PH
Low tourism season is taking a toll on hoteliers at the Coast, with operations of at least 40 per cent of hotels in the region being affected.
So far, 10000 people have lost their jobs after closure of some hotels and scaling down of operations in others.
According to Daily Nation, the most affected areas are Malindi and Watamu after chartered airlines from Italy terminated flights to Mombasa due to low passenger numbers.
Players in the industry have also blamed the global crisis in the tourism industry as a key factor for the closure of hotels in Kilifi.
Both contracted and permanent workers have been laid off, with the Kenya Union of Domestic, Hotels, Educational Institutions, Hospitals and Allied Workers (KUDHEIHA) projecting the number of those affected to rise.
This is however not the first time for massive lay offs to occur in the industry. As is the trend, hotels send workers home during the low season but recall them later when business starts to peak between April and mid July.
Recently, however, the hoteliers have been going against the law by failing to recall their workers as the high season sets in.
For instance in 2015, Business Daily revealed that out of the 22,000 workers who were laid off during the low season, only less that 10 per cent secured back their jobs in high season.
