Inconsistencies in the spurring of the Covid-19 pandemic are proving a headache to the recovery of the tourism sector, according to sector players.
The sector has been on a slightly good trajectory, with the country receiving 306, 605 international arrivals in the first six months of 2021 , according to the Tourism Research Institute(TRI).
While this showed a degree of recovery over the first half of this year, the numbers are still a fraction of what they were before the pandemic.
The United States was the top tourist market having booked 49,178 arrivals in the period.
This is unlikely to be the same case as the country, on August 11, updated its travel advisory on Kenya over the trend in surging Covid-19 cases .
"The CDC has issued a Level 3 Travel Health Notice for Kenya due to Covid-19, indicating a high level of Covid-19 in the country," part of the statement read.
The development came less than a week after the UK retained Kenya on its Covid-19 red list amid rising coronavirus cases in the country, visitors from the UK were 16,264 in the first half of the year.
The restrictions are set to hurt the sector, which is in the middle of the high season period, given that the US and UK account for over 20 percent of travel to Kenya.
The delta variant is proving to be the most lethal with more cases of Covid-19 being reported daily.
Currently the total infections in the country are 217,276 with 1,546 new cases being announced on Thursday.
According to CEO Kenya Tourism Federation, Susan Ogalo, the revival of the sector can not be assured with the new upcoming variants.
“You might see like the sector is recovering, then boom there is a new variant and new measures are put in place,” said Ogalo.
Tourism CS Najib Balala ina recent meeting said the delta variant has complicated revival of the sector that was on recovery
Balala noted that the country is pegging revival of tourism on countries that have conducted mass vaccination mainly the USA, UK and China.
Only two per cent of Kenyans have been fully vaccinated so far, according to the Ministry of Health.
A report by Deloitte noted that the industry still faces major challenges, with Covid-19 continuing to spring up more challenges that will slow down its recovery.
