Domestic tourists bring back smiles on hoteliers despite Omicron concerns
Noven Owiti, Harriet James and Harrison Kivisu
With all economic sectors resuming operations, the travel and tourism industry, is pinning its hopes on the festive season to reverse losses and revive fortunes.
As it is, the industry has seen a sharp upswing in business in the past weeks, as the number of people visiting tourist spots across the country increases significantly after the government withdrew curbs on movement.
Destinations, such as Mombasa, Masai Mara and Nakuru, and cities, such as Kisumu, which houses several tourist spots, have been witnessing huge footfall, especially getting into the festive season.
In coastal region, for example, local and international tourists have continued to troop in facilities in South and North coast for the Christmas and New Year festivities since early this month, signaling a sigh of economic relief to the sector players
Majority of the domestic visitors are flying in, driving or disembarking through the Standard Gauge Railway (SGR) Madaraka Express train services, which offers cheaper transport and speed.
National parks at the coast, such as Tsavo National Park are also making a killing from some of the guests embracing game drives at the parks.
Quick cash window
This was evident when a delegation of over 300 local and international players who took part in the just ended Mombasa Open Tong IL Moo Do international martial arts championship took a game drive, in part of sports tourism promotion.
“We took the delegation to Tsavo East National Park so that they can promote our local tourism and also market our destination when they get back to their respective countries,” said Clarence Mwakio, Kenyas federation president.
The end of year celebrations offers coastal tourism players, especially holiday homes, hotels and resorts and tours and travel agents a brief window for them to make quick money, after suffering customer set-backs due to covid-19 disease.
“Hotels in the region are receiving encouraging bookings and reservations with local holidaymakers accounting for the highest percentage,” said the Chief Executive Officer of the Coast region Kenya Association of Hotel Owners and Caterers Sam Ikwaye.
He said hotels in the South Coast, North Coast have hit 100 per cent hotel bookings.
Among those enjoying full bookings are Bahari Beach Resort, Pride Inn and Paradise Beach Resort Mombasa and Crystal Bay Resort in Watamu.
“We are fully booked with a mixture of local and international tourists, we anticipate good business until the end of this month, we were lucky to host a delegation of sports men and women who took part in the Mombasa Open Tong Il Moodo world competition who boosted us a lot,” Hilary Siele,Travellers Beach and Club Resort in Mombasa.
Owing to the activities, the government has beefed up security at the beaches and within leisure establishments to ensure safety in anticipation of more visitors in the eve of the New Year.
Coast Regional Commissioner John Elungata said adequate security measures have been put in place to ensure the safety of local and international tourists visiting to celebrate Christmas and usher in the new year.
“We are ready for the festivities and have deployed adequate security personnel to enhance patrols at the beaches, places of worship and other popular joints to ensure residents and visitors enjoy a peaceful and safe holiday season,” said Elungata during an interview in Mombasa.
Practice caution
Elungata who was accompanied by the Coast Regional Police Commander Manase Musyoka asked the management of worship places and the general public to co-operate with the security personnel and volunteer information on any suspected person or illegal activities.
“Those manning mosques, churches and other worship premises should introduce screening and other security measures for protection,” added the Regional Commissioner.
He urged locals and visitors to avoid overcrowding, especially at the beaches, entertainment joints and public transport vehicles.
On his part, Musyoka urged bar owners and other entertainment joints to ensure total adherence of Covid-19 protocols and close their establishments in line with their operation licenses.
He added that police will work closely with the National Transport and Safety Authority (NTSA) in the enforcement of traffic regulations saying public service vehicles and other motorists should avoid reckless driving during the festive period.
“Public transport vehicles and other motorists should strictly obey traffic regulations including avoiding drunk driving and over speeding,” said the Police boss
Just like the coast, players in the Lake basin are also confident the region will post booming business from domestic travellers.
Lake Victoria Tourism Association (LVTA) chairman Robinson Anyal says the hotel industry within the region has continued to register a significant improvement in business performance since the government eased some of the Covid-19 containment measures, such as lifting of the dust to dawn curfew and increasing business hours for restaurants and eateries.
And with the festive season, he says hoteliers have recorded increased business volumes majorly from corporate end-of-the-year parties, government parastatals and non-governmental organisations meetings and team building activities that have since resumed.
Similarly, he says the hotels are expecting to capitalise on opportunities that come with the festivities, such as family get-together parties, weddings, holiday travels and group retreats for guests and families.
“We are expecting to handle between 40 and 50 per cent occupancies from below 15 per cent last year and above 50 per cent in 2019,” Anyal said.
“Hotels in the region are recording 99 per cent bookings from the local and domestic market.
Previously we were doing more than 80 per cent domestic market and less 20 per cent international market. The same figures applies to business and leisure tourism respectively,” he added.
Employees recalled
The LVTA chairman, however, noted the industry is yet to fully bounce back to where it was in 2019, it is indicating better growth than in 2020 and have recalled 70 per cent of their staff on full time employment with a few being engaged on short term employment to support service delivery during the festive season.
Notably, a few establishments are paying full salary while some are paying between 50 and 70 per cent salaries to their workforce.
Pauline Anyona, sales manager at Acacia Premier Hotel, says the hospitality industry in the region is showing signs of positive growth after being greatly ravaged by Covid-19.
“Things are looking up. November and part of December have been busy with most hotels in Kisumu hosting big meetings and even exceeding their targets,” explains Anyona.
Peter Ayuko, Kisumu’s Joventure Hotel general manager conquers, saying the industry business performance is on the upward trajectory.
“Immediately after the curfews were lifted, our accommodation and conference bookings shot up with accommodation stabilising at around 60 per cent,” says Ayuko.
Joshua Otieno, general manager Lesavanna hotel in Kisumu town, says they expect a number of clients, including national government parastatals and county governments will be having meetings for the close of the year that will give hotels more business between December and mid-January 2022.
However, with the rise in Covid-19 infections above the 2,000-mark and the emergence of the Covid-19 Omicron variant in the country could pose another challenge for the industry.
Already some tour operators and guides are feeling the effect of this with cancelations from booked clients.
Samwel Mwai, a tour operator and the CEO of Natural World Safari had already booked clients who were travelling to Masai Mara National Reserve, Amboseli National Park and Mombasa.
Sadly, they all cancelled until further notice. “Omicron is creating panic in the tourism industry as we have few activities this Christmas eve.
The government should give positive report and encourage more locals to travel,” he says.
For Stella Maris Miriti of Stejos Tours and Travel Limited, uncertainty has led to cancellation of bookings.
“Other clients had to travel to different countries and stay there for 14 days (quarantine) since their countries had banned travelling, in order to access their preferred festive destination,” she says.
She adds that the temporary suspension of flights to Dubai will greatly affect tourism since a lot of Kenyans travel to Dubai over the festive season and in January because of the Shopping Festival.
“New measures put in place, such as more tests, plus Visas taking long to be processed is making a lot of clients to cancel or postpone their trips,” she continues.
For tour guides who were recovering from the effects of the virus last year due to border restrictions and the emergence of the Omicron variant has made things worse for them.
“The cancellation of Dubai flights from Nairobi has made things worse,” says Felix Migoya, a tour guide and the Secretary General of the organisation of The East Africa Tour guides and Drivers Association.
