Every five-year election cycle, Kenya experiences high political tension that leads to insecurity threats due to political instability.
Before the much-disputed general election of 2007, Kenya’s tourism sector had not known the negative impact of political instability in a country.
For example, the Moi International Airport in Mombasa was receiving 47 charter planes every week, but after the disputed 2007 polls, the Coast as a tourists’ destination has never recovered.
In 2013, Kenya yet faced another plague; heightened terror attacks from the Somali-based al Shabab fighters. The attacks were mainly witnessed in major towns of Nairobi, Mombasa, Kwale, Garissa and Lamu.
In 2014, following the increased cases of attacks, the United States, United Kingdom and other western nations issued travel advisories against these four major towns.
Over 500 UK tourists, who were at the coastal towns of Mombasa, Kwale, Lamu and Malindi were evacuated by their service provider, Tui Travel Group from the Moi International Airport.
All booking at the coast hotel were cancelled. Tui Travel withdrew from the region.
In 2015, as the political and security situation of Kenya was gradually stabilizing, and the after withdrawal of the travel warning by the western nations, Kenya’s tourism sector suffered yet another shock in 2017.
The 2017 general election witnessed similar incidence of 2007 whereby the police were accused of extra-judicial killings after the Supreme Court nullified the August 8, 2017 general elections.
Kenyans were forced into a repeat poll on October 26, and this made investors and foreign tourists adopt a “wait-and-see attitude”.
In the tourism sector, which is among the biggest contributors to Kenya’s gross domestic product, the stakeholders panicked as things looked really bad.
Stakeholders were pessimist that thing were going into a headwind and that 2018 would be yet another worst year in the tourism sector.
The tourism recovery path
However, 2018 has proven to a be different year altogether. The tourism sector has largely recovered from the shocks experienced over the last 10 years.
Sam Ikwaye, the Coast Executive Director of the Kenya Association of Hotelkeepers and Caterers, says they had lost hope after seeing what Kenya was going through last year and the years before.
“You see, we were just staring into the darkness, we could not imagine how things would be after the pro-longed electioneering period. However, I must say that 2018 has been the best compared to the last two years, we are very grateful,” says Ikwaye.
He says in 2018 confidence level from the international guests went up.
“We have now been experiencing an upward trajectory in the tourism sector. To mention a few things that we are happy about; we saw an increased number of cruise ship coming into the country, the charter planes have also increased, the international arrivals’ number has also gone really high,” says Ikwaye.
The port of Mombasa received at least six cruise ship between October 2017 and March 2018, cruise ship tourism circuit, which was the highest in the recent years.
The region received over 4,747 high-end tourists coming by sea.
Ikwaye says the arrival of six cruise ships at the Kenyan coast is a sign of confidence for the destination.
“When cruise liners come to your destination, it brings in two things; the high-end tourist who spend good money on their arrival and gives the destination an endorsement,” he says.
Among the cruise ships that docked in Mombasa were; MS Silver Sprit, which came to Mombasa twice with 837 and 890 tourists respectively.
The Omani luxury cruise ship christened Fulk Al Salamah (ship of peace) arrived with 350 passengers on board and Norwegian vessel MS Nautica made two calls at the port of Mombasa with 962 and 642 passengers respectively.
SGR contribution to tourism sector
Ikwaye continues saying that the Standard Gauge Railway, which was launched in May last year, has also been the biggest contributor in bringing local tourists to the Coast.
“The SGR has been able to sustain the region. The number of domestic tourists flocking to the coast arrive on SGR. The improved infrastructure at the Coast, including the roads has also contributed into the increased numbers of the guests,” says Ikwaye.
Charter flights contribution
Tourism Cabinet Secretary Najib Balala says Mombasa is now receiving 15 charter flights every week compared to nine that were coming last year.
Tui Travel, a British Leisure Group that operates in 180 countries, that had pulled out of Kenya in 2014, has now resumed two direct charter planes to Mombasa on weekly basis.
The charters are from Brussels in Belgium and Amsterdam in Holand.
From the Italian market, Balala says, Mombasa is receiving three charter planes and Poland has four planes coming to the region.
“We are now working to make sure Tui Travel flights from London in the UK also resume coming to Mombasa by next year,” says Balala.
The Tourism Cabinet Secretary says that Kenya’s tourism sector has rebounded, with increase in arrivals and revenue.
He says in 2017, arrivals to Kenya stood at 1.45 million up from 1.33 million visitors in 2016. This was actually the highest number of visitors the country had received in four years.
Balala now says they are optimistic they will hit the two million mark in terms of international arrivals by the end of 2018.
The numbers look great, according Balala.
Scheduled flights contribution
On Sunday (December 9), the Moi International Airport Mombasa, which was only receiving three schedule direct flights; Ethiopian Airline, Rwanda Air and Turkish Airline, got a fourth additional flight- The Qatar Airways.
Qatar, a peninsular Arabian Gulf country, launched its first ever direct flight from its Capital Doha to Mombasa, which is Kenya’s second big city after Capital Nairobi.
Mombasa mainstay is tourism, and according to tourism stakeholders, Moi International Airport has to be opened up to the world. Since 2014, tourism stakeholders have been lobbying for Qatar airways to start direct flights to Mombasa.
After successful lobbying, Qatar Airways will now be operating an Airbus A320 aircraft to Mombasa, which features 12 Business Class seats and 120 seats in Economy Class and will be making four flights to the region every week.
The 150-passenger capacity flight will be coming to Moi International Airport Mombasa on Tuesday, Thursday, Saturday and Sunday, according to Kenya Tourism Board.
Kenya Tourism Board Chief Executive Officer Dr Betty Radier says the direct flight is an endorsement of the destination Mombasa.
“This is good news for the sector and together with the private sector, KTB will look into ways of partnering with Qatar airways as well as other aircrafts to increase passenger numbers into the route,” she says.
Radier says from January to September this year, the tourism sector has recorded 7.8 per cent growth in arrivals of by air and sea for the period indicating with 777,791 arrivals up from 723,174 visitors the same period in 2017.
USA, the top performing market for example, posted a 6 per cent increase in arrivals for the that period of January to September this year compared with the same period last year with 95,234 visitors up from 89,866 recorded last year
UK, the second top performing market on the other hand, received an increase of 4.5 per cent arrivals in the last nine months with 82,509 visitors up from 78,930 for a period Jan-September last year.
Germany recorded a 17.3 per cent growth with 79,972 visitors (Jan-September) up from 34,050 arrivals, same period last year.
France within the same review period posted an increase of visitors to 20,248 up from 16,403 same period last year, indicating a 23.4 per cent growth.
Italy on the other hand recorded a 30.8 per cent increase with arrivals shooting up to 40,218 from 30,740 in the same period last year.
Arrivals through Moi International Airport Mombasa improved in those nine months with 84,286 visitors up from 57,588 arrivals in the same period last year, which a 46 per cent growth.
According to Radier, with Qatar inaugural flight to Mombasa, Kenya’s coast is set to receive visitors mainly from her key European tourist source markets such as Italy, Germany, UK, and France.
US is also key to Qatar airline and other markets include Spain, Belgium, Switzerland and Austria.
She says there were more prospect from the market with the direct flight to Mombasa that will ease access to the beach product and other experiences.
“Qatar Airways inaugural has given us more impetus to look into more ways of enticing both charters and scheduled flights into the country. We hope to achieve this once we complete on our review of charter incentives program to incorporate low cost carriers and scheduled flights” says Radier.
Infrastructural development to boost tourism
However, with all these impressive numbers of visitors expected to come to the region, there is need to improve the infrastructure at the Coast and also improve the marketing strategies of the region.
On November 20, the national government launched a Sh7 billion (USD70 million) project rehabilitation of Airside Pavements and Airfield Ground Lighting System at Moi International Airport, Mombasa.
Cabinet Secretary James Macharia and his Tourism counterpart Balala witnessed the ground-breaking ceremony of the project, which will take 24 months to be completed.
Macharia says Moi International Airport caters for 80 per cent of all international tourists coming to Kenya, but has not been upgraded since 1994.
"This airport is the main airport serving the coast region and accounts to over 80 per cent of all international tourists coming to Kenya. Therefore, there is need for the airport to operate to its maximum capacity,” says Macharia.
Balala says the Moi International Airport has capacity to handle two million people annually, but unfortunately it only gets 300,000 passengers annually.
He says there is great need for the government, private sector and other aviation stakeholders to support the airport to ensure more planes land in Mombasa.
"Currently, we have 15 charter flights coming to Mombasa every week, up from nine last year. But Moi International Airport cannot rely on charter business alone, we need more international scheduled airlines," says Balala.
Kenya Airport Authority Chief Executive Officer Johny Andersen says the last major rehabilitation was done at Moi International Airport in Mombasa in 1994 by Pacific Consultants International PCI, a Japanese Company.
In 2014, Andersen says, they began preparations for the rehabilitation of the runway and associated works, which included the study on the state of the runway, business case, source of funding and finally scope of works.
“In 2017, we completed the process and were able to secure USD65 million, which is 93 per cent of the funding from AFD - Agence Française de Développement. Kenya Airports Authority will cover the balance of USD 5Million and the World Bank will also fund the consultants at the cost of USD 900,000,” says Andersen.
At the South Coast, which has been named Africa’s Leading Beach Destination in the World Travel Awards five years in a row, a number of infrastructural projects are coming up.
Diani Reef Hotel Managing Director Bobby Kamani says mega projects that are opening up the South Coast include the Phase II of the Dongo Kundu by-pass, the Likoni Bridge and Cable Car Project and lastly the Expansion of the Ukunda Airstrip.
Deputy President William Ruto was at the South Coast to open up a new school which was built by the Kenya Airports Authority to replace a school which was sitting on the Ukunda Airstrip land, hampering its expansion.
Kenya Airports Authority (KAA), in its expansion plan of the Ukunda Airstrip, was forced to relocate the Mkwakwani Primary School to another area.
KAA on its website says the intension to extend Ukunda Airstrip runway will allow access to larger aircraft and it is therefore expected that it can then offer services to Jomo Kenyatta International Airport in Nairobi, as well as international flights to Zanzibar, Arusha and Dar es Salaam.
Kamani says as hoteliers with facilities in the region, they have collectively been lobbying for expansion of Ukunda Airstrip and they are now confident that the region will now fully explore its investment potential.
“We hope to see international flights and larger domestic carriers coming into Diani in the very near future once the expansion of the Ukunda Airstrip is complete,” says Kamani.
Kenya Tourists Federation chair Mohamed Hersi says in the past two years Ukunda Airstrip has been busier than Malindi Airport.
“We are delighted that Kenya Airports Authority and government of Kenya heard our pleas and officially the school that was sitting on airport land has been moved. A new ultra-modern school has been set up paving the way to turn Ukunda and now Diani Airport into a modern airport with a radar and night landing,” says Hersi.
Hersi says Jambo Jet and Fly 540 started flights to Diani two years ago, and Silverstone then followed suit.
“Jambojet in 2017 transported close to 125,000 passengers to Diani, and with Silverstone coming in strong, we believe we should hit the 200,000 plus passengers,” says Hersi.
Others that fly to Ukunda from Wilson are; SafariLink, AirKenya Express and Fly-Sax Airlines.