As this Easter holiday comes to an end, hoteliers in Naivasha have not visited as many guests as they expected and therefore business has not been that good as the number of visitors dropped by over 50%.Inspite of the fact that they have assurance all people e of the improved security, visitors did stay away from the lakeside town which was not good fro the hoteliers and the traders. Peter Mehta who is the CEO Crayfish Hotel said that this time their hotel was just about 30% full compared to last year when they were fully booked.
According to Mehta, this sudden drop in the number of tourists is as a result of the anxiety that was created during the election period and so many families avoiding travelling. He also admitted that the ongoing rains that have been powering in the areas of the lakeside town for the last one week also contributed to the low number of visitors. This season is one of the worst Easter holidays ever as far as business is concerned but hopefully that business will pick up soon.
Mostly there were locals who occupied most of the hotel while the foreign tourists stay out of the country and away from the coastal areas. International tourists were very few, so many of them cancelled their bookings fearing that the country might not be stable which sabotaged the tourism business. Mehta challenged the incoming government to put more focus on selling the country as tourist-destination zone so as to attract more visitors and also congratulate Uhuru Kenyatta for his election and asked him to appoint a cabinet secretary who can effectively and efficiently sell Kenya to the world in terms of tourism.
Right now, business has started picking in Naivasha town after two weeks of uncertainty and nervousness from the traders; they are now reporting improved sales in the next few weeks.
Wildlife safari news
