UK retracts travel ban to Kenya hours after issuing it
The United Kingdom has denied that it had issued a warning to its citizens against the risk of kidnapping in the country following an updated travel advisory on Tuesday.
The UK Ambassador to Kenya Nic Hailey, just hours after the Foreign and Commonwealth Office (FCO) had listed Kenya among the global kidnapping hotspots, said that it was false and not true.
“The UK has not issued a new travel advisory for Kenya. We keep our Travel Advice regularly updated but today’s reports of new warnings or restrictions are false,” said the Ambassador through a tweet.
The UK had in a fresh travel guidance expanded the areas where her citizens should be vigilant for kidnappings to include Kenya’s top conferencing, safari and beach tourism destinations.
“There’s a heightened threat of terrorism, including terrorist kidnappings, across Kenya, including to people travelling in or through Nairobi, the coast and resort areas around Mombasa and Malindi, the towns of Narok, Naivasha, Nanyuki and Meru and their surrounding areas, and the northern border counties,” the FCO statement read.
The advisory lists places frequented by foreigners such as hotels, bars, restaurants, sports bars and nightclubs, sporting events, supermarkets, shopping centres, coastal areas including beaches, airports, buses, trains and other transport hubs as possible areas which could be targeted.