Wildebeests in the Maasai Mara game reserve en route to the open plains of the Serengeti, southwest of Nairobi, Kenya, August 9 2020. Picture: REUTERS/THOMAS MUKOYA
For a sector that makes up about 10% of GDP, the loss of virtually all tourist arrivals since March has spelt disaster for hotels and tour operators that once relied on a steady stream of long-haul visitors. “It’s a strategic repositioning,” says Muthuri Kinyamu, cofounder of Turnup. Travel, a tour operator that provides services for Kenyan tourists. “If all your relationships have been with Australia and the UK, and you have done that for about a decade, then of course there will be some challenges when you come to focus on the domestic and local tourism angle.
“I feel proximity has become a lot more important,” he says. “People are not necessarily looking at driving for longer periods of time or going on long breaks. They want to explore around themselves first. People from Nairobi will start by exploring the local area, then to Maasai Mara, and perhaps onwards to Zanzibar by Christmas.”