Kenya tourism earnings slump after crisis

By Daniel Wallis

NAIROBI, Nov 1 (Reuters) - Kenya's third quarter tourism earnings fell 30 percent to $435 million as a violent post-election crisis at the start of the year hurt east Africa's biggest economy, local media said on Saturday. Ethnic and political clashes killed some 1,300 people and uprooted 300,000 more after a disputed Dec. 27 presidential poll. The bloodshed scared off many foreign holidaymakers.

Tourism officials have since launched a marketing campaign to reassure visitors it is safe to return and they said other factors were also to blame for the drop in revenues.

"High fuel prices reduced demand for long haul destinations from major source markets," Achieng Ongong'a, head of the Kenya Tourist Board, told the Saturday Nation newspaper.

"Chaos in the financial markets may threaten the luxury travel segment. Wall Street jobs contribute about 10 percent to the luxury travel segment."

Kenya earned $620 million in the third quarter of 2007 from tourists drawn to its white beaches and picturesque game parks.

This quarter, Britons made up the biggest number of visitors with 42,763 arrivals. Holidaymakers from the United States and Italy were second and third with 25,000 and 13,000 respectively.

No tourists were hurt during the clashes in January and February, and stability has returned since April when Kenya's politicians forged a coalition government to end the turmoil.

But officials have said they still expect full-year tourism earnings to fall 23 percent to around $665 million.

Ongong'a said he was sure earnings for the fourth quarter of 2008 would improve, but would not reach the levels of Q4 2007.

"Although this year will not be good for us in terms of revenue and arrivals, we expect to get an improvement from the onset of winter," he said. Last month, Kenyan tourism authorities boosted their marketing spending by $13 million and said half the money would go on the United States, Russia, the Middle East and China.

The rest would be spent on traditional European markets, but would also target new countries including France and Spain. (Editing by Angus MacSwan)