The future of tourism in Kenya is hanging in the balance this weekend as violence surrounding the election crisis threatens to wipe out bookings for the rest of the year, warn industry experts.
So far cancellations have remained relatively few, but the far bigger concern is that January and February are the key months for bookings to be made for travel to the country. Travel firms last week refused to reveal their booking figures, but privately admitted sales had dried up.
'We've been building the industry but now the clashes are causing the collapse of tourism,' said Jake Grieves-Cook, chairman of the Kenya Tourist Board. 'If we can have a solution within the next week, then we should be able to get back by July a lot of the bookings we have lost.'
Tourism is Kenya's biggest source of income and a big drop in visitors would have devastating knock-on effects.
The main British package tour companies have all cancelled departures to the country up to and including tomorrow, in line with the Foreign Office warning against all but essential travel to the country. Those affected have been offered alternative holidays, mostly to South Africa or Tanzania, or refunds.
However, operators insist tourists are not panicking and rushing to cancel. African Safari Club, which sends 15,000 people a year to Kenya, has a group of 140 due to fly to Mombasa on Monarch Airlines tomorrow, of which only 'a handful' have cancelled. 'Where we have our hotels there's been no indication of any problems and there is very tight security anyway,' said Jan Roe, director of consumer affairs at ASC. Kuoni said that of its 209 clients already in Kenya, only one had asked to return early. There are currently no wider plans to evacuate the 6,000 British tourists in the country.
'What we haven't seen is people watching the pictures on the news and deciding they don't want to go to Kenya at all,' said Roger Diski, founder of Rainbow Tours. 'It was so popular last year that provided this is short-lived, I think bookings should recover.'
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