Nairobi — The hotel industry has steadily recovered from the adverse effects of the Covid-19 pandemic, even though there is a slight decrease as the country heads to the general election in 7 days.

According to the Monetary Policy Committee (MPC), the recovery rate is attributed to the full reopening of the economy as a result of the low positivity rate of the country which was at 2.8 per cent at the time the poll was carried out.

The survey that was conducted by the Central Bank of Kenya (CBK) between July 4 and 15 2022 assessed the performance of hotels in Nairobi, Mombasa and other key towns including Mombasa, Kisumu, Eldoret, Nakuru, Nyeri, Kisii and Meru.

"Most of these hotels reported full occupancy. However, hotels in the rest of the country reduced activity in July, as bed occupancy and conference services dropped across the country at the start of the new fiscal year," noted the survey.

Mombasa performed well in terms of bed occupancy as the number of tourists streaming to the coastal town increased surpassing the pre-Covid-19 numbers. A similar trend was also observed in the capital city of the county.

Domestic clients remained the majority users of hotel services such as accommodation and restaurant services accounting for 60 percent and 71 percent in terms of accommodation and restaurant services respectively between June and July 2022.

This is a 4 percent increase compared to the pre-Covid -19 levels in accommodation and restaurant services which stood at 56 percent and 67 percent respectively.

Even though the foreign clients' percentage for accommodation and hotel services is yet to surpass the pre-Covid-19 period levels, the industry remains optimistic that it will catch up going forward.

"Average forward bookings have increased significantly in Nairobi and Mombasa. Foreign clientele continue to improve towards the pre-COVID-19 levels. Forward hotel bookings have improved significantly, particularly in Mombasa," indicated the survey.