Terrorist attack may stunt Kenya’s economic growth, and harm tourism revenue
theGRIO REPORT - There is overall optimism about Kenya’s future and its global economic growth. Uhuru Kenyatta, the current president of Kenya, believes Kenya will overcome this tragedy as it has done many times before...
Tourism groups vouch for Kenya
U.S. tour operators and travel agents continue to receive calls from clients who are concerned about visiting Kenya after the attacks.
Ashish Sanghrajka, president of the premier luxury tour operator, Big Five, shared that even though some travelers are concerned, the company continues to do all it can to ensure their clients’ safety and well being.
“I have spoken to travelers who are currently in Kenya and those who are on their way and we can account for all our clients,” Sanghrajka stated. “The groups currently scheduled to fly through Kenya and connecting through Nairobi are being accommodated on charter flights. Although I tell our clients… this could have happened anywhere, we understand their apprehensions and we are committed to doing all we can with our operations officers on the ground and in the U.S to assist all of our clients.”
As a second-generation Kenyan, Sanghrajka believes Kenya will bounce back from this incident. He understands how vital tourism is to the nation and vows to do all he can to encourage travelers to visit.
“This is unfortunately a reality of our time,” Sanghrajka concluded. “However, the worst thing we could do right now is not promote Kenya. So I encourage all of our Destinations Specialists to keep Kenya in the forefront. If we stop promoting Kenya, it would be the people who suffer and I could never turn my back on Kenya.”
Optimism reigns despite attacks
Despite this challenging incident, normal tourism activities do continue to take place across the country.
The Kenya Tourist Board still has plans to move forward with the upcoming Magical Kenya Travel Expo scheduled to take place in Nairobi from October 18 – 20. The expo was created as a platform for open discussions with the international trade community on how to develop business relationships with the Kenyan travel industry and to stimulate travel within the destination.
U.S. representatives from the Kenya Tourist Board believe that Kenya will continue to maintain its position as one of Africa’s strongest economic and tourism hubs.
“Since the incident,” a spokesperson of the board said, “all major tourist facilities across the country have been operating normally and we will continue to showcase Kenya’s diverse tourism products to enable the U.S. trade to continue to sell the destination effectively.”
There is overall optimism about Kenya’s future and its global economic growth. Uhuru Kenyatta, the current president of Kenya, believes Kenya will overcome this tragedy as it has done many times before.
“We have overcome terrorist attacks before. In fact, we have fought courageously and defeated them within and outside our borders. We will defeat them again,” Kenyatta said recently.
Wanjira Banfield writes about travel and entertainment for theGrio. You can find her at www.wanjirasworld.com and follow her on Twitter @wanjirasworld.
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