including making the town clean.
In the yesteryears when tourism was at its peak, we had more than 30 hotels operating within Malindi and they would register a big number of guests but that is no longer the case now. Only a paltry number of hotels is operational.
“As an MP in Malindi, one of the key areas will be bringing in legislation at the national assembly that will compel the government to come up with recovery measures to 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,” Ms Amina said.
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 any way 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 direct flights and big plans to bring in tourists to the resort town and its 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 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.
