Respite for working mothers as Kwale resort opens lactation room

Diani Reef Beach Resort and Spa. [Courtesy]

A hotel in Kwale County has set up a lactation room for employees who are breastfeeding.

Diani Reef Beach Resort and Spa said the facility will provide a private, safe and clean place for staff to express breast milk.

The room has several baby cots, toys, mini fridge and diapers.

“It is important to protect lactating mothers from being seen by co-workers and the guests while breastfeeding or pumping breast milk,” said Operations Manager, Jotham Mwang’ombe during the unveiling ceremony.

He said working mothers will be given a 40-minute lactation break while on duty every four hours.

Mr Mwang’ombe also said hotels in the South Coast are bracing for the high season as holidaymakers flock to the beach for the Christmas and New Year holidays.

To attract more guests, the hotel has recruited a specialist chef, Adil Karim to help in preparing Swahili-themed dishes.

Mwang’ombe said the hotel has also opened a Sake restaurant that specialises in Chinese and Japanese cuisines.

He said since November, hotel bookings have been rising steadily to about 80 per cent “but we hope to reach 100 per cent by New Year”.

The hotelier attributed the enhanced bookings to the intensive tourism promotion by various stakeholders led by the Kenya Tourist Board.

“The hotel sector is looking buoyant with the encouraging bookings during the festive season when the country receives a large number of international vacationers” he said.

Meanwhile, Kenya’s tourism fortunes are set to increase as a result of hosting the Magical Kenya Ladies Open Golf tournament, according to Tourism Cabinet Secretary Najib Balala.

The tournament concludes today at Vipingo Ridge, Kilifi County.

Mr Balala said the event improves the country’s prospects among global audiences who have been following the tournament on live television.

“Golf is growing globally, and we appreciated that we can use golf tournaments and golf as a sport to send a message both for our products, in terms of beach and safari, and also to put Kenya on the map,” he said during a visit to the venue.

“That is why we sponsored the Kenya Open this year in Nairobi, and today we are here at the coast to sponsor the Ladies European Tour event.”

‘’We want everybody to appreciate sport irrespective of status and of the cost of playing this game.”