Kenyan tourism 'suffers most'
12/02/2008 12:17  - (SA)  

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Nairobi - The number of tourists arriving to Kenya last month was 90% less than anticipated, said reports, after weeks of violence and unrest that had marred the image of the nation known for its fabled game parks and pristine coastline.

Kenya relied heavily on its once bustling tourism industry for foreign exchange, but the aftermath of the disputed December 27 elections forced many visitors to cancel their trips in what was ordinarily a peak season in Kenya.

"Kenya is not the first country to be affected by such a crisis and I urge stakeholders to focus ahead," Jake Grieves-Cook, chairperson of the Kenya Tourist Board, was quoted as saying in the independent Daily Nation.

The Standard, Kenya's oldest newspaper, reported only 8 000 tourists arrived to the country instead of the 100 000 expected.

Thousands of people had lost their jobs over the decline in tourists, with usually packed hotels at the Indian Ocean coast and in game parks nearly empty.

Some two million tourists travelled to Kenya in 2007, an increase of 12.5% from the year before, according to Kenya's tourism ministry. The industry was Kenya's third-largest foreign exchange earner.

Sapa-dpa

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