• last December, Tourism and Wildlife Cabinet Secretary Najib Balala announced that Kenya’s tourism sector had lost about $1 billion (over Sh110 billion) in revenue between January and October 2020.
• Popular tourist destinations such as the Maasai Mara in Narok county and other world-class wildlife reserves in the country and holiday destinations on the Coast witnessed a heavy thrashing by the effects of the disease.
Image: FILE
Tourism is one of Kenya`s most important foreign exchange earners, accounting for 10 per cent of its revenue every year.
However, last year, this sector was brought to its knees by the Covid-19 crisis as Kenya and the whole world literally locked up their borders to curb the spread of the virus.
It’s, therefore, no surprise that last December, Tourism and Wildlife Cabinet Secretary Najib Balala announced that Kenya’s tourism sector had lost about $1 billion (over Sh110 billion) in revenue between January and October 2020 when numbers of foreign tourists fell by two thirds because of Covid-19.
Popular tourist destinations such as the Maasai Mara in Narok county and other world-class wildlife reserves in the country and holiday destinations on the Coast witnessed a heavy thrashing by the effects of the disease.
Kenya’s tourism industry contributes 10 per cent of economic output and employs more than two million people, a large percentage of whom lost their jobs to the pandemic.
Data from the Tourism ministry website show the sector raked in Sh163.5 billion in 2019 and it had been projected that the figure would grow by one per cent in 2020, but this was not to be, as international visitors fell to fewer than 500,000 in the first 10 months of 2020 as compared to 1.7 million in the same period in 2019, leading to a loss of Sh110 billion.
So important is Maasai Mara to Narok as a wildlife county that it earns more than 60 per cent of revenue from wildlife, with the famous Maasai Mara Game Reserve, known worldwide for its spectacular wildebeests' migration, providing the bulk of this revenue.
The annual Great Migration of white-bearded wildebeest, also known as gnus, is a breath-taking sight that usually draws both local and international tourists to Kenya’s world-famous Maasai Mara Game Reserve. It has been classified as one of the eight natural wonders of the world.
During the months of July to September every year, the Maasai Mara and Serengeti ecosystems experience large herds of wildebeests and zebras migrating from Serengeti National Park in Tanzania to Maasai Mara and back in search of pasture and water and giving birth, travelling a total of 800 kilometres or more during each cycle.
This year, the grand crossing began on July 5 and is expected to continue as millions of the gnus cross the River Mara in their droves, oblivious of the danger lurking in the waters as crocodiles wait to make a meal out of any of them. Some then gracefully graze along the river on the border of Kenya and Tanzania.
Last year, the number of tourists who visited the reserve to witness this specular event dropped significantly owing to the coronavirus pandemic that hurt the tourism sector.
The general manager of Kichwa Tembo and Bateleur camps in Maasai Mara, James Chege, is hopeful that tourists who started arriving late last month at Maasai Mara ahead of the glorious wildebeest migration will continue coming in to boost the tourism sector.
Most of the international tourists, who are from America and more than a hundred local tourists have checked in at the camp to witness the migration of the hundreds of wildebeest from Serengeti to Maasai Mara.
Chege says the camp has embarked on undertaking laboratory tests for all arriving guests, admitting those found to be coronavirus-free and having the rest go into isolation until Ministry of Health officials declare them free from the virus.
“We are working closely with the Ministry of Health officials and staff who are also tested frequently and have been briefed accordingly on what to do as part of the measures to ensure the safety of staff and tourists and prevent the spread of the virus at the game reserve,” Chege says.
He notes that the tourism sector is still recovering from the effects of the pandemic that resulted in massive booking cancellations and calls on Kenyans to continue adhering to the Ministry of Health guidelines to prevent another lockdown that could leave the industry in ruins.
At the camps, Covid-19 containment measures have elaborately been put in place with handwashing points available at every turn.
Captain Marion Micah Sugwara of Air Kenya—who brings in a group of tourists from Mara touring to Kichwa Tembo as we interview Chege—says life wasn’t easy last year as no one was travelling or touring during the lockdown.
She adds that the workers in the tourism sector like her literally struggled to put food on the table. She is, however, hopeful that normalcy is returning. She says the partial reopening of countries across the globe will help reinvigorate the sector.
She is elated at the resumption of their flight services for a month now and with the wildebeest migration that has attracted a good number of her flight passengers.
The wildebeest migration event is evidently exciting for not only those in the tourist industry but also visitors who are looking to make memories out of this year`s event.
A young couple will be spending their honeymoon at the Maasai Mara. They say on condition of anonymity that they are super-impressed with the hospitality and the strict Covid-19 prevention measures put in place by the camp to guarantee their safety and optimal conditions that enable them to enjoy their stay. They are looking forward to witnessing the migration.