From Reuters

Kenya’s vital tourism sector is “on its knees” after attacks by al Qaeda-linked Islamist militants carried out in retaliation for its intervention in neighboring Somalia, President Uhuru Kenyatta said on Friday.

Kenyatta met ethnic Somali leaders and asked for their help in identifying people they thought may be behind attacks that have dented the president’s plans to boost the tourism sector in east Africa’s biggest economy.

Kenya has large Somali communities in parts of the country near the frontier with Somalia and in Eastleigh, a part of the capital Nairobi known as “Little Mogadishu” for its large Somali population.

“We all have a responsibility to bring this to an end. Tourism has been greatly affected by these terror activities. The industry which contributes 10 percent to the GDP is virtually on its knees,” Kenyatta said.

Tourist arrivals in Kenya in the first five months of 2013 were down 15 percent on the previous year as visitors stayed away, worried by attacks blamed on Somalia’s al Shabaab rebel group and by fears of trouble around elections in March, which in the event passed off peacefully. Full-year tourist figures have not been published yet.

Written by James Macharia/Read more at Reuters