The effect of a travel embargo to certain regions of a country that depend on tourism can have a cataclysmic effect in the local economy. In the last few months we have seen tourists being kidnapped from Kenya’s north eastern tourist resort of Lamu. As a result of these kidnappings travel embargos have been enforced in the in the 150km buffer zone between Kenya and the Somali border as a safety precaution. The travel embargos haven been sanctioned by the French, UK & US embassies in Kenya which has seen almost all bookings for hotels and resorts in the region having to be cancelled leaving resort owners with their head in their arms.
Would you still travel on a Tanzania safari if there was a travel ban to a region of that country? In Lamu’s case, hotel owners, and business could slip into financial ruin because of the travel embargo in place. The region is likely to now suffer for a long period of time even when the travel embargo is lifted because the destination has created somewhat of a name for itself for all of the wrong reasons. Kenya was actually on target to hit a record number of tourists until these kidnapping instances took place.
Many people who cancelled their trip to Kenya due to the travel embargos also cancelled there onwards African safari or wherever they booked their safari too. In these instances it’s not just the small region of Kenya that suffers due to a travel embargo but actually countries that are associated with Kenya as well. You will find that many people when travelling to Africa will have a variety of activities planned out for their trip including, in most cases a safari and also an adventure activity like climbing Kilimanjaro or opt for a more relaxing time on the beach in Zanzibar.
Travel embargos can be the complete downfall of an area not just whilst the travel ban is in place but it also ruins the destinations reputation. Once the reputation of the destination is ruined it’s very difficult to begin marketing the destination in an attempt to attract back the tourists.