The Government of Kenya has unveiled a KSh10 billion credit scheme that will enable hotels to access cheap loans to allow them to remain afloat, even as tourism is slowly starting to pick up amid the coronavirus pandemic.
The hotels will access the loans at an interest rate of between 5%to 7%, running for ten years, and borrowers will only start repaying after two years.
However, the loans will only be available to registered tourism establishments that are tax compliant.
“The credit policy has been developed and approved by the Tourism Finance Corporation board, and framework for operationalization of the fund has submitted to Cabinet Secretary for National Treasury for concurrence,” reads a statement from Tourism Cabinet Secretary, Najib Balala
According to Balala, Kenya has lost about KSh80 billion so far in tourism revenue, nearly half of last year’s total, due to the coronavirus crisis.
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