Kenya Tourism Set to Recover
Monday, November 3rd, 2008The tourism sector is yet to recover from the ravages of post election violence 10 months down the line with a reduction of 30 per cent in earnings in the third quarter of the year compared to the same period last year.
The earnings stood at KSh34.5 billion compared to the KSh49.2 billion registered over the same period last year.” the post election violence and the after effects have adversely affected revenues to the sector, we lost some Sh14.7 billion as compared to what was achieved over the same period last year,” said Ong’ong’a during the release of the sectors third quarter results.
This is despite an estimated KSh350 million having been used in recovery efforts mostly on marketing and advertising in key source markets such as the United Kingdom and the United States of America.
Kenya Tourist Board Managing Director Dr. Ong’ong’a Achieng said the recovery efforts will go on until the end of 2009 with the hope that the government will honour its pledge to increase funding to the sector by another Sh1 billion this financial year.
“The recovery programmes are expected to run until the end of 2009 and we expect through this process to reach the 2007 levels,” said Ong’ong’a. “There is little we can do about the delay in disbursing the promised KSh1 billion, but we are trying our best to work with the little we have. We understand the government has quite a lot on its shoulder but still hope the money will come by,” he added.
The results reveal a 30 per cent drop in consolidated tourist arrivals for the last nine months with the figure standing at 939,791 compared to 1.3 million over the same period last year. This was however a six per cent edge improvement against the second quarter.
The global tourism market has been seriously battered by the prevailing high fuel prices that heightened the cost of travel against a background of unstable financial markets and rising inflation levels.
“High fuel prices for a significant part of the year increased the cost of air travel reducing the demand of long haul destinations from the major source markets. These factors also reduced the level of importance of travel in terms of priorities extent,” he said. In terms of international arrivals by air and sea, the sector recorded a 36.6 per cent decline standing at 496,056 compared to the 782, 690 registered over the same period last year.
Almost all the arrival categories registered a major decline compared to 2007 with the holiday segment dipping by 55 per cent while the business segment registered a 20.9 per cent drop. Cross boarder arrivals closed at 443,735 compared to 565,191 during the same period in 2007.
This reflects a 21.5 per cent drop but a 7.5 per cent gain compared to the lat quarter. The hotel sub sector experienced low bed occupancy in the first half of this year. Whereas the sub sector enjoyed a 75 per cent occupancy in the first half of 2007, such occupancies dropped to between 35-40 per cent this year.
The top performing markets for the first half of 2007 were United Kingdom, 42,763, USA 25,315, Italy 13,105 Germany 11,239 tourists while India was fifth with 7,938 arrivals. These were followed by France and Eastern Europe especially Russia which registered a 4.6 per cent increase. In the emerging markets segment, Japan which was the leading source market registered a 49 per cent decline from 10,507 arrivals last year to 5,351 arrivals in the first half of 2008.
Ong’ong’a said partnerships with airlines such as Emirates and Virgin Atlantic has increased tourist arrivals from the far eastern markets of Japan, Korea and china. The Chinese source market registered a 21 per cent decline in the first half of 2008.
KTB chairman, Jakes Grieves Cook said if Barrack Obama win the US elections next week could see the travel advisories issued by the US government rescinded which could critically boost tourism earnings.
By Deborah Allen
Gorilla trekking safari news reporter