Can domestic tourism save Kenya's lonely beautiful beachside resorts?

Kenya’s Diani Beach located 30km on the southern part of the Mombasa Indian Ocean coast is without a doubt among the world’s most beautiful places; there’s no need to argue over this, one only needs to go there to concur. The ten kilometer beach stretch is dominated by beautiful tourist resorts surrounded by ancient baobab trees and swaying palms against the sparkling blue ocean waters; for decades, this has been the bedrock of Kenya’s multi-billion tourism sector. Hundreds of newlywed couples from all over the world have been to Diani for their honeymoon, and millions of tourists from Europe and Asia have, in previous years flocked the place for the much fancied body tan. If it wasn’t for the torturous heat in this part of Kenya, it would be fair to call Diani a ‘paradise beach’ but then, I hear it is cool in paradise, just like a well air-conditioned room, well, maybe Diani would be the warmer version of paradise. At Diani, it is okay to walk around with a sweaty face, it’s that hot. In fact, for foreigners just arriving at the beach, the first thing they are given is a wet hand towel to wipe the sweat off their faces. However, the heat doesn’t in anyway reduce the natural beauty of this place. For instance, Diani also has some of this region’s most beautiful monkey species; black and white-Columbus monkeys that have no fear for human beings. One morning, through the window of my room, I saw a pretty female guest wake up and opened the door to her balcony only to find a family of Monkeys chilling on her chairs and table, enjoying the morning sun. With the arrogance of Arab princes, they gazed at her with a bored dismissive look before continuing in their reverie on her balcony; either out of respect or fear, she closed the door and retreated back to the inside of her cottage leaving the Diani landlords in peace. When, in 2013, Rwanda, Uganda and Kenya mooted the idea of a Single Tourist Visa which they launched in February 2014, places such as Diani beach were expected to be the leading cash cows of the region as a single tourist destination. The single visa would allow a tourist coming to Rwanda for gorilla trekking, to also go to Uganda and Kenya to enjoy the respective natural beauties of those countries. Between February and December 2014, about 1,560 single tourist visas had been issued and tourism sales executives were predicting numbers to go up this year. Unfortunately, tourism is a perception driven sector and Kenya, seen as the leading cash cow had, even before the launch of the single tourist visa, been increasingly suffering terrorist attacks at a time when the global financial crisis was also setting in, around 2008. Party spoilers In fact, Kenya’s tourism sector had just started to recover from its 2007 post election violence when the global financial crisis also set in, the combination of factors spoiling the party for the region’s prospects as European and North American visitors stayed away to save cash. Before the global financial crisis and the election violence, Kenya’s tourism sector had maintained an upward trend between 2001 and 2007 (just before the violence), realising a 13.6 percent growth in tourist arrivals, according to official figures. Earnings were looking good, increasing by 28.9 percent in 2007 compared with 19.9 percent the previous year. Between 2004 and 2007, Kenya’s net tourism earnings accounted for about 9 percent of the country’s export trade from about 5 percent previously. Then things began to fall apart on account of the post election violence that broke out two days after Christmas in 2007 and dragged on until end of February 2008. Effects were almost immediate on the sector. Only 561,313 tourists came to Kenya in the first six months of 2008 compared to 873,433 in the same period the previous year. Empty beaches in Mombasa. (Kenneth Agutamba) According to official statistics, Kenya’s tourism earnings in the first half of 2008 tumbled 32 percent compared to the same period the previous year. At around the same time, the financial crisis was just kicking in, with North America and Europe, the leading sources of international tourists, being the worst hit regions. People had no money to spend and the Kenyan post election violence gave them another reason to either keep away or finding cheaper holiday destinations nearer home. It’s estimated that about 69 percent of Kenya’s tourists come from Europe and 6 percent from the US and it is estimated that if the number of tourists from the two regions had been halved, the loss would be in the range of $316 million, about 5.2 percent of Kenya’s export trade in 2007. The election violence and the global financial crisis dealt Kenya a double blow and its resorts became ignored as tourists found other options elsewhere. To enhance the sector’s quick recovery, the country’s tourism ministry called on the Treasury to give it 5 percent of what the sector had generated in 2007 for its promotion and marketing and compete with the likes of Egypt and South Africa that spent US$100m and US$70 million respectively on marketing and promotion. The increased spending on marketing and promotion was expected to revive the sector by 2010 with earnings close to those recorded before election violence and financial crisis. Enter Al-Shabab Unfortunately, a new wave of violence masterminded by the notorious Somali based Al-Shabab hit Kenya towards the end of 2011, causing the current downward spiral of the sector that had almost recovered. According to Kenyan government officials, the violent attacks and murders that rocked the country were carried out by Al-Shabab in retaliation for Kenya’s military campaign against the insurgents that began in October 2011, when troops from Kenya crossed the border into the conflict zones of southern Somalia. The attack, on September 21, 2013, of West-Gate shopping mall in Nairobi that killed close to 70 people, was the worst in Kenya’s recent history and received world-wide international media coverage. However, the West-Gate incident was a climax of what had been building up in form of smaller violent incidents beginning with one on a downtown Nairobi bar known as Blue-collar, in late 2011. That incident claimed one person and injured twenty others after a grenade was hurled inside the bar; it was the beginning of a series of others to come. Lonely beach-side resorts Nairobi has remained largely vulnerable to attacks since 2011 and has recorded drops in tourism earnings in the last three years with visitors from Europe and USA keeping away on the advice of their respective embassies’ travel advisories. Although most of the attacks have not affected Mombasa, international media coverage has painted the entire Kenya as being under siege, scaring away potential visitors. It’s thought that some 40,000 workers in the hotel and hospitality industry have lost their jobs as resorts on Kenya’s Mombasa coast closed down in the wake of the impact, industry analysts report. Government statistics show that arrivals decreased from 1.52 million in 2013 to 1.35 million in 2014 while earnings declined by 7.3 percent and the number of bed-nights dropped from 6.6 million in 2013 to 6.3 million. The impact of this was on full display last week at Jacaranda Beachside Hotel, one of the beautiful resorts on Diani beach; the place was only reopened in March this year after undergoing eighteen months of renovation. Built next to the site of a 16th century mosque, Jacaranda is set on 29 acres of nature’s gardens on a crisp white sandy beach surrounded by ancient baobab trees and swaying palms. The place oozes history with the influence of the Sultans of Zanzibar whose royal taste is felt in the hotel’s rich Arabian décor and the various antiques that dot the interiors of the beautiful cottages with great air-conditioning to keep away the blazing heat outside. Unfortunately, this natural beauty is lonely. What used to be a beach swarming with tourists is now a lonely paradise with only a few guests seen littered across the sprawling gardens. Most of the rooms are empty and the two-day conference I was attending helped make the place look busier. The rooms which normally go for $65 a night had been booked for a bargain $50, because business is slow. It’s the same everywhere. The sun-beds lay idle under the beautiful palm trees. Who will save Kenya’s beautiful beachside resorts from their current loneliness? The answer could be in restructuring their marketing strategies to appeal to local tourists in Kenya and within East Africa. For years, these places have targeted European tourists ignoring the potential in local and regional tourism. But at a time when the international tourists are convinced that ‘Kenya is a hotbed for terrorism,’ local and regional visitors could be the answer and make a statement to the contrary. Begin by revisiting the service rate cards, establishing local prices to directly target local tourists and with the help of the internet, pictures of Africans (local tourists) enjoying these resorts can help rebuild confidence in international travelers that the region is safe for holidays.

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Can domestic tourism save Kenya's lonely beautiful beachside resorts?