Hoteliers have asked the Mombasa and Kilifi county governments to collect rotting garbage and keep the resort towns clean ahead of the tourism high season.
Sam Ikwaye, the Kenya Association of Hotelkeepers and Caterers (KAHC) Coast branch executive said Mombasa, which is the country’s tourism hub, is filthy due to piles of uncollected garbage.
Mounds of garbage dumped on road reserves and public areas are emitting overpowering stench, making life miserable for locals and visitors, he said.
The KAHC official said the refuse in the town is an eyesore to both locals and international tourists visiting Mombasa for holidays.

“In every corner of the town you travel, you are hit by sickening smell of rotting garbage or sewage emptied into storm-water drainage system,” he said.
Mr Ikwaye said tourists travelling by road from the Moi International Airport have to endure an intolerable stench emanating from the Kibarani dumpsite.

“For Mombasa to attract more holidaymakers, the city must be kept clean. The high season is just the corner and it is our wish that the county chiefs address the solid waste challenge,” he said.

In Malindi, Ocean Beach Resort Managing Director Roberto Marini said the tourist town was choking with garbage due to non-collection of waste.
The hotelier added that the untidiness of the town is among the challenges crippling tourism in Malindi.
“It saddening that a town which depends solely on tourism has been left untidy due to the laxity of the Kilifi county government in getting rid of the filth in the holiday destination,” he said.