Christmas comes early in Mombasa after cruise ship carrying hundreds of tourists docks at Mombasa port

Kenya’s tourism stakeholders are a happy lot after a cruise ship carrying hundreds of tourists docked at the port of Mombasa.

MV Silver Spirit cruise ship carrying 472 passengers & 365 crew members early today morning docked at the port of Mombasa.

This follows another cruise ship, MS Nautica which docked at Mombasa Port three weeks ago carrying 640 tourists and 394 crew members from Republic of the Marshall Islands (RMI).

Apart from international tourists, Tourism players at the Coast are also expecting booming business this festive season, following a surge in domestic tourists heading down the Kenyan Coast.

Every end of year, thousands of Kenyans travel to the coastal region to enjoy themselves and welcome the New Year at the beach and this year is not any different.

Kenyans can’t resist the bewitching beauty of Mombasa, white sandy beaches, mouthwatering Swahili Cuisine, the electric coastal night life, Skydiving and the rich coastal history and normally drop everything to have another go of ‘Mombasa raha’ be it during the Easter holiday or Christmas and New Year festivities.

However, It is not the Kenyan coast alone that is experiencing a peak in tourist numbers.

Majority of Kenyans also travel upcountry during the festive season and once there promote the local economy.

Mt Kenya region for instance is enjoying a boom in tourists numbers following a successful feat by Cabinet secretary for Tourism, Najib Balala last month which put the region on the global map.

According to tourism stakeholders, after Balala’s stunt many people both local and international expressed willingness to embark on such an adventure and hotels are now operating on a scale of between 30 to 60 per cent tourists flow up from 10 per cent.