The Ministry of Tourism might have lost Sh80 million after a cruise ship with about 1,000 tourists that was supposed to dock at the Port of Mombasa changed its destination due to Azimio's protests.
Tourism CS Peninah Malonza said the ship was scheduled to dock in March but was cancelled due to the opposition demos.
"My ministry suffered greatly. This was a small-medium cruise ship that carries about 1000 tourists," she said.
The CS said one tourist supports about six jobs, thus they could have lost much more.
Malonza disclosed that since January last year, four cruise ships have docked in the Port of Mombasa, bringing 3,667 tourists.
They include MV World Odyssey which brought 800 tourists and MV Nautica which ferried 572 tourists.
Another MV Odyssey docked in January with 795 passengers and MV World Artania which docked in February with 1500 passengers.
"However, there are reports that there was one which was expected to dock last month for four to five days but was rescheduled to Zanzibar due to demonstrations," she said
She spoke in Parliament when responding to questions by MPs on Wednesday.
Malonza was responding to a question by nominated senator Veronica Maina (UDA).
Maina had asked about the number of cruise ships that docked in the since January last year and the ones that cancelled their destinations to Kenya and the reasons for the same.
Speaker Amason Kingi however asked the CS to file a response to the House on the exact amount the country lost due to political instability.
