The Kenya Tourism Sector To Lose 72 Billion Due To COVID-19

A new Government study has shown that tourism will lose 72,000,000,000 due to the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic this year.
The study indicated that the losses are mainly due to the closure of international and local borders to contain the spread of the deadly virus which saw the closure of all tourist sites due to a lack of tourists entering the country.
According to National Treasury Cabinet Secretary Ukur Yatani, hotels alone are expected to suffer 56,000,000,000 losses. He added that Catering and other associated services will lose 16.2,000,000,000 he added.
“A study commissioned by the Ministry of Tourism and Wildlife on the impact of Covid-19 estimates that the pandemic is likely to cost the industry a loss of $511 million in hotel revenue, $125 million in associated revenue, and Sh2.5 billion for catering levy,” the Treasury said.
Another report by the Tourism Ministry in June said an escalation in the crisis could see passenger volumes drop 1.6,000,000 translating to 35,000,000,000 in losses.
The new Government study also showed that the country recorded 3,101 tourist arrivals in April, compared to 146,258 visitors in the same month last year.
“Total arrivals as of April 2020 stood at 392,691, almost half the 619,698 recorded in the same period last year,” the Treasury report says.
According to the Ministry of Tourism, some 81.3 percent of tourist establishments have reduced their employees while 85.5 percent have effected pay cuts.
In early November, tourism analysts said the international tourism Industry could lose more than $1Trillion and can reduce Global GDP by Up to 2.8 percent as international tourist numbers in 2020 could decline by 58 percent to 78 percent.
It is estimated that visitor spending could plummet from the 2019 figure of $1.5 trillion to between $310 billion and $570 billion in 2020. It would translate to a loss of $910 billion to $1.2 trillion in tourism exports.
Tourism is one of the sectors that have been hit hardest by the pandemic, according to the World Tourism Organization, the top countries with the biggest tourism revenue loss due to COVID-19 (Jan-April 2020) were the US at $30.71 million and Spain at $9.74 million.
In 2019 alone, there were 1.5 billion international tourist arrivals and 8.8 billion domestic arrivals, during the first four months of 2020, the US saw the highest loss in tourism revenue, losing $30.71 billion.
Additionally, between January and August 2020, the number of international tourist arrivals dropped by 70 percent according to the World Tourism Organization (UNWTO).
About Soko Directory Team
Soko Directory is a Financial and Markets digital portal that tracks brands, listed firms on the NSE, SMEs and trend setters in the markets eco-system.Find us on Facebook: facebook.com/SokoDirectory and on Twitter: twitter.com/SokoDirectory
- January 2025 (119)
- February 2025 (191)
- March 2025 (212)
- April 2025 (192)
- May 2025 (159)
- June 2025 (67)
- January 2024 (238)
- February 2024 (227)
- March 2024 (190)
- April 2024 (133)
- May 2024 (157)
- June 2024 (145)
- July 2024 (136)
- August 2024 (154)
- September 2024 (212)
- October 2024 (255)
- November 2024 (196)
- December 2024 (143)
- January 2023 (182)
- February 2023 (203)
- March 2023 (322)
- April 2023 (297)
- May 2023 (267)
- June 2023 (214)
- July 2023 (212)
- August 2023 (257)
- September 2023 (237)
- October 2023 (264)
- November 2023 (286)
- December 2023 (177)
- January 2022 (293)
- February 2022 (329)
- March 2022 (358)
- April 2022 (292)
- May 2022 (271)
- June 2022 (232)
- July 2022 (278)
- August 2022 (253)
- September 2022 (246)
- October 2022 (196)
- November 2022 (232)
- December 2022 (167)
- January 2021 (182)
- February 2021 (227)
- March 2021 (325)
- April 2021 (259)
- May 2021 (285)
- June 2021 (272)
- July 2021 (277)
- August 2021 (232)
- September 2021 (271)
- October 2021 (304)
- November 2021 (364)
- December 2021 (249)
- January 2020 (272)
- February 2020 (310)
- March 2020 (390)
- April 2020 (321)
- May 2020 (335)
- June 2020 (327)
- July 2020 (333)
- August 2020 (276)
- September 2020 (214)
- October 2020 (233)
- November 2020 (242)
- December 2020 (187)
- January 2019 (251)
- February 2019 (215)
- March 2019 (283)
- April 2019 (254)
- May 2019 (269)
- June 2019 (249)
- July 2019 (335)
- August 2019 (293)
- September 2019 (306)
- October 2019 (313)
- November 2019 (362)
- December 2019 (318)
- January 2018 (291)
- February 2018 (213)
- March 2018 (275)
- April 2018 (223)
- May 2018 (235)
- June 2018 (176)
- July 2018 (256)
- August 2018 (247)
- September 2018 (255)
- October 2018 (282)
- November 2018 (282)
- December 2018 (184)
- January 2017 (183)
- February 2017 (194)
- March 2017 (207)
- April 2017 (104)
- May 2017 (169)
- June 2017 (205)
- July 2017 (189)
- August 2017 (195)
- September 2017 (186)
- October 2017 (235)
- November 2017 (253)
- December 2017 (266)
- January 2016 (164)
- February 2016 (165)
- March 2016 (189)
- April 2016 (143)
- May 2016 (245)
- June 2016 (182)
- July 2016 (271)
- August 2016 (247)
- September 2016 (233)
- October 2016 (191)
- November 2016 (243)
- December 2016 (153)
- January 2015 (1)
- February 2015 (4)
- March 2015 (164)
- April 2015 (107)
- May 2015 (116)
- June 2015 (119)
- July 2015 (145)
- August 2015 (157)
- September 2015 (186)
- October 2015 (169)
- November 2015 (173)
- December 2015 (205)
- March 2014 (2)
- March 2013 (10)
- June 2013 (1)
- March 2012 (7)
- April 2012 (15)
- May 2012 (1)
- July 2012 (1)
- August 2012 (4)
- October 2012 (2)
- November 2012 (2)
- December 2012 (1)