Will the Nairobi Attacks Dent Kenya’s Tourism Boom?
Skift Take
After this week’s terror attacks in a Nairobi hotel complex, a question mark hangs over the continued growth of Kenya’s lucrative tourism industry. But tourists have been here before, and as long as there are no follow-up attacks, mass cancellations seem unlikely.
Tourism operators in Kenya are hopeful that this week’s terror attacks in Nairobi will have little impact on the country’s all-important tourism industry — but successive attacks in the past few years are causing new anxieties.
The Tuesday attacks in the capital city saw gunmen from the Al-Qaeda-linked terror group al-Shabab breach security gates at an upscale hotel complex in the Westlands district of the city. One of the key targets was the DusitD2 boutique hotel and adjoining restaurants. At least one Briton and one American have been confirmed dead, with dozens of locals and foreigners wounded.
In a statement on its website, Thailand-based Dusit Hotels said: “The local authorities have taken control of the complex and are dealing with the situation. We are in constan
