Kenya's Interior Minister Joseph Ole Lenku called the advisory “unfriendly and unnecessary” at a news conference Sunday, requesting the U.S. lift the advisory which he said was “not helping.”
Neither the Westgate attack nor the advisory dissuaded hundreds of tourists from snapping photos of baby elephants at the popular David Sheldrick Elephant Orphanage inside the Nairobi National Park earlier this week.
“We had a lot of calls from people to see if we were still going to come, but it has been safe so far,” said Anne Plant, 16, who was visiting from Canada.
Two upscale hotels located just blocks from the mall had cancelations last week, although managers assured guests of their safety.
“Last week we had a lot of people trying to keep away from this area, but this week it has actually picked up and come back,” said Neelma Maru, Sales Manager of the Sankara hotel, a five-minute walk from Westgate Mall.
“Every country worldwide has crises once in a while like this,” Maru said. “I think if we fear from terrorist attacks then they gain what they wanted, putting fear in us and keeping us from living a normal life.”
In a news conference the day after the attack, former Prime Minister Raila Odinga said police increased security at malls throughout the country, although reporters visiting area malls found no visible difference in security procedures that are widely considered cosmetic.
Not all were reassured. The large, alcoholic beverage producer Diageo relocated its October business investors' conference from Nairobi to London following news of the attack.
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