Analyzing The Impact Of Terrorism On Kenyan Hospitality And Tourism Industry

Questions

The report will focus on analyzing the impact of terrorism on Kenyan Hospitality and Tourism industry. Kenya is one of the most unique destinations in Africa due to its abundance in beautiful sceneries and strong cultural background (Brown, 2010). Despite these competitive advantages, Kenya tourism is one of the most affected industries due to the increase in terrorist activities in the country. One of the recent terrorist acts in the country includes 2015 Garissa Attack where almost 150 students were killed in an unexpected terrorist ambush in Garissa University, 2014 Mpeketoni Attack where 60 people killed, 2013 Westgate Attack where approximately 71 people were killed during the attack. In this report, the case overview that will be focused on analyzing the 2013 Westgate Shopping Mall attack (Aronson, 2013).
On September 21st, four men arrived in a van at the entrance of Westgate Mall and immediately after stepping out of the van they started shooting everything that was moving. It’s reported that approximately 71 people died during the attack which took almost 4 days for the threat to be fully neutralized. The attack was one of the most unexpected incidents which took place in the upscale of Nairobi where security of the area was described to be one of the highest levels (Mogire and Mkutu Agade, 2011). The attackers were reported to be Somali nationalities who belonged to al-Shabaab militia group and which has links to al-Qaida. The Westgate attack is described as one of the largest terrorist acts which affected the tourism industry of Kenya very significantly and thus why I have chosen to discuss and focus on the case. The negative impact was immediately felt by the declaration of several major states such as US, France, and England, that Kenya was not secure for any kind of visits and concluded by barning travels (Menkhaus, 2013).

Overview of the Tourism and Hospitality Industry in Kenya
Tourism and Hospitality industry is one of the major pillars of the Kenyan economy which has been attributed by the long-term strategizing of the industry. Kenya has many tourist attraction sites which include a large number of wild animal population, sandy beaches, tropical climate, strong cultural practice, and others. Tourism impact on the country GDP is significantly big where, example, despite almost 10% decrease due to the Westgate attack the industry contributed about KSh561.8bn ($6.2bn) in the total revenue. Currently, Kenya estimated tourist population is of over 500,000 visitors annually who majorly constitute travelers from US, UK, France, and other European nations (Buigut and Amendah, 2016). The cultural diversification of the country is one of the largest in the region with about 47 different tribes. This is one of the basic features which makes Kenya stand out in the tourism sector with also one of the best education system where more 75% of Kenyans considered to be educated (Baum, 2016).

Case Study Background-Westgate Mall Attack

After the Westgate Attack news, Kenya was declared unsafe by almost every major country which was followed by the travel bans into the country. Another factor which significantly affected the tourism industry of Kenya was the media footage coverage that greatly tarnished the country image by focusing on the country vulnerability to terrorism. Through these reactions, Kenyan tourism and hospitality industry significantly declined in a very short period of time which was also the same case in the neighboring nations such as Tanzania and Uganda (Bac, Bugnar, and Mester, 2015). According to the 2013 financial report, tourism in Kenya brought in over KSh462.8bn ($5.09bn) and with this, the country counted a loss of about Ksh 1 billion on a daily occurrence. Due to this, the tourism industry in Kenya was considered to be paralyzed and in line affecting the entire country’s economy. The poor and/or bad reputation of the country led to the loss of strong competitive advantage which also reflected on all other sectors in the economy. This was identified by the large number of cancelations in business conferences and other leisure trips (Mogire and Mkutu Agade, 2011). 

One of the major reasons Kenya is targeted by the terrorist group is because of its geographical location. Kenya’s neighboring country Somalia has stayed over 18 years without any government thus providing space for the growth of militia groups (Menkhaus, 2013). Somali is a Muslim dominated country and due to the high percentage of Kenyan citizens living in the border, it has been easier for the militia group to enter the country without being noticed. Also, Kenya has a very high percentage of Muslim population living in the country thus making it very hard for the government in identifying vulnerabilities (Korstanje and Clayton, 2012). After a series of attacks, Kenyan government deployed military action called “Operation Linda Nchi” which is a Swahili word meaning “Operation Protect the Nation”. Somali harbor and sea territory are also widely known for their insecurity due to the increased number of pirates in Somali coastline which in turn has significantly tourism and trade activities in the East Africa region. Various military operations such as the US and France intervention have failed terribly in trying to eliminate terrorist dominance in Somalia thus leaving the Kenyan government very huge task in controlling the situation (Aronson, 2013).

According to Westgate Attack case study and other terrorist incidents in the country, Kenya has very poor counter-terrorism methods. Basically, there are four main parts of counter-terrorism policy which Kenyan government should be able to consider which includes Analysis, Protection, Response, and Resilience (Mason, 2015).
In accordance with the media report on the terrorist cases in Kenya, the country has very poor counter-terrorism committee. This is reflected by the inability to detect most of the dangers before they occur. Despite the turned down of several Counter-Terrorism bills in parliament, Kenyan government should start by creating new Counter-Terrorism Control Centre which will have the power to integrate the recommended policies in the entire economy. The main approach of the integration will be to enhance the cooperation of various sectors both at the national and international level (Mowforth and Munt, 2015). With this, the sharing of information will be enhanced and at the same time create a specific approach in curbing terrorism in the country. The enactment of protection policy should be mainly focused on protecting the country’s border and the coastal line. On the same note, Kenyan government should enhance security in every entrance checkpoints i.e. airports and harbors and also deny any unnecessary traveling, especially during the peak tourism season.

Policy Draft Recommendation

According to the case study analysis on the response approaches of the Kenyan government, it shows that there are no evident measures taken in consideration of any attack. Example, during the Westgate attack, there was no any representation of the counter-terrorism team in the country and also the military rescue was very ineffective (Buigut and Amendah, 2016). The response policy should be based under very effective national capacity. The main objective of creating new response policy will be to minimize the impact of terrorism in Kenya e.g. the tourism board of Kenya should strategize on means of saving the industry image and the assurance of safety to visitors. The response enhancement should also focus on the development of crisis management portfolio which will specifically be able to distinguish terrorism events from other disasters (Mason, 2015). The resilience approach should be mainly concentrated in the living communities by conducting mass education on the power of collaboration in eliminating terrorism threat in the approach of protecting tourism and the entire country economy. 

Despite the increasing political disagreement in Counter-Terrorism Bill, the government has a very huge task in the formulation and implementation of the policies which will be able to protect the collapsing tourism and hospitality industry due to the terrorist threats (Swanson and Edgell Sr, 2013). The tourism board of Kenya should also create more sustainable approaches which will improve the industry image and at the same time provide security assurance to the visitors. On the other hand, Kenyans, in general, have a very vital role to play in improving the tourism and hospitality industry of the country. This can majorly be achieved through participating in domestic tourism which improves the industry competitive advantages and still on the same note Kenyans should be vigilant to any extremists acts in the society (Baum, 2016).
Validation of the Statement 

The impact of terrorism in the tourism and hospitality industry is considered as one of the most vital negative impacts with the ability to cripple the entire country’s economy. Therefore, without proper and effective policies in counter-terrorism centers, terrorism will continue to affect the tourism and hospitality industry and on the other hand impacting triple impact to other sectors of the economy (Brown, 2010). Example, due the Westgate attack over 20 hotels in the coastal region of Kenya were reported to be closed and ended up resulting more than 20,000 people losing their jobs. The air transport industry also reported a major loss in the same year due to a significant decrease in the number of travelers moving in and out of the country (Aronson, 2013).

In summary, I believe with the implementation of the above policy recommendations, the terrorist threat in Kenya will significantly reduce and at the same time improve the hospitality and tourism industry. Majorly, the policies are focused on improving the collaboration and engagement of the key sectors with one specific aim of eliminating terrorism in Kenya. In order to achieve sustainable development in tourism and hospitality industry, the policies also emphasize on creating methods that will improve the country’s image and perception in the international market through an assurance of safety and best experience in Kenya (Hall, 2010).

References

Aronson, S.L., 2013. Kenya and the global war on terror: Neglecting history and geopolitics in approaches to counterterrorism. African Journal of Criminology and Justice Studies: AJCJS, 7(1/2), p.24.

Bac, D.P., Bugnar, N.G. and Mester, L.E., 2015. Terrorism and its impacts on the tourism industry. Revista Român? de Geografie Politic?, 17(1), pp.5-11.
Baum, T. ed., 2016. Human resource issues in international tourism. Elsevier.

Brown, F., 2010. Tourism reassessed: Blight or blessing. Routledge.

Buigut, S. and Amendah, D.D., 2016. Effect of terrorism on demand for tourism in Kenya. Tourism Economics, 22(5), pp.928-938.

Hall, C.M., 2010. Crisis events in tourism: subjects of the crisis in tourism. Current issues in Tourism, 13(5), pp.401-417.

Korstanje, M.E., and Clayton, A., 2012. Tourism and terrorism: conflicts and commonalities. Worldwide Hospitality and Tourism Themes, 4(1), pp.8-25.
Mason, P., 2015. Tourism impacts, planning, and management. Routledge.

Menkhaus, K., 2013. Somalia: State collapse and the threat of terrorism. Routledge.

Mogire, E. and Mkutu Agade, K., 2011. Counter-terrorism in Kenya. Journal of Contemporary African Studies, 29(4), pp.473-491.

Mowforth, M. and Munt, I., 2015. Tourism and sustainability: Development, globalization and new tourism in the third world. Routledge.

Swanson, J.R. and Edgell Sr, D.L., 2013. Tourism policy and planning: Yesterday, today, and tomorrow. Routledge.