To many people in the West, Africa is one big country. Nairobi is host to most of the International bureau chiefs due to various reasons from location to ease of accessibility , connectivity and comfort.
Terror is a global concern for any traveller and the continuous reporting from Nairobi on terror attacks happening in places like Mali which is 6700KM+ away from Nairobi is making our own recovery a difficult one. As Kenya and Nairobi we have had our own share of grief and this continuous tagging of Nairobi is not doing us any justice.
The distance from Atlanta the home of CNN to Mali is very similar to the distance from Nairobi to Mali . They might as well report from Atlanta.
If you must report from Nairobi by all means you are welcome to do it but for heaven’s sake can you take off the name Nairobi on the screen. You may sign off as Nairobi at the end of your report but the continuous display of Nairobi is simply unacceptable.
The continued display of Nairobi means that anyone seeing it at a glance will conclude that another terror attack is underway in Nairobi. We have had cancellations in hotel bookings in the past from The US, Canada, Australia et al when such screen shots are displayed for hours. Our agents in New York, Sydney, London, Tokyo etc are always complaining.
We shall be reaching out to the International correspondents forum in Nairobi with a view of emphasising this point. I am afraid if we don’t make any headways we shall also engage our good goverment and Media council in Kenya to address the same . We also have the courts and laws of the land.
We are no longer prepared to choose to look the other way when leading media houses like CNN continue to undermine our tourism recovery efforts. CNN may consider this a trivial issue , for tourism players in Kenya it is a big deal.
We are keenly watching on your next report lest you are forced to leave and report from wherever.
Mohammed Hersi
Chairman
Kenya Tourism Federation
Mohammed Hersi . A hotelier who is passionate about Tourism & Governance in Africa. 
9 responses to “CNN undermining tourism recovery in Kenya ”
I adore your passion and zeal for whatever you put your hands on. You are so pasisionate and optimistic of our great Kenya and all I can say is thank you and God bless you always. Keep up the good work
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Thanks
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I have to disagree with this guys… Remember the CNN Africa offices are in Nairobi, most of the CNN Reporters in African do their live links in Nairobi, Kenya. I know because I’ve worked for the company managing CNN Africa offices Vivid Features Nairobi Kenya.
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You are missing the point. Having the office in Nairobi is fine . Sign off reporting from Nairobi but pull down the Naiorbi Kenya live. That is our beef . We never said close the office. You are so concerned about 5 or so jobs at the expense of No 1 or No2 forex earner for this country.
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I celebrate you sir and your good work…I also choose to remain an optimist…
#SomeoneTellCNN
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It is wrong for CNN to report as though it Nairobi that is under attack and not Mali. An analogy is when a neighbour accross the river is under attack then you scream for help without actually pointing out that the neighbour is the one under attack. Help may come to tbe wrong person. Or is it enough that the two cities names are close in the alphbetic order
Let the hen that has laid the egg make the loudest noise!
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I feel strongly that we are too stuck on tourists from the US et al and not looking elsewhere. The Russians love to travel and are big spenders, Chinese, Indians, Iranians etc. every time you meet citizens of these places, you can feel their genuine interest in Kenya but don’t really know where to get ‘real’ info. They all flock to SA, Mauritius, Egypt.
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Totally agree with you Hersi. Honestly we should create a sign off script for all international journalist here. We can’t just sit watch them destroy our industry images..knowingly or otherwise.
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You are right on the mark.The impression from this newscast is definitely connecting Nairobi to the chaos in Mali.They should definitely pull the Nairobi tag off and clearly indicate where they are reporting from and where the chaos is..Good point.
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