Hoteliers in Mombasa have dismissed presidential succession debate as untimely and warned that it could further damage the struggling tourism sector.

Kenya Association of Hotelkeepers and Caterers (KAHC) Mombasa branch chairman, Mohamed Hersi said Wednesday it was insensitive of politicians to talk of President Kibaki's succession "knowing very well that such utterances bring the electioneering mood in the country."

Mr Hersi, who is also the general manager of Sarova Whitesands beach hotel, said it was not wise to talk of succession while the country was yet to fully recover from the post-election crisis.

"It is too early for the politicians, whose actions were responsible for the mayhem that almost caused the disintegration of the country, to begin talking of succession even before the country fully stabilises," he said.

He asked them to focus on the resettling of the internally displaced as well as addressing acute food shortage and the soaring fuel costs.

Mr Hersi said the tourism sector was "very sensitive and any heightened political activity will once more scare away the few tourists who are currently enjoying their holidays in Kenya and those planning to come for the next high season".

"We have received confirmation from different tour operators from abroad that they will resume their charter flights in July. We are currently struggling to operate with about 10 charters per week as compared to more than 40 charters last year before the elections and would not like any interruption from politicians," Mr Hersi said.

He said that Italy would resume charter flights on July 15 for the summer holidays pushing the bed occupancy to between 40 and 50 per cent.

Sunrise Resort and Apartments general manager, Martin Makumi also criticised the succession debate and asked the Government to support the tourism industry to recover from the current downturn.

"The Government should inject more money into Kenya Tourist Board since the sector needs intensive marketing abroad. Things have started brightening up since we have received confirmed bookings and enquiries mostly from Britain and Norwegian countries," said Mr Makumi.