The Tourist Police Unit (TPU) has announced plans to open a new base in Kisumu city to take care of the Western tourism circuit.
TPU Commandant Paul Soi said even though the unit was facing a shortage of officers, the Kisumu base was critical to address security challenges facing the sector in the area, which has recorded tremendous growth.
Soi said most of the cases reported to the unit, which is headquartered in Nairobi with bases in Mombasa, Kwale, Kilifi, Malindi, Narok, and Nakuru, involve burglary, theft, and conmanship where tourists are swindled by unregistered tour operators.
“We have seen a rise in cases where tourists lose their valuables and money in hotels. In Maasai Mara, we have recorded cases of tents being cut and money stolen from tourists,” he said.
To address the concerns, TPU, he said, has scaled up community policing efforts to enhance sharing of information between the community and other sector players for effective response.
Through collaboration with the Kenya Defense Forces (KDF) and tour operators, he said surveillance has been enhanced across all the tourist attraction sites to monitor the movement of visitors and enhance their safety.
Speaking during a Tourism Safety workshop in Kisumu, the commandant urged hotel managers to keep up-to date records of all tourists using the facilities to ensure that their safety is guaranteed.
The information, he said, must include the origin of the tourists and medical records to ensure that they are properly taken care of during their stay.
“This is a very serious matter. If the hotels had obtained information on the affected tourists, proper mechanisms would have been put in place to give them support,” he said.
Tour operators, he added, must enhance professionalism to ensure that visitors are treated well.
Cases of accidents involving tour vehicles, he said, were on the rise, with some seven lives lost this year.
The Kisumu office, he said, will manage the larger western tourism circuit, which covers over 14 counties.
By Chris Mahandara
