Monday, June 13, 2016 THE-STAR.CO.KE 14

Pravin Halai, the director of Mulji Devraj Contractors signs an agreement to construct a 39-room boutique hotel and apartments at Hemingways Watamu. !e deal is worth $9 million (Sh900 million) . Looking on is Hemingways Group chairman Richard Evans. Many investors in the tourism industry are revamping their facilities or putting in more money in new ones as recovery of the sector takes shape.

PHOTO STORY

RECOVERY

Tourism agencies up promotion drives as demos cast shadow

P rime Minister David Cameron who pulled o! a stunning General Election win in 2015 and the 1st outright Parliamentary Majority since 1992, when all the Pollsters

had predicted a Hung Parliament, promised a Europe In-Out Vote in 2013. He said:

“It is time for the British people to have their say. It is time to settle this European question in British politics.”

At that time, He was trying to pacify some of his own MPs and fend o! the UKIP challenge.

Margaret "atcher who was a totemic leader of the Conservative Party and was fond of swinging her hand-bag in negotiations with recalcitrant Europeans never called a Referendum in this matter and for good reason. "erefore, whilst this Vote is laudable in putting the Question squarely in front of the British People, it was always plain risky politically. "e Brexit Vote on June 23rd and the Donald Trump candidacy [Hillary Clinton did surge last week and administered a brutal slap-down with her Tweet to Donald Trump to ‘’delete the account’’ - @realdonaldtrump] are what i would term ‘’event risk’’ correlated.

A terrorist attack in the US in the run up to the Presidential Vote would give Donald Trump huge traction and might well put him over the top. Similarly, something in Europe or the UK in the run up to the referendum could do the same.

"e latest polls released on Friday had Brexit running 10 points ahead and sent the pound into a tail-spin. Sterling volatility has spiked to a seven-year high. Polls are notoriously fickle and savvy investors tend to give more credence to prediction markets. Prediction markets have Brexit at 30 per cent and the remain vote at 70 per cent. Prediction markets are based on the weight of money whereas polls are not.

"e markets are now faced with two weeks of uncertainty and then the question arises, what happens if the UK does exit the European Union? Modelling that scenario is not easy and that is why volatility has spiked.

I am of the view that if the UK exits, sterling will fall and near term we might witness unprecedented volatility but then after things calm down the UK might just boom. A cheap currency will crowd international investors in. "e Doomsday scenario is not credible. And it is exactly because this Doomsday scenario is not resonating that makes me incline to the view that the prediction markets are underplaying the risks of a Brexit. What is resonating more is an apocalyptic view of a dystopian future where little England is simply overrun by ommigrants from all over the world. If Prime Minister Cameron can pull this rabbit out of the hat, it will be a famous political victory, it really will. In the event of a Brexit - we could see the pound trade as low as 1.25 versus the dollar.

THE STAR COMMENTALY KHAN SAATCHU

Will the UK exit European

Union?

Tourists at Amani Tiwi Beach resort in Kwale on May 5, 2016. /ALLOYS MUSYOKA

KTF has appealed to the opposition not to jeopardise the ongoing recovery of the sector which has had a four-year slump

Tourism Finance Corporation is seek-ing partnerships with potential inves-tors to develop its plots in Mombasa and Nairobi.

!e corporation’s acting manag-ing director Jonah Orumoi said it has plans to build a multi-million complex in Mombasa County and entertain-ment centers, amusement parks and water parks.

He said they have also developed other new concepts which include the refurbishment of existing dilapidated facilities and re-financing existing fa-cilities to attain three to four star rat-ings.

utives in charge of tourism to map out ways to market the region. !e region, which largely depends on tourism, bore the brunt of negative travel ad-visories. Over 20,000 Coast residents lost their jobs in various hotels and en-tertainment spots, at the height of the market slowdown.

Meanwhile the Kenya Tourism Fed-eration is concerned that bookings for the high season could be affected by political noises, especially the weekly anti IEBC protests. !e opposition co-alition Cord has stepped up the dem-os from one per week to two, starting today.

KTF has appealed to the opposition not to jeopardise the ongoing recovery of the sector, which has had a four-year slump largely due to insecurity.

“!e bookings for this season take place in the months of May and June”, said the chairman of Kenya Associa-tion of Tour Operators, Peter Ngori.

Ngori said the lead-up to the elec-tion could spell doom for the sector which is on a recovery path.

BY RICHARD MUNGAI AND JOAN NJOKI

@"eStarKenya

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“We also want to have cable cars across Mt Kenya as happens in South Africa at the Table Mountain,” he said.

TFC is charged with providing af-fordable and accessible financial facil-ities and advisory services to the tour-ism industry.

Orumoi said the corporation is also exploring partnerships in the develop-ment of MICE products and offering credit support and partnerships on large tourism projects.

Several tourism ministry agencies are on an overdrive to maintain the momentum of the ongoing industry recovery, stepping up their efforts in promotion and improvement of ser-vices.

On Friday, Tourism Cabinet sec-retary together with Kenya Tourism Board officials met Coast county exec-