An international travel alert warning tourists and expats to stay away from trouble spots in Kenya has triggered ‘shock and concern’ from the government.
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Kenya relies heavily on income from rich Western tourists, but a number of countries, including the UK, have posted security notices about travelling too much of the country.
The UK Foreign and Commonwealth Office has advised British travellers should stay away from most of the tourist resorts and the Eastleigh neighbourhood of the capital Nairobi.
The reason is the deaths of more than 200 people at the hands of rival terrorist groups during the past two years.
However, the Kenyan government claims security is improving despite a step up in incidents since Kenya sent armed forces into neighbouring Somalia to try to quell attacks from al-Shabab fighters.
Now al-Shabab has taken the fight to the streets of Kenya’s towns and cities, sparking the travel alert.
The Australian government claims the group is planning a terror attack in Nairobi, but has not released any further details.
“The number of tourists is falling and some hotels have gone bust,” said a Kenyan government spokesman.
“We feel the situation is improving and that security is better now and that these warnings should not have been issued due to the economic effect they have on the country.”
The FCO says around 185,000 British travellers visit Kenya each year and that most trips are trouble-free.
Fire, floods and volcanos
A spate of natural disasters is severely stretching the emergency services in Chile.
Flooding, forest fires and volcanic activity in different parts of the country are causing chaos.
As a result the FCO is urging British travellers to stay away from the country unless they have an ‘essential’ reason for their trip.
Tarapaca and Atacama in the north are under water, which is affecting power supplies, water and food. Travel is difficult as roads, railways, bridges and airport runways have been washed away.
A state of emergency covers the Bio Bio, Araucania and los Rios regions, which includes several national parks due to raging fires.
Meanwhile, the Villarrica volcano has lava seeping from the crater and an exclusion zone is in place.
Find latest travel warnings
- To check out the latest British government worldwide travel warnings, go to the FCO web site and select a country
- Other governments issuing travel alerts include the USA and Australia
- For Association of British Travel Agents (ABTA ) information, visit their web site
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