The travel restrictions announced on Sunday will lock out residents of countries that account for 88 percent of foreign travellers to Kenya, hurting Kenya Airways and the wider tourism industry.
The government said that for the next 30 days, only Kenyan citizens and foreigners with valid resident permits will be allowed entry and they will either self-quarantine or go into government-run quarantine facility in the wake of the spread of the Coronavirus.
President Uhuru Kenyatta Sunday said his government was suspending travel from any country with reported COVID-19 cases, adding that the ban will take effect within 48 hours and remain in place for at least 30 days.
This has the potential to affect incoming travel from tens of countries countries that shipped in 2.84 million visitors to Kenya last year or 87.6 percent of the 3.1 visitors that entered the country via Jomo Kenyatta International Airport.
This will prompt Kenya Airways to ground flights and cut costs as hoteliers mull over cutting jobs on reduced bed occupancy in the face of the pandemic that has restricted global travel.
Some 160,000 people worldwide have been infected and almost 6,400 have died in an outbreak that has affected more than 140 countries.
In Kenya, confirmed cases of Coronavirus, a disease with an estimated mortality rate of two percent, rose to three with 14 persons under State quarantine and three others categorised as suspects. The travel restrictions will cut off revenue for the national carrier and the tourism sector, which rake in more than Sh270 billion combined.
The contraction is expected to filter through to other industries, risking significant job losses in the economy that was already weak.
“Obviously, this is devastating not just for Kenya but the global tourism industry,” a chief executive of one of the leading hotel chains told the Business Daily .
“There were cancellations before and now there are no new bookings,” he said in reference to the new travel restrictions.
His firm is holding meetings to decide what actions to take, including reducing staff count, he said.This signals closure of hotels in a sector that is one of Kenya’s top foreign exchange earners and supports, among others, handicraft makers, taxi drivers, fishermen and farmers.Nine cruise ships have since cancelled plans to dock at the Port of Mombasa, with Kenya Airways also set to ground most of its planes in the coming days.“We are currently in meetings trying to determine the effect of the new government […]
