A luxury cruise ship carrying 216 tourists and 222 crew members from different nations arrived in Mombasa Tuesday morning from Seychelles, giving a major boost to Kenya’s tourism industry. The passenger ship MS Silver Cloud, which is operated by Silversea cruises, is one of the most spacious cruise ships with ocean-view suites and private verandas for making cruise experience more memorable.
The tourists, mostly Europeans on a one-day voyage, were met at the Kilindini Harbour by officials from the Kenya Tourism Board (KTB) and Kenya Ports Authority (KPA). Just outside the KPA terminal, the tourists boarded buses that had been booked up for tours around various attraction sites in Mombasa and Kwale counties.
“The tourists visited Fort Jesus in Mombasa and the Mwaluganje Elephant Sanctuary in Kwale for game drives as part of their tourism programme,” said Mr Kimutai Ngeno, the KTB assistant manager for Public Relations and Communications.
“This is the first cruise ship this tourism high season and we expect to receive another cruise liner over the weekend.”
Mr Ngeno said the cruise ship came from Seychelles and headed to Zanzibar after a day’s stay in Mombasa. He said last year the country attracted 1180 cruise tourists compared to 600 in 2014. KPA Conventional Cargo Manager Evelyn Mwamure said the authority planned to build a world class cruise ship terminal to increase cruise tourist numbers.
She said it was necessary for the port to have the terminal where tourists can rest on arrival or before departure adding,” This could even see bigger cruise liners operate from here.” Mwamure said the terminal will improve boarding standards for hundreds of cruise tourism passengers who now use makeshift facilities at the port.
[crp]
