Tourism industry counting losses due to coronavirus pandemic – KBC

COVID- 19 has brought the travel and tourism industry to a complete standstill due to restrictions on movement to contain the spread of the virus.

Kenya Association of Travel Agents Chief Executive Officer Ms. Agnes Mucuha says the virus has caused unprecedented disruption in the aviation, travel and tourism industry.

This after the Government imposed stringent measures to contain the spread of the virus.

The Government has already banned international flights as well as gatherings of any kind leading to cancellation of major conventions and events in the Country.

Mucuha says, “COVID-19 has hit the industry really hard resulting in loss of jobs and revenue for travel agents. Many have had to close their businesses. The beginning of the year had so much promise. Kenya had recorded an increase in international arrivals after receiving 1,444,670 arrivals between July 2019 and February 2020 as compared to 1,423,548 over the same period last year.”

Over 90 percent of bookings for the month of April 2020 have been cancelled after Europe, America and the Middle East issued lock down notices for non-citizens. Mucuha says the industry forecast on bookings for the period May, June and July 2020 is also extremely depressed as travellers have opted to postpone their travel until quarter four.

She says the total spending on travel in Kenya in 2019 was Ksh 1.7billion on tickets, airline operating fees, and ancillary products and services which is now projected to plunge by 60% by the end of 2020.

“The estimated losses by the travel industry alone are severe enough to create job loss across the sectors with the full impact of the crisis is expected to last at least three quarters.” She said.

Mucuha says these grim statistics mean that travel agents and other industries in the sector cannot support their employees or their businesses.

She pointed out that, Africa will be greatly affected, with the International Air Transport Association (IATA) predicting that the disruption to the aviation industry will cause a loss of about USD 113 billion globally and USD 55.8 billion in Africa.