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THE Kenyan government has attacked the UK’s travel and flight ban to the country earlier this year, saying it cost more than £100 million in lost earnings.

The Foreign and Commonwealth Office issued advice against all but essential travel to Kenya in May following fears of a terrorist attack.

The Department of Transport also issued a directive suspending UK-based carriers flying to Nairobi and Mombasa. Although the advice was lifted in June and the flight ban lifted in September, Kenya’s ministry of tourism estimates that, through cancelled flights and lost tourist revenue, the country’s GDP is down 1.6% or £108 million.

A spokesman said: “The cost to the economy is probably even greater. The FCO advice is still deeply discouraging to prospective tourists.”

A spokesman for the Kenya Tourist Board said it “absolutely supported” the Ministry’s claim and backed moves to make travel advice more consistent.

The board has recently launched a £1.2 million tourism recovery campaign.