Piracy fears undermine Kenya’s cruise tourism

Cruise tourism along the East Africa coast suffered a major blow this year despite a surge in the global scene this year.

Cruise tourism along the East Africa coast suffered a major blow this year despite a surge in the global scene this year.

Kenya, which lies on the western Indian ocean rim, suffered the most with only two calls by international cruise liners this year.

Tourism industry players say aggressive marketing of the east Africa region and intensified security in the entire Indian ocean could help reverse the trend and ensure Kenya grabs a bigger share of the global cruise tourism pie.

Mr Auni Kanji, an executive at Abercrombie & Kent, said that the country is poised to capture a greater market of the fast growing global cruise tourism should security in the Indian ocean be beefed up.

“We have seen commendable efforts to market Kenya overseas by the Ministry of Tourism, but more needs to be done to sell Mombasa as a cruise tourism destination,” Kanji said.

Cruise ships have given the Kenyan Coast a wide berth owing to escalating piracy incidents along the Horn of Africa and the western Indian ocean rim.

Tuesday marked the end of a dull year for the local cruise tourism industry after a vessel, MV Silver Wind, docked at the port of Mombasa with 470 passengers on board.

End of dull year

Tourism Minister, Najib Balala led a government delegation to welcome the guests.

“We are excited at the arrival of this ship when Kenyan tourism is on a rebound despite many obstacles like travel advisories and piracy,” Balala said.

Balala, who was flanked by Kenya Tourist Board (KTB) Managing director Muriithi Ndegwa and Kenya Ports Authority acting managing director, Captain Twalib Khami, thanked Abercrombie & Kent for bringing the tourists to Mombasa.

The 17,000-tonne vessel docked at the port for the second time year after docking in February.

Kanji said there are 250 tourists and 220 crew on board.

Most of the tourists who disembarked toured Ngorongoro, Masai Mara, Shimba Hills, Tsavo National Park and Mombasa city.

KPA reiterated that it would convert berths 1 and II into modern cruise ship handling terminals.

“We have not dropped the idea completely, the project is still on,” Khamis said.

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Linda Hohnholz

Editor in chief for eTurboNews based in the eTN HQ.

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