Australian wholesalers are anticipating an easing of DFAT travel warnings to Kenya following a move by the UK Foreign Office to revise its travel advisory for Kenya.
Australia’s leading safari operator Bench International welcomed the move as a general sign that the political situation in Kenya had eased in European eyes.
Chairman Charles Bench said that the U.K. now only advises against all but essential travel in certain parts of Kenya not normally related to tourism.
The UK statement named the Western and Nyanza provinces, Rift Valley province between Narok and Kitale, the central business district, Kibera, Mathare and Eastleigh areas of Nairobi, Uhuru Park and Mombasa Town as areas to avoid.
Mombasa-based tour operator Torben Rune from Southern Cross Safaris said that all tourist resorts and wildlife parks were unaffected by the recent protests and continued to operate as normal.
He said the city centre of Nairobi and the highways between airports and international hotels were all reported to be open and traffic was reported to be flowing as normal.
Rune said that the removal of the non-essential travel warning by the British government was a “step in the right direction and will mean that tourist arrivals should now start returning to normal”.
In Sydney, Charles Bench said that agent enquiries continued for East Africa, including Kenya, Tanzania, Uganda and Zanzibar, and that clients currently in the region were continuing their itineraries without interruption.
A Report by The Mole
