NYERI, Kenya, Dec 9 – As the festive season kicks off, the tourism industry in the Mt. Kenya region is counting losses due to COVID-19 pandemic protocols that have been set aside to contain the spread of the disease.
The hoteliers in Nyeri County say that they have been a reduction in the number of people visiting the facilities to observe COVID-19 regulations given by The Ministry of Health.
At Bantu Africa Resort, the manager Wycliffe Amutara says the rate of booking has gone down by 60 percent to stand at 15 percent this month, which is their peak season. This is in comparison to last year when they had 75 percent bookings.
“We as an industry will count losses this season due to the fact that we cannot allow many people in due to COVID-19 regulations. Infact we will turn away many once we are full as per health regulations,” said Amutara.
The situation is similar at Aberdare Gardens in Karatina where the Marketing Manager Maureen Ndumia says the number of people checking in has gone down by half compared to last December.
At FK Resort and SPA located at Nanyuki Nyeri junction in Marwa, the case is similar with the manager Stephen Kuira saying they have been forced to limit the number of people visiting the premise compared to last year where the resort was fully booked.
Kuira says they can only accommodate 300 people yet the resort can accommodate more than 1500 people at once.
This comes in a time when the Council of Governors is calling on President Uhuru Kenyatta to lock down the country during Christmas and New years eve to avoid the spread of the virus that has infected 89,100 people including 1,545 fatalities.
