When a “strange” disease was discovered in Wuhan, China, the World never anticipated that the said disease would bring the world to a standstill.

But when the World Health Organization declared it a pandemic, it was evident that the world was about to take a break from its “busy schedule”.

One by one, countries started locking down their borders and putting restrictions on its citizens.

With borders closed, first casualties to suffer the effects of the newly declared pandemic were international airlines and the tourism sector.

Here in Kenya, as the government put up a strong face against fears of importation of the virus by guests arriving in the country, Kenyans remained prayerful that the virus will not make its way to the country.

On March 12, all fears were confirmed as the Kenya announced its first case.

The confirmation came with fairly restrictions but as the cases rose, stringent measures were put in place.

Effects on Kenya’s tourism industry

Kenya like most countries in the world suspended international air-travel, and due to the interlinking nature of sectors, freezing of international travel led to mass cancelations of hotel bookings.

Most of the industry players could not keep their businesses open and preferred shutting down thus rendering thousands of their employees jobless.

Some opted to downsizing its staff and remain with the most critical staff as a way of cutting down their cost.

Venant Ndambo, the proprietor of Keron tours and safaris had to send home his entire team of staff as he could not sustain the wage bill.

Ndambo said that their situation was worsened by the fact that they had to either refund their clients while few guests requested the postponement of the safaris instead of refund.

“For close to 10 years I have been in this business, we have withered all the challenges. But Coronavirus brought us to our knees and it will take years to rise to where we are,” he said.

Ndambo however said that 2021 looks promising and is hopeful that the government will complement tourist’s stakeholder’s efforts to ensure normalcy returns to the industry.

Several World class hotels such as Intercontinental hotel closed down their hotels and were even considering permanently closing business in Kenya.

Fairmont hotels also closed its Norfolk and Mara Safari club hotels and fired all their employees.

According to tourism minister Najib Balala, by July, the sector had lost some 81.8 billion shillings (about 770 million U.S. dollars) since March, which is about 50 percent of its average annual revenue.

The pandemic had literally grounded the industry to a halt, with over 2.3 million employees sent home, a majority on unpaid leave while the lucky ones on half-pay.

Kenya’s tourism sector is not only a major employer but also linked to others sectors such as energy, agriculture and manufacturing.

Suppliers of services and goods used within the tourism industry experienced low demand for services such as travel and food.

The reduction in tourism had a spatial unemployment effect because major tourism sites are at the coast of Kenya and a few other areas.

Journey to recovery

Some of the hotels have recalled their staffs, while some opted to permanently downsize its staffs meaning the hotels are operating on half of its staff.

However, the just concluded festive season came as a booster as most of the hotels recorded at least 65 percent bed occupancy.

The hotels have to adhere to the measures put in place by the ministry of government.

Hotels and tour companies have put in strategies to compliment government’s efforts in luring back international tourists.

The stakeholders are also packaging themselves to attract local tourists and guests from neighboring countries.

However, Sam Ikwaya of Kenya association of hotel keepers and caterers said the situation is still unpredictable due to the ongoing pandemic.

Ikwaya said the situation is also worse due to lockdown of Kenya’s source market such as United Kingdom.

He further said that the political temperature which are already high due to BBI and the oncoming general elections is also scaring tourists

“Investors are also afraid of pumping their money to the industry due to such uncertainties,” he said.

Ikwaya said that the political class needs to tone down the political temperature or the sector risks counting more loses.

He further noted that the  government needs to support investors and ease some of the business restrictions in order to attract more investors.