The last quarter of the year 2017 is looking up for hotel and tourism industry with operators recording occupancy rates as high as 80% ahead of Christmas festivities, PrideInn Hotels Group Managing Director Hasnain Noorani has said.
Local tourists are trooping to hotels for business and leisure on the back of improved transport infrastructure, capacitated by launch of the Standard Gauge Railway (SGR).
Two PrideInn Hotel Beach resorts, PrideInn Paradise Beach Resort with 236 rooms and a conference centre facility with 2500 capacity and Flamingo by PrideInn (138 rooms) totalling to over 400 rooms are recording brisk business.
Together with Business hotels, PrideInn Mombasa , PrideInn Nyali and Diani the group of hotels records a total 500 occupancy rate daily equivalent to 80 percent of the total occupancy- with 60 percent of these business supported by domestic tourism.
“Projections for the last quarter look good with next year looking equally fantastic. We thank local tourism and our business model that focuses and offers value to local tourists, these factors holds us through,” said Noorani.
“The launch of the Madaraka Express Train has been a big blessing to the hotel industry at the Coast with many operators pointing out the cost of going to Mombasa becoming much way affordable to support tourism. From the SGR numbers, uptake from local tourists has been very good. We have seen a 20 percent immediate growth in tourism after the launch of SGR,” he added.
According to Noorani, the historic infrastructure has had a major significance in driving Mombasa County’s economy to attract companies seeking to hold team buildings, meetings and conferences without worrying about the cost.
Previously, the major challenge was poor road networks, taking nearly 10 hours to reach Mombasa, mostly unsafe and airline costs were too expensive hindering most companies from coming to Mombasa. This had stalled economic activities at the coastal city.
“Weekends can now be literary planned on a Friday and one can be assured of returning to their destinations by Sunday either by SGR or by air where we now have more operators with competitive rates. This has significantly increased weekend occupancy rates,” said Noorani.
PrideInn Paradise Beach Resort has lined up exciting activities for the December Holidays, developing a theme of a journey from the past to the future that will allow people create memories from where the world has evolved and where the future will take shape.
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Similarly, through a planned 12 days of Christmas, all guests having their holidays at the beach resort will be taken through various civilisations that have happened across the world each day. From the Indian Taj Mahal Festival, to the Greek Revolution , to the Ashanti Kingdom of West Africa , to a Pre Mosaic Party in Egypt , a Mexicana Party and many more. The culmination of the festivities will be with a “Pass To The Future “ all White Beach Party on new year’s eve and a hangover cure brunch on 1st January 2018.
“We want to connect the young and the old to allow each to appreciate how technology has evolved and how it can be used to unlock their full potential,” Noorani said.
The hotel is also planning interactive training sessions everyday during the Christmas period to showcase how people used natural ingredients to improve health against modern culinary skills and equipment and how the two can be matched to ensure people adopt healthy lifestyles.
The goal is to make people feel they are creating value and learning something new during the holidays.
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