Poor state of coastal city hurts tourism

By Macharia Kamau

The Kenyan coast has been key for tourism and Mombasa a centre for the industry.

Indeed, Kenya as a tourism destination has traditionally been known for its coastal beaches and safari.

Tourism players, however, feel that the coastal region has capacity to perform better, but has been held by poor infrastructure, low investments in hotel and conferencing facilities and a dilapidated state of the coastal city.

"The coast is important for Kenyan tourism and as a coastal destination. It has been competing with destinations as far as Miami and doing relatively well," said Kenya Tourist Board Chairman Jake Grieves-Cook.

"What has held us back is the lack of investments in tourism."

Despite a rise in the number of tourists, major international hotel brands have all along refrained from investing at the coast.

While it has offered local firms an opportunity for growth, analysts say world renowned hotels would increase the level of confidence among many travellers and act as a pull factor. Grieves-Cook said the physical infrastructure at the Kenyan coast has also played part in repelling first time travellers to the country.

"The movement of tourists after they arrive at the airport has been a key challenge. There is a crying need for ferry services that are of international standards and even the possibility of building a bypass so that traffic between Mombasa Island and South Coast is not dependent on the ferry channel," he said.

Indeed, industry players have echoed the Cook’s thinking. Daniel Ebo Intercontinental Hotel Group’s area director of sales and marketing for Africa said bad roads and the appearance of the city as one that is in neglect paints a negative first impression of the coast among many visitors.

Hotel conference

"Kenyan beaches are outstanding, the white and soft sand on the beaches are not overstated and if visitors were ferried by choppers to their hotels, they would not think twice about a second visit," he said.

"However, going through the town enroute to their hotels gives them a glimpse of a picture that is a stark contrast to the beach. There is a need to overhaul the town and its infrastructure."

Grieves-Cook noted that the region also needs to diversify from holiday tourism and embrace conferencing, a segment in the sector that is believed to have potential, but is yet to pick up.

Currently, parties holding conferences and meetings in Mombasa have to use hotel conference facilities that may not hold large delegates as they are basically designed for holiday makers.

This is unlike Nairobi, which despite having Kenyatta International Conference Centre and a number of hotels tailored for conferences, still needs investments in more facilities and bed capacity.

"We need to develop conference facilities in the coast as holiday tourism is seasonal and during the low seasons, many hotels go for many months with spare capacity," said Grieves-Cook.

"As a country, we can tap more into regional and international conferences if we had capacity," he said.