Lamu hoteliers and tourism stakeholders have criticised the recent advisory by the United States warning citizens in Kenya against traveling to the region.
Washington indicated that the advisory was due to the surging Covid-19 cases.
The move, they say, will affect the tourism sector which is already reeling from the adverse effects of the pandemic.
The US also warned its citizens against travelling to the Kenya-Somalia border and some coastal areas due to the risk of terrorism.
Led by the Tourism Caucus chairperson Abdalla Fadhil, industry players said the advisory was ill-intended as it comes at a time when no terror incidents have been recorded in Lamu or at the coast region.
Lamu’s tourism sector suffered harshly between 2014 and 2015 due to terror attacks that literally brought the sector to its knees.
Fadhil said the pandemic made an already bad situation worse and now such an advisory will erode any strides made to improve the sector.
He said all countries had suffered the effects of the pandemic and as such, it was unfair for the US to claim the advisory was in part meant to curb its spread.
“No single nation hasn’t felt the pinch of the pandemic. It's malicious to introduce an advisory on that basis. Terrorism should equally not be an excuse,” Fadhil said.
“When last did we have an incident at the coast? Such thoughtlessness will cost us more than it already has.”
