Despite concerns that Ebola-related headlines and a heightened US travel advisory could deter American travellers from visited Kenya, US-based tour operators report no tangible impact on bookings so far while specialists describe steady demand for East Africa.
The feedback follows concerns raised by Kenyan tourism operators last week that the US government's decision to raise its travel advisory for Kenya to Level 3 could undermine confidence in one of the country's key source markets.
Katie Hoppenjans, Head of Digital Marketing at Extraordinary Journeys, a US-based luxury travel company, said: “We haven’t seen a tangible impact on our business for Kenya. Inquiries for East Africa remain strong”.
That does not mean travellers have missed the news. “The headlines have certainly prompted some clients to reach out with questions and concerns, which is completely understandable,” Hoppenjans said. “But when we walk them through the situation, they’ve been very understanding.”
The Extraordinary Journeys team’s approach is to give clients context. Advisers explain that Kenya’s cases is a single cluster linked to one imported case (from the Democratic Republic of the Congo) and that later cases are all known contacts of the first patient who were mostly already in quarantine when they tested positive. They also point to the swift response from Kenyan health authorities who moved quickly with screening and contact tracing.
Safari travel, Hoppenjans noted, bears little resemblance to the circumstances in which the cases occurred. “Once clients have that context, they feel comfortable keeping their plans,” she said. “We also reassure them that we’ll advise them right away if guidance changes.”
That final commitment underlines how closely operators are monitoring the situation. For travellers weighing a trip, the promise of prompt updates is often as important as the underlying epidemiological detail.
Phoebe Weinberg, Founder of Greatways Travel, a US luxury agency specialising in Africa, offered a similarly calm assessment. “None of my clients have any concerns yet,” she said, adding that she hopes the new cases will not discourage travel to the destination.
“Ebola cases do not deter travel there. Clients who were there in August and September were very impressed with arrival and border health screening,” she said.
