Kenyan tourism reels under upsurge in violence

Mombasa, famed for its white sandy beaches, is struggling with low tourist arrivals linked to rising insecurity, which has been blamed on Somalia's al-Shabab militants. DW spoke to Lucy Karume, chairwoman of the task force for the recovery of tourism in Kenya.

DW: How much of a setback is the death of the German tourist to efforts to encourage the recovery the tourism industry?

Lucy Karume: This is horrific and destructive. How much has this set us back? It has set us back - we have been trying to move forward. So we are saying that we need to get this insecurity problem over and done with. We know that the government is on the case and is trying to find out what really happened, who are these people who are responsible for this act.

This is the second such killing in a month, how does one even begin to convince foreign tourists that Mombasa is safe?

It is very, very difficult, because before you finish with one case of a tourist being shot, a second comes in. This sends a very difficult signal about the country's security. It is also difficult to say how we continue from here. It is even harder to say where are these people, who are these people, and why - all over sudden - are they targeting tourists.

And you don't have answers to those questions as of now?

I don't have any answers to these questions. Investigations are still going on, and we have requested to have a meeting with internal security cabinet secretary Olelenku, so that he can actually give us an insight in to what he might know, what may have gone wrong.

Several western nations have issued travel advisories on Kenya. Do you think such action is justified?

The word justified becomes way difficult because they all have different scope. The earlier travel advisories were based on incidents happened along the coast of Lamu and not on Mombasa. And that led to a number of tourists leaving the country. Is this justifiable? I can not use the word justifiable, because they are all different.

How would you describe the state of Kenya's tourism industry?

I would prefer to break down the status into different regions, because in Masai Mara we have good numbers. In other areas such as Nairobi, life is moving. The coast has really taken a beating, all the issues that have been happening. Tourism is way down at the coast, and that is my focus on recovery - to see that how we can actually get the coast area to at least start picking up.

What exactly is your recovery task force doing to revamp the ailing sector?

First and foremost to work as closely as possible with internal security, because that is where the core of the matter seems to be lying. We need to find out from the security minister when is he going to deploy the 600 men from the tourism police unit on the ground. At the moment we have got 200 men who are doing a good job but they are not sufficient. We need to get more soldiers to the ground, primarily to protect tourists.

Lucy Karume is chairwoman of the task force on recovery of tourism sector in Kenya.

Interview: Chrispin Mwakideu