And both the national and county governments as well as the hoteliers agree that for a turn around to occur, the security problem at the coast needs to be dealt with, “and to be seen to be dealt with.” Kandie added.
“We had a number of conferences scheduled to take place in Mombasa that were scuttled following the security raid on what was the Masjid Musa mosque. The organisers got cold feet and it cost us millions in business,” Mombasa Governor Ali Hassan Joho told Capital FM Business just two days before police found explosives in a car they had impounded in Mombasa.
Nathan Gatundu, the Shimba Hills Tourism Warden, told Capital FM Business that they (Kenya Wildlife Services) also took a hit from the cancelled conferences following the Masjid Musa, now Masjid Shuhada, police raid on suspected Islamic radicals.
“We were going to make Sh1 million from top bankers who were to have their conference in Mombasa and wanted to have breakfast by the Sheldrick Falls but we lost that business when they cancelled because of the raid,” he said.
And it’s the negative publicity surrounding such occurrences, Kandie said, that sends potential visitors to the coast scampering for the hills.
“I do wish the media would be more sensitive in their reporting of such stories and put them in context. Not milk them. Because when I see headlines such as Mombasa is burning, riots in Mombasa, radicalisation of youth in Mombasa, I cringe because I know what it means. It means us spending a lot of money to bring our numbers up again,” she explained.
Hans Jurgen Langer, the Managing Director of Temple Point in Watamu, echoed Kandie’s sentiments arguing that not enough publicity has been given to the security gains at the coast.
“Why don’t we hear that no one is getting kidnapped in Lamu because the Kenya Defence Forces are doing an incredible job in Somalia? That the kidnappings were isolated incidents on an otherwise secure island? Terrorism is a global problem. Why should Kenya be victimised because of it?” he tasked.
Poaching – which is thought to be potentially linked to terrorism – is another security threat, Mwaluganje Elephant Sanctuary Manager Paul Musila said, to the coastal tourism circuit.
“At least where we’re concerned, poaching has contributed to the decline in tourist visits to our sanctuary. Elephants are intelligent animals and will move away from risky areas. So there are times when paying guests will go on a three hour game drive, not see an Elephant, come back and tell others not to bother coming. And in this era of trip advisor, the word spreads like wildfire,” he said.
And it’s on this front, image, that Modigell took issue with the government’s Sh745 million allocation to KTB for 2013/2014 arguing that it simply isn’t enough to counter such negative publicity.
“Look at how much our competing destinations spend on packaging and marketing their products. Getting their name out there and dictating what message gets out. And it pays off. Look at how many
Kenyans go to South Africa on holiday, unaware that what they left behind is quite simply breathtaking; the Mida Creek, the opportunity to swim with dolphins, all in warm waters,” he said.
A concern Kandie said the Executive was addressing: “The Cabinet recently had a retreat and this is one of the issues that were discussed and the outcome is that we are actually going to go beyond just marketing. We are going to re-brand this country.”
And with the additional commitment by the Executive to better equip the security forces in the 2014/2015 fiscal year, Kandie was optimistic of a turn around.
“Once we get the security situation and conference tourism right, we’ll be okay,” she said.
Conference tourism, she argued, was key to resolving the, “boom and bust,” that came with the high and low seasons of Kenya’s tourism sector.
“A lot of our hotels need refurbishment but the hoteliers say they don’t reinvest because they’re not guaranteed of an income all year round and KTDC (the Kenya Tourist Development Corporation) only caters to the smaller hotels. But if we can attract even half the number of conferences South Africa hosts in a year, we can breathe new life into the coast,” she argued.
And that was why, she said, the government was investing in a 5,000-seater conference facility at the coast which, “should be done in two-and-a-half years and then we should really begin to see a turnaround,” she said.
A projection Ndegwa agreed with, “I don’t see why not. South Africa is currently the preferred conference destination on the continent because they have major conference facilities in Durban, Johannesburg and Cape Town.”
A market Vipingo Ridge is keen to cash in on themselves, “We haven’t been in the industry very long but from what we’ve heard from our colleagues is that business hasn’t been very good. Which is why we’re keen to get our conference facility up and running by July,” Gail Conway, Vipingo Ridge Hospitality Manager, told Capital FM Business.
The unpredictability of the Kenyan tourism sector has also led investors in the hospitality industry to change the way in which they do business.
“In a similar fashion to Vipingo Ridge, we sold our units and then we manage them at a fee because the traditional own and run model simply isn’t feasible anymore,” the Acting Medina Palms Resident Manager Edward Olumola explained.
“The challenge with what we’re doing however is that when there’s the highest demand for accommodation, say Christmas or Easter, that’s when the buyers want to occupy their holiday homes,” Conway elaborated.
But even with all the potential conference tourism has to boost, the number of tours to the coast during the low season, hospitality industry players are concerned that given the 16 percent Value Added Tax (VAT) introduced on service charges and park fees in 2013, they may be priced out of the running.
