Hotels in Malindi scale down operations on low season

Tourist hotels and holiday homes at the coast have sent home workers as a result of scaled-down operations due to low tourist season. Worst hit are hotels in Malindi and Watamu owing to lack of chartered planes from Italy occassioned by low passenger numbers. Hotels in the two towns largely depend on Italians for survival.

The situation, according to Kenya Association of HotelKeepers and Caterer’s Coast chief executive Sam Ikwaye has been exacerbated by booking cancellations owing to Azimio La Umoja protests that hit the country weeks before Easter holiday. Ikwaye, a seasoned hotelier is now urging the government to lift the chartered flight restrictions so that many flights can bring more tourists to Kenya. Many hotels are now banking on sector rebound starting September this year.

He said the country could attract more tourists by offering incentives to giant airlines in both traditional and emerging markets to fly directly to the Kenyan coast.

“We did not have a good Easter because of demonstrations that had led to cancellation of bookings, and also after Easter we usually have a low season up to September,” Ikwaye told Business Hub.

He said starting mid-May, the establishments will rely on conferences in the South Coast, while Malindi will be highly affected by the low season and have some establishments closed for refurbishment.

Last year, the players requested tax reliefs for them to stay afloat during the low season, but Ikwaye says the government ought to undertake good marketing and branding to attract more tourists

Chartered flights

“We don’t even want tax relief, we need facilitation by the government by ensuring connectivity, this is by increasing chartered flights, because the charter inventive expired, if the government improves on that then we will be good to go,”Ikwaye added. Some hotels are now conducting renovations waiting for the peak season in the third quarter of the year in September.

 “We have closed business because there are no tourists, we are anticipating that by September the season will pick again,” said an employee of Ndovu resort in Watamu who is now forced to look for alternative sources of income awaiting the season to pick again.

 Guests from Nairobi normally throng beaches, and patronise local pubs and entertainment joints but this year, there were very little activities. The few, who had the opportunity to visit the hotels, opted for low budget facilities owing to tough economic challenges.

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