Connect with us

General News

Kenya: Hotels Teeter on Brink of Collapse as COVID-19 Bites

Published

6 years ago

on

[ad_1]

With zero per cent occupancy, Mr Ishpal Oberoi has to cough up Sh1.4 million every month to maintain his hotel on the shores of the Indian Ocean.

The lack of customers, a result of the closure of hotels to combat the spread of the coronavirus, is something he had never imagined.

Even when the tourism sector was at its worst due to terrorism, the investor said hoteliers managed to stay afloat through other business avenues.

But the Covid-19 pandemic has brought the industry and its subsidiaries to their knees, with almost all hotels closed, thousands of workers sacked, and either sent on leave with half pay or unpaid leave.

“This is the worst time for Kenya’s tourism sector. Not even terrorism could destroy the industry, but Covid-19 has,” said Mr Oberoi, Kuldip’s Touring Company managing director.

It is his sole business, having inherited it from his grandfather. The 63-year-old business had over 60 tour vans and 88 drivers. Today, only three drivers remain.

“If I had somebody willing to buy this business, I would have sold it yesterday. I am tired. I have never been this tired,” the distraught investor said during the interview at his Bamburi hotel, Mombasa County.

He says the company enjoyed brisk business in the 1980s, only to take a nosedive due to terrorism.

TOUGH SEASON

Mr Oberoi, Kenya Association of Tour Operators (Kato) Coast branch chairman, said he has exhausted his financial reserves and he is now relying on bank loans.