A memorandum of understanding signed last week will boost cruise ship tourism at the port of Mombasa. Kenya has held meetings with Vanilla Islands, a consortium of island nations including Seychelles, Madagascar, Mauritius, Comoros, Re-Union, Mayotte and the Maldives.
Kenya Port Authority confirmed the arrival of the first cruise ship, MV Marco Polo, for a two-day stop over with 575 passengers and 346 crew.
Construction of the Mombasa cruise ship terminal at the port began in December 2016 and is 95% complete funded by KPA and Trade Mark East Africa. In addition, the terminal will create 300 direct jobs besides boosting local industries like; transport, hospitality, and curio sellers.
KPA and the tourism ministry have done extensive marketing of the cruise ship terminal in Miami and are seeking partnerships with cruise ship mega circuits such as Mauritius, South Africa, Seychelles, and Zanzibar.
The ministry hopes to complement air connectivity with cruise ship tourism in a bid to boost international arrivals.
The new terminal contains duty free shops, conference facilities, restaurants, offices, baggage conveyor belts, migration and health offices. Further, the facility has a capacity to handle 2000 cruise ship passengers at a time.
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