Kenya Tourism, Economy Devastated by Violence

11 Jan 2008 CNN

Elephants graze in Kenya's Masai Mara Game Reserve

Kenya, one of the most prosperous and tourist-friendly countries in Africa, has seen up to $1 billion in losses linked to the bloody turmoil following President Mwai Kibaki's disputed re-election.

In the days after the December 27 vote, riots and ethnic violence erupted from the coast to the rural highlands, killing some 500 Kenyans, displacing thousands, and prompting the Nairobi stock exchange to close and shops and restaurants to padlock their doors. Ships docking at the port of Mombasa could not offload their goods destined for Kenya and elsewhere in the region because transporters feared being attacked by militias who had set up roadblocks on some of Kenya's main roads.

The effects stretch far beyond tourism. The turmoil also has driven up prices of staple foods such as bread, maize flour and some vegetables because of roadblocks along main roads. The transport problems also led to temporary fuel shortages in the region because supplies got stuck at the port in Mombasa. Kenya is the transit point for a quarter of the gross domestic product of Uganda and Rwanda, and one-third of Burundi's GDP, according to the World Bank.

Kenyan business owners, many of whom saw their shops looted or burned in the chaos, said they will try to rebuild.

"They've paralyzed me," said Francis Maina, whose three-year-old furniture shop was looted and burned He says he he is not optimistic about getting a loan from the bank. "When they see this," he said, pointing at the ashes from burned timber, "they will not give me anything."

Conservationists in parks such as the Masai Mara say they rely on tourism to keep the parks up and running. But even though no violence has been reported in the parks, and no tourists have been killed in the violence, tourists are still too scared to come to Kenya, officials say. "It is hard to comprehend how quickly things went wrong," said Brian Heath, chief executive of the Mara Conservancy. "One day we had full occupancy in a couple of days there is hardly anyone."