The Lamu Cultural Festival, will go on as usual this year despite recent abductions that have led to cancellation of visits to the resort town, Minister Najib Balala has announced. Balala yesterday assured visitors to the area that Lamu is safe for tourism activities adding that the government has taken action to beef up security in the area. “On 25th November there will be the Lamu cultural festival and we will go there in a big way to make sure that we market Lamu,” revealed Balala.
Lamu has recently been in the spotlight following attacks by militia from Somalia in September and October who killed a British tourist and abducted his wife. A French national who was abducted in October at her holiday home in Manda Island in the area died yesterday. “We cannot as a government take that for granted because when the abductions of the British and French nationals happen the international media picked that as a lead news headline and this is not good for tourism marketing,” remarked Vice President Kalonzo Musyoka.
As a way of demonstrating that the area is safe, this year's cultural festival will be graced by stakeholders from various countries and sections within the tourism industry including high profile government officials. Lamu's economy heavily depends on tourism activities which account for an estimated 90 per cent of all employment in the area directly and indirectly.
The two government officials were speaking during the opening of the inaugural Magical Kenya tourism marketing expo held yesterday at the Kenyatta International Conference Centre in Nairobi. The event which is the first to be entirely organized by government backed Kenya Tourism Board has drawn 170 agents and marketers from international source markets and 58 local agents and tour operators.
