Hoteliers count losses after tourists cancel bookings following airport fire

By KIPCHUMBA KEMEI and PHILIP MWAKIO

Nairobi, Kenya:  Hundreds of tourists expected in lodges and camps in Masai Mara Game Reserve failed to arrive yesterday after the fire incident at Jomo Kenyatta International Airport that led to its closure.

Most of them, according to hotel managers, cancelled bookings and opted to head to other destinations after international flights were diverted to Mombasa, Kisumu and Eldoret international airports.

“Tour companies that had booked their clients in most lodges and camps called to cancel bookings. Tourists had booked their lunch and 4pm game drives expeditions,” said a manager of a prestigious lodge that had been fully booked since mid last month, who declined to be named.

He added: “It was expensive for tour operators and tiresome for tourists to land in Mombasa or Eldoret and then start the long journey to Mara. Visitors plan their journey and it is unlikely for them to extend their stay in the country to visit the reserve.”

The annual migration of wildebeests from Serengeti National Park in Tanzania to the reserve through the Mara River that kicks off tourism peak season started mid last month.

Tourists who booked to watch the spectacular migration from Mara lodges opted to board other hotels in Narok town.

Fifty tourists who had booked in camps outside the park, its proprietor told The Standard, decided to stay in the neighbouring Serengeti National Park after their flight was diverted to Dar-es-salaam International Airport.

“I received a call about the cancellation from the tour company that was handling their bookings in the morning. I was informed that the guests had been booked into Ngorongoro in Serengeti,” said William Tome, the proprietor of an establishment in Talek area of the reserve.

A spot check along the Narok-Sekenani road that leads to the Mara established that they were few tour vehicles plying the route, with tour guides and drivers blaming it on the inferno at the JKIA.

PEAK SEASON

“The incident is happening at an important month when tourists are visiting Kenya for August holidays. It is a boon to Tanzania and southern African countries,” said Andrew Mungatana, who is the National Vice Chairman of Tourguides and drivers association.

Meanwhile, Somak Holidays, a leading tour operator in the United Kingdom, has chartered a 36-seater aircraft from Safari Link Airline to airlift 35 passengers who had arrived in Kenya Wednesday morning.