Diani Reef Beach Resort and Spa in Kwale County has set up a modern lactation room to support breastfeeding at work for working mothers.
The Leading Resorts Operations Manager, Jotham Mwang’ombe said the lactation room is aimed at providing a private, safe and a clean place for female staff to express breast milk.
“It is important to protect breastfeeding moms from being seen by co-workers and the guests while breastfeeding or pumping breast milk” he said during a brief unveiling ceremony.
He went on “we have women staff and we realized they need a safe place to express milk during lactation break time”.
The hotelier said the lactation room will facilitate female workers to breastfeed their children during the busy December season.
He said working mothers will be given 40 minutes lactation break while on duty every four hours.
Mwang’ombe at the same time, said hotels in the south coast are bracing for the high season as holidaymakers flock back to the sandy beaches for the December and New Year holidays.
He said since November hotel bookings have been rising steadily now reaching at 80 percent “but we hope to reach at 100 percent by New Year”.
The hotelier attributed the enhanced bookings to the work being done in terms of tourism promotion by the stakeholders under the leadership of the Kenya Tourist Board.
“The hotel sector is looking buoyant with the encouraging bookings during the festive season when the country receives large number of international vacationers” said Mwang’ombe.
Meanwhile, the Coast Regional Commissioner (RC), John Elung’ata said security has been stepped up in the region during the festive season.
The administrator said police are intensifying patrols at religious places of worship, shopping malls and tourist hotels along the beach fronts.
Elung’ata assured that patrols and searches around tourist facilities have been enhanced and urged both domestic and foreign travelers visiting the region to feel safe and secure.
By Hussein Abdullahi
