Kenya’s tourism industry is confident that it will move ahead after the conclusion of the recent l elections which resulted in victory for president-elect Uhuru Kenyatta.
Mike Kirkland, chairman of Southern Cross Safaris, parent company to Sydney-based Bench International, said that the new president was previously chairman of the Kenya Tourism Board and was well versed in the needs of the industry.
Kirkland said that the peaceful elections demonstrated a national maturity that could serve as an example for the rest of Africa and give an indication that Kenya was ready for continued growth of its tourism sector.
The new Kenyan government has confirmed it will offload its shareholdings in three luxury hotels to help improve the state’s finances and to transfer the running of businesses to the country’s private sector
It will sell its 40.5%shareholding in International Hotels Kenya Limited, which owns the Hilton Hotel in downtown Nairobi.
It will offload a 33.8% stake in Kenya Hotel Properties Limited, which runs the Intercontinental Hotel, and a 39.1% shareholding in Mountain Lodge, which operates under the TPS Serena brand.
The government said the hotel sales would be through negotiations and are expected to be completed by June 30.
