Sixth cruise ship docks in Mombasa with 684 tourists

A cruise ship carrying 684 tourists has arrived in Mombasa, becoming the sixth cruise ship to dock in Kenya this year; last year Kenya received only one such ship.

The ship, MS Nautica, is making a return call from Capetown, South Africa, after docking at the port of Mombasa on November 13^th.

This makes the total number of cruise tourists to arrive in Kenya this year 3,196, unlike last year where only 362 tourists came on a cruise ship.

On Monday, the Kenya Tourism Board (KTB) said that cruise tourism has significantly increased this year compared to other years.

KTB Managing Director Ndegwa Muriithi said Kenya, being a member of Cruise Indian Ocean Association, has worked closely with Kenya Ports Authority (KPA) to ensure Mombasa has become a popular port of call by cruise ships coming through the Indian Ocean.

Muriithi said the country is seeing the revival of cruise tourism after a long dry spell due insecurity caused by pirates in Kenyan waters of the Indian Ocean.

Muriithi noted that the coming of United States President Barack Obama, Pope Francis and the latest World Trade Organization (WTO) conference have played a great role in portraying the country positively.

KPA Operations Manager Twalib Khamis said the authority has invested heavily to make the port secure and meet international standards of ships and port facilities security code by installing CCTV cameras and access control systems at the port.

He added that they will participate in the Miami Convention next year, which is the major cruise tourism convention so that they can sell the port as a good cruise ship destination.