Small-sale traders in Naivasha are yet to feel the full effects of the highly publicized World Rally Championship ((WRC) that kicked off in Nairobi on Thursday.
They were however optimistic that their fortunes would change over the weekend as the number of revelers mainly from Nairobi started trooping in.
However, hoteliers were smiling all the way to the bank after recording full-bookings following a year of turbulence and revenue losses caused by Covid-19.
This came as security in the town and KWS Training Institute which is the service bay for the rally cars was intensified with the dreaded GSU officers taking over.
According to one of the hawkers, Jane Njeri, their sales were down due to the low numbers of visitors in the lakeside town.
“Currently our sales are low but we expect this to pick up later on as the number of guests have slowly started to increase,” she said.
This was echoed by her colleague Carol Njeri who noted that the town was yet to feel the effects of the rally despite Naivasha town trending in social media.
She said that they had increased their stocks adding that they were looking forward to the weekend when the number of revelers would swell.
“At the moment business is low despite the high expectations but we hope that the number of visitors will increase over the weekend,” she said.
The chairman Naivasha matatu operators Stephen Mungai however noted that the number of passengers arriving in the town had shot up sharply.
He termed transport business as booming adding that the number of visitors was rising by the hour due to the international event.
“Matatus coming from Nairobi are fully booked but the challenge is going back as the numbers are very low but we are happy with the current situation,” he said.
On his part, Mark Kariuki the proprietor of Labelle Inn said that all major hotels in the town were fully booked terming the rally as a blessing for the traders.
“We have lost a lot due to the pandemic and we are now fully booked and we hope next year the rally will be bigger and better,” he said.
This was echoed by the General Manager Hylisse hotel Geoffrey Mariga who said that they were booked by the rally organizers for the whole of this month.
“The rally is a big blessing for the hospitality industry which was adversely affected by the pandemic and right now all hotels in Naivasha are full,” he said.