95,000 Americans traveled to Kenya in 2003 despite advisory

Repeated and sharply worded, travel warnings by the US State Department have failed to dissuade US citizens from visiting Kenya, according to statistics compiled by the Kenyan embassy in Washington.

Close to 95,000 Americans traveled to Kenya in 2003, the most recent year for which the embassy has complete figures. That tally marked a sharp increase over each of the previous three years, in which an average of about 75,000 Americans visited Kenya.

The numbers for 2004 are likely to show sustained growth in US tourism, says Ola Meeli, head of the Kenya embassy’s consular division. He estimates that more than 100,000 Americans came to Kenya last year.

The State Department first issued a travel warning for Kenya in May 2003, says Angela Aggeler, a spokeswoman for the department’s Bureau of Consular Affairs. The notices, posted on the State Department’s Website, have been renewed at roughly six-month intervals.

Ms. Aggeler noted that the US does not try to prevent its citizens from visiting a listed country. “If people decide to go despite the warnings, we wish them well and offer to be of service if needed,” she said.

She would not speculate as to the apparent ineffectuality of the Kenya travel warnings. She did point out that the travel section of the State Department’s Website attracts an average of about 230 million hits per year.

US officials constantly review the warnings they issue for specific countries, Ms. Aggeler added. “We understand that for some of these warnings, it’s a big deal for the affected country,” she said. Kenya’s status is due to be updated next month, she reported.

The current review will take account of the view of some US officials that security conditions have improved significantly in Kenya during the recent past, Ms. Aggeler said.

Earlier this month, the acting coordinator of the State Department’s counterterrorism unit told the US Congress that, “Kenya has made considerable progress in the past year.”

William Pope noted that a $10 million US training initiative has enhanced the capabilities of “a handpicked group of investigators, prosecutors, immigration officials and counterterrorism analysts,” in Kenya. This specialized program focused on what was perceived as “the weakest link in Kenya’s capacity to combat terrorist organizations: interagency collaboration, command and control,” Mr. Pope explained.

For now, however, the State Department continues to depict Kenya as a dangerous destination for US travelers. In a new Consular Information Sheet, the department warns of a heightened threat of criminal violence in or near some of the country’s best-known tourist venues, “particularly the Samburu, Shaba and Maasai Mara game reserves.”

The travel advisory posting, updated on March 9, “The Kenya Wildlife Service and police have taken some steps to strengthen security in the affected areas, but the problem has not been eliminated.”

Americans who decide to visit Lamu, the subject of a recent feature in The New York Times Sunday travel section, should realize they could experience criminal activity, the Consular Sheet says.

There is a high rate of crime in all regions of Kenya, particularly Nairobi, Mombasa, Kisumu and at coastal beach resorts. There are regular reports of attacks against tourists by groups of armed assailants,” the advisory warns.

Motorists risk having their vehicles hijacked, particularly in Nairobi, which averages about 10 such incidents per day, according to the advisory.

In addition, several American citizens have been killed or seriously injured in motor vehicle-related accidents in the past two years, the Consular unit points out.

A Consular Information Sheet on Tanzania, updated last August, described many parts of the country as crime-ridden and warned of various dangers to tourists visiting the Serengeti, Kilimanjaro and the Islands.

The negative tone of the advisory was sharply criticized by Tanzanian officials.

“The safety and security of American citizens is our primary concern, and we will continue to put those concerns out,” Ms. Aggeler said.

By Kevin J. Kelley

NAIROBI (The East African)