The development could not have come at a worse time, sector players agree, considering the fact that Kenya, one of the leading destinations in Africa, was just entering its peak – September-January season - when the crisis set in. The tourism industry was just recovering from stagnation it suffered from the chaos that characterized the last election in January.

The melee saw visitors flee in droves and subsequent attempts to sell the country as safe destination were just beginning to bear fruit when the financial mess hit America and Europe, the key sources of visitors. A slight crunch to the Asian economies that had in the past four years begun sending visitors to Kenya in significant numbers could be another disturbing factor.

Tourism stakeholders maintain that the negative turn of events imply that billions of shillings spent by Kenya in marketing the country across Europe, to mitigate against the January events may have as well gone to waste.

“We are anticipating to see significant cancellations in hotel bookings by tourists after the events in American economies and it all spells doom for a struggling hospitality industry,” said James Kariuki, a Nairobi-based tour operator. “It could not have come at a worse time when we are preparing to see the sector make some recovery after the violence that brought tourism to its knees earlier in the year,” he added.

Officials at the Kenya Tourist Board (KTB), the state body charged with marketing destination Kenya, concurred that things had taken a turn for the worse adding that the alternative was to initiate aggressive marketing elsewhere in the world.

“The outlook for the Christmas season is gloomy, Western economy is very credit driven and that does not exclude tourists who take loans at times to finance a holiday. Our only recourse right now is to turn to the East where the crisis is not that bad and hope to attract more visitors this holiday season,” said a KTB official who did not want to be named.

The sector last year earned the country more than a $100 million beating export sectors from a million visitors the highest figure ever in history. Some 1.5 million visitors were projected to visit the country this year but post elections violence effectively killed the ambitious target, leaving the sector grappling in the dark.

Only last week the government authorized the treasury to give Ksh 1 billion to KTB for marketing but it remains to be seen how the money will achieve in view of events in the traditional market. The credit crunch in the West and the subsequent spill-over effect into the entire banking and financial sector are yet to be felt in general economy here, but Kenya’s stock market has been hit.

Last week the Nairobi stock Exchange, one of the oldest in Africa, was closed temporary after the NSE index lost more than 15% in value. Stocks value at the bourse have been depreciating over the past month in what authorities are blaming on events in the Western economies.