Lamu tourism benefits from Maulid Festival

This year’s Maulid Festival, which celebrates the birthday of the Prophet Mohammed, brought a significant rise in visitor arrivals to Lamu. Following the lifting of the curfew for Lamu town and Shela Beach by the recently-appointed new Inspector General of Police in Kenya, visits to Lamu have noticeably increased. Lamu’s hospitality businesses were killed off when the previous Inspector General of Police slapped a dusk to dawn curfew on the town last year.

The 2015 Maulid Festival was held under the theme of “Tolerance and Multiculturalism,” a befitting reminder that mutual respect for one’s culture and beliefs is the key for peaceful coexistence.

The four-day Maulid Festival, celebrated every year in Lamu, drew in visitors not just from the coast but upcountry as well, with airlines and bus companies reporting strong bookings from mid-last week until yesterday, when the festival ended.

Discover Lamu, aka lamutourism.org, describes the festival as: It brings visitors and pilgrims to Lamu for recitals and praise poems, music and dances, bao games, calligraphy, and art exhibits, dhow and donkey races, henna and swimming competition, and finally a parade known as Zefe, that winds through the narrow alleyways of the town, lined by cheering crowds.

No security incidents were reported after surveillance had been stepped up and more patrols were added to keep revelers safe.