Tourists at the Serengeti National Park in Tanzania. Photo/FILE
Kenyan tour operators have criticised Tanzania’s border officials for denying them access to the neighbouring country.
Oliver Tours and Safaris director Omar Rachitu said that for the last two years, Kenyan tourist vans have been barred from crossing into Tanzania.
He said when the local tour drivers reach Taveta, Namanga, Lunga Lunga and Isebania border areas, they have to hire Tanzanian drivers and vans to ferry tourists to the neighbouring country’s game parks.
This had adversely affected their trade as they have to pay hefty fees to Tanzanian tour firms before tourists are driven into the neighbouring country, he said.
Kenyan tour drivers have to stay at the borders for up to a week awaiting the holidaymakers return from Tanzanian parks, he added.
“Over the years, Kenyan tour operators have been getting a raw deal when they want to take tourists to Tanzanian wildlife spots,” he said.
And yet, Mr Rachitu said, their Tanzanian counterparts are normally allowed to enter Kenya without restrictions.
He wondered why Kenyan firms were being denied entry into Tanzania when the East African Community Common Market Protocol, which took effect three years ago, guarantees free movement of people, goods, capital and services.
The South Coast tour operator spoke at a tourism stakeholder meeting in Diani, which Tourism Cabinet Secretary Phyllis Kandie attended.
Big Five Venture Safaris managing director Catherine Muli said the national government should address the matter urgently to spare local tour firms heavy losses.
Border disputes
She said small-scale tour operators from the country might be pushed out of business if the border disputes were not resolved.
Kenya Association of Hotelkeepers and Caterers Coast branch vice-chairman David Ngunjiri said leading Kenyan tour firms don’t feel the pinch as they had opened branches in Tanzania that pick the holidaymakers from the border
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