Kenya’s tourism giving serious thought to fight terrorism

Published on : Saturday, March 29, 2014

Kenya’s-tourismKenya’s tourism is suffering due to continuous attacks from the al Qaeda-linked Islamist militants President Uhuru Kenyatta observed.

The President along with the help of other Somali leaders has managed to identify the people behind the terrorist activities that are denting plans on boosting tourism in East Africa and delaying its economic growth.

Kenya has large Somali communities in parts of the country near the frontier with Somalia and in Eastleigh, a part of the capital Nairobi known as “Little Mogadishu” for its large Somali population.

The tourism industry contributes 10 percent to the GDP is virtually on its knees said the President. In 2013 Tourist arrivals in Kenya went down by 15 percent in the first five months. Visitors stayed away in the previous year owing to the terrorist attacks during elections.

About 150,000 people are employed in the tourism sector, the President and his family owns the Heritage Group of hotels that range from a beach resort in Mombasa to an Indian Ocean island hideaway in Lamu, and others in the Maasai Mara National Reserve in the Great Rift Valley.

He has warned the Police to act with greater strength and not accept bribes from people linked with terror.

All Somali refugees were told to return to their camps to end attacks.

A gunmen killed six worshippers in a church near the port city of Mombasa recently, the heart of the country’s coastal strip and a tourist magnet.

 

Police said they shot dead two suspects in that attack on Friday, but a third escaped with gunshot wounds.

Last week, police arrested two men found with two large bombs in a car that they intended to use in Mombasa.

 

Last September 67 people were killed at the Westgate shopping mall in Nairobi; this was the worst attack by al Shabaab till date.

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