How insecurity has damaged Brand Kenya and what to do about it

The once picturesque coastal town of Mombasa, full of vibrancy, teeming with locals and tourists as they intermingled sampling the sun and sand has lost its shine. The serene beaches on which one could hardly find space to sunbathe are deserted.

Gone are the tourists, and with them, the dollars that sustained Mombasa's allure. All this came to bear when rampant insecurity became a great concern, especially after parts of the Coast region were assailed by a string of attacks from Somalia-based Al Shabaab terror group.

The Mpeketoni area of Lamu County bore the brunt of the attacks after the terrorists attacked the area twice, killing 60 people. With the killing of two tourists, one a German and the other Russian on the streets of Mombasa in the same month, things came to a head. Foreign missions in Kenya issued travel advisories while Britain evacuated its nationals.

It has never been the same again for the coastal region which mainly depended on tourism to promote small scale businesses and to finance most of their projects using revenue earned from tourism. With the closure of at least 40 hotels, 75 per cent of the tourism sector ground to a halt.

Bed occupancy in Mombasa dropped to between 20 and 25 per cent while in Malindi and Watamu, occupancy is at 10 per cent.

To stay afloat, most of the hotels laid off their staff, totalling 40,000. Those who survived the chop, had to contend with a 30 per cent pay cut.

Tourism earning registered a 7.3 per cent drop in 2014 bringing down earnings from Sh94 billion to Sh87 billion. This is a significant drop especially considering other sectors that fed off from the tourism industry. Suppliers of foodstuff to hotels, curio traders, taxi drivers, entertainers, private tour guides and hawkers are feeling the pinch.

Britain's ambassador to Kenya Christian Turner has denied that his country gave a blanket condemnation of Kenya while issuing travel advisories, but it is a case of too little too late. It is good, though, that to show the country was safe, Dr Turner and his family spent the weekend in the world famous Masai Mara Game Reserve.

While that might serve to reassure those who were jittery about visiting Kenya, the removal of travel advisories altogether will signify serious intent to help us rebuild our tourism sector.

While there are efforts to revive the fledgling tourism industry, the outcome will depend on the Government's ability to accord both locals and visitors adequate security. Lamu County has come up with a concept to attract visitors from Malaysia and Turkey through the 'Islamic diet' tourism initiative.

The county government of Mombasa has established a beach guard to be trained by Australia and the USA to make beaches safer and friendly.

The National Government ought to, besides ensuring the country is safe, market Kenya to other destinations in Africa and Asia and seek to lure back visitors from traditional European and North American markets.

The 2015 Economic Survey report shows Kenya received 110,000 visitors from central Africa alone between 2013 and 2014.

Our envoys and Brand Kenya initiative must work overdrive to restore Kenya's glory and with it save the millions staring at a bleak future.