Kenyan Tourism Sector is Likely to Be Greatly Affected by the Constant Mombasa Attacks

The Kenya Association of Hotel keepers and Caterers has cautioned the government of Kenya to take the necessary precautions to stop all the terrorist attacks on Mombasa otherwise the tourism sector is to suffer a huge impact. The recent attack was over the recent murder of Muslim cleric Aboud Rogo. Mike Macharia who is the chairperson of the association said that the government should assure all people in Kenyan and from other international community that peace will be restored so that they can enjoy their holiday.

There are four people who have been reported dead after the riots on Monday after Rogo who is accused by the United States government as well as UN of helping al Qaeda-linked Islamist militants in Somalia, was shot dead. There were so many angry youths who were throwing stones, blocked roads with burning tires, burnt down several churches and also looted several shops in Majengo and Kisauni.

Macharia said that it was very important for the government to get to the bottom of the problem so that they can get a solution to this otherwise, should this happen again, it will affect the image of the country and also drive the tourists away as they will consider the place unsafe.  There are several foreign embassies which include the Australian, Britain and France that have already issued travel warnings for Mombasa and yet it is a major tourist hub and Kenya’s main port.

Macharia has however asked these countries to make it clear to their people that the crisis is not in the entire country but just a small section of the coast region. By now, everything must be under control after a number of leaders going to Mombasa to address the problem so he said. He also said that some tourists may cancel their booking till they are sure the place is safe which is not goo because already the number of arrivals has reduced by 0.5%, this will keep the industry lagging behind.