KENYA: Kenya's Lamu island pins tourism revival hopes on annual cultural festival.

Record ID: 362460

  • Title: KENYA: Kenya's Lamu island pins tourism revival hopes on annual cultural festival.
  • Date: 15th November 2012
  • Summary: LAMU, KENYA (NOVEMBER 14, 2012) (REUTERS) VIEW OF OCEAN / BUILDINGS ON THE ISLAND BANNER ADVERTISING THE LAMU FESTIVAL KENYA POLICE OFFICERS TALKING TO CONSTRUCTION WORKERS KENYAN SOLDIERS WALKING AMONG CROWD DONKEYS CARRYING BRICKS US MARINES BOARDING BOAT SAILING BOATS ON THE INDIAN OCEAN TOURISTS AND RESIDENTS WALKING ALONG STREET (SOUNDBITE) (English) CHAIRMAN, LAMU C
  • Embargoed: 30th November 2012 12:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: Kenya
  • Country: Kenya
  • Topics: Business,Arts,Travel / Tourism
  • Reuters ID: LVAP1B7910LICGP2Z26ZYDBDGRR
  • Story Text: The annual Lamu Cultural Festival kicks off with hopes of a tourism revival after al Shabaab militants were squeezed out of their Somali strongholds by Kenya's Defense Forces last month.


    Security has been heightened on the Kenyan island of Lamu ahead of the annual Lamu Cultural Festival which takes place from November 15-18.
    The festival was created to celebrate and highlight the archipelago's rich Swahili culture and history. Lamu Old Town - with its distinct architecture - was listed as a World Heritage Site in 2001.
    Most people here rely on tourism for their income.
    In September, unidentified gunmen raided a secluded beach resort north of Lamu and shot dead publishing executive David Tebbutt and took hostage his wife Judith, 56, before escaping by boat.
    In early October, gunmen stormed the private home of 66-year-old, wheelchair-bound Marie Dedieu on island of Manda, next to Lamu. They grabbed and carried her to a waiting boat that crossed into Somalia, where al Shabaab were in control of large swathes of the south and center.
    The French government said she died in the kidnappers' custody in unexplained circumstances.
    Several western countries issued travel warnings and visitor numbers plunged.
    Festival organizers are hoping the usually colorful event will not only bring large numbers over the four days, but also help quell the fears of insecurity.
    "We are all well organized, well prepared to be receiving about 50,000 guests from outside Lamu even tourist from abroad who may be visiting Lamu. But we have been going through very difficult challenges this time, ever since the kidnapping of that French woman, and I think the European governments have been very unfair to Lamu people for imposing travel warnings, advisories restricting their seasons not to go to Lamu which is not very fair," said Ghalib Ahmed Alawy. head of the Lamu Cultural Promotion Group.
    Kenya ordered soldiers across its border with Somalia in mid-October to crush al Shabaab.
    Al Shabaab has since lost many of its major urban strongholds in south-central Somalia and festival organizers are hopeful of a tourism revival.
    The archipelago is dotted with picturesque resorts where tourists can snorkel, bask in the sun and enjoy the Arabian Nights image of a dhow meandering down the Indian Ocean and dolphins frolicking next to white-sand beaches.
    "I feel absolutely safe, absolutely safe. I am here already two months now, and I am walking on my own to the beach and to the village, and I met people who are very friendly and kind, and I talked with them and was invited into their houses and even if I am alone at night I feel absolutely safe and I have met only very friendly people," said Roswitha Steinkopf, a German tourist and artist who is helping paint dhow sails that will feature in the festival.
    Alongside tea and horticulture, tourism is one of Kenya's major foreign currency earners.
    Tour operators say the number of tourists visiting Kenya's coast fell by 22 percent in the first eight months of this year compared to 2011 due to concerns over Islamist violence and the cost of landing rights in the traditional tourist hot spot.
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