Kenya’s high season at an all-time low

The political turmoil in Kenya has turned the country’s state of peace into a bloody war, its citizens dying for the whims of power hungry leaders. On top of all this, the upheaval and flames in the streets are doing nothing for Kenyan businesses that rely on foreign tourism to make ends meet.

“I think that this is the worst ever. The (tourist arrivals) curve is coming down very fast, said 5-star hotel owner Mohamed Hersi. He is used to seeing his rooms full at this time of year, and his ornate dining room usually abuzz with the banter of happy tourists is eerily silent.

Hersi has closed down a wing of the Whitesands Beach Resort, located on the coast of the Indian Ocean. The stretch of Kenya’s coastline that runs from Mombasa to Lamu Island usually accounts for 65% of the country’s tourism revenues, but after the rigged election of December 27th, foreign tourists are just not willing to take the risk.

With an initial estimate that over 300,000 tourists would visit the Kenyan coast this high-season, the number has deflated to barely half that.