Concept Paper on Development of The Ras Marina Project
1.0 INTRODUCTION
The Ras Marina Resort envisages at interesting private developers in the development of a marina with
Islamic or Halal compliance hotel apartments, conference, villas, waterfront walkways, water sports,
berths, Yacht club house, fuelling facilities, restaurants, cafes, art gallery and souqs. The marine leisure
or yacht tourism will be a major type of active tourism that will exploit the Kenyan coastal waterfronts by
providing quality docking and parking facilities for recreational boats.
The Resort aims at defining the historical preservation and heritage of the coastal region as well as safe
guarding Mombasa’s national historic character. Special consideration will go into the masterplan to
ensure authenticity with a delicate balance and integration between various amenities and services that
will differentiate this “destination” and retake a prominent place in Mombasa’s social and cultural fabric.
This concept purposes to
 Facilitate a successful marina development by providing information and advice to private
developers on the potentially of Ras Marina project in Mtwapa Creek as a high-end tourist facility.
 Improve the tourism amenities at the coast and visual environment for guests visiting the region.
 With warm tropical waters at the coast, the envisioned development will open the area as a new
wonderful sailing and boating destinations.
2.0 LOCATION
The project will be situated on the Mtwapa Creek before the Mtwapa Bridge, the privately family owned
18 plus acre property boasts expansive 270º atop creek and creek level which is directly connected to the
cruising waters o of the Indian Ocean.
Figure 1: African Continent
Figure 2. The Kenya location and coastline
is set to be a world class resort, comprising a 5 star plus branded hotel (One & Only), high-end residential units (villas
and apartments), and a fully serviced marina, on the site formally known
Tourist Finance Corporation1
Concept Paper on Development of The Ras Marina Project
3.0 Project Description
The proposed project being a yacht tourism (yachting), Ras marina will be useful as a pastime excursive
activity that involves entertaining, resting and sporting by tourists using private and commercial medium
sized boats. The yachting will differentiate itself from cruise tourism in that it is not normal regular
transportation between ports but takes place between bays, gulfs and sheltered areas, which cannot be
legally classified as harbours such as the Mtwapa Creek.
3.1 Marina Facilities
The Marina facility will provide secure
moors, landing place (docks, berths,
jetties), piers, ramps or slips and stores for
pleasure (luxury) boats (yachts). Other
facilities to be provided include repair,
refuelling, restaurant facilities, supplies,
car park and showers.
Figure 3: Yacht Haven Marina, in Thailand, a 24 hours access marina
3.1.1 Design Characteristics
The marina will be constructed as a complex with harbours and sheltering infrastructure, repair workshop
and administrative units that includes the following.
 Mooring facilities
 Slope for boat-lift
 Crane
 Boat-lifter
 Boat-house
 Club-house
 Information service facilities
 Training facilities
 Salvage boat
 Communication facilities
 Drainage and sewage pipes
 Water,
electricity
and
lighting
supply
 Breakwaters
 Jetties and revetments
Figure 4: A modern marina in Turkey
Tourist Finance Corporation2
Concept Paper on Development of The Ras Marina Project
3.1.2 Site, Size and Locational Characteristics
The proposed site meets the following basic requirements:
 Natural protection from all major waves and currents.
 Water depth at the entrance to the marina as well as in deep-water part of the basin of at least 4
meters.
 Access roads to be done.
 Relative proximity to the centre of the town and nearby commercial, recreational and
accommodation facilities.
 Adequate land of 18 acres available.
 Adequate screening of the marina site in order to achieve security and effective customs control
with minimum environmental intrusion.
 Compatibility with the other main activities of the Local plan.
3.2.1 Site Selection
In the site selection the following characteristics will be confirmed and considered while conducting the
EIA as follows: (i) Physical site characteristics
 Coasts and coastline
 Sea bottom
 Onshore structures
 The beach
 Rock outcrops
(ii) Hydro-graphic and Hydrologic information







Tidal range
Exposure direction of the coastline to coming winds and waves
The effective length
Currents
Fresh water input
Oxygen concentration in the area
Measurement for bacterial count
(iii) Sedimentary properties



Water runoff
Long shore current transporting littoral material
The erosion of soft depositing fine material on the beach
(iv) Biological Conditions




Benthic Flora and fauna
Ecological study
Fish species
Terrestrial fauna and flora of the area
3.1.3 Operational Characteristics
Tourist Finance Corporation3
Concept Paper on Development of The Ras Marina Project
3.1.3.1 Marina Operations
The proposed marina will be ideally located for travellers and sailors seeking the perfect port-of-call, as a
base to explore and enjoy the wonders of coast tourism within a circuit covering Kenya, Zanzibar,
Tanzania, Seychelles, Mauritius, South Africa, Reunion Islands and Madagascar.
(a) Chartering a yacht
Yacht charter, long popular in the Mediterranean and the Caribbean, is yet to grow in Kenya. Despite the
beauty and fascination of the waters around Kenya’s coastline, yacht chartering has been hampered by
lack of infrastructure and low worldwide awareness of the region among other reasons. Therefore,
development of the proposed marina can mean yachts will be chartered for cruising in less crowded waters,
by power boat, traditional-style sailing junk or classic yacht whether crewed and catered motor or without.
The marina is bound to be a base for charter operations but with facilities available to visiting yachts.
Figure 5 Sailing yacht
(b) Keeping a yacht
The proposed marina development envisages making the region a yachting hub in the Eastern Africa
region with facilities better suited for large yachts and where most cruising sailors can make a stop-over.
Visitors bringing their private luxury yachts may keep them moored at the facility and even those wishing
to leave their boat while returning home for a period of time, can do so.
Tourist Finance Corporation4
Concept Paper on Development of The Ras Marina Project
Figure 6 Motor Yachts
3.2 Other facilities
This concept entails the development of marina resort that is set to be a world class resort, comprising of
5 star branded high-end halal hotel with units of apartments, luxury villas, entertainment areas, showers,
cafes, restaurants and many more as
to the style of the illustration at the
right. The marina should also
provide yacht maintenance service
and supplies.
The apartment units and villas will
be sold to individual investors who
in turn will then surrender them to
be managed by the Resort in Hotel
management arrangement.
Figure 7: An illustration of Zorn Island as seen in this undated handout photo by Reuters. A visit to Thailand by Bill Gates has
inspired construction of the man-made island off the resort of Pukhet, so the world’s richest man and other billionaire can
moor 1
3.2.1 Hotel Accommodation
Hotel Apartments and rooms are planned to be done in a way that revitalizes the coast as a vibrant cultural
destination by unravelling its glorious past, by constructing modern structures following traditional
mixture of Swahili/Arabic architecture in order to conveniently enjoy the cultural and traditional life of
Mombasa.
1
Smart Pictures by Daily Nation of Tuesday May 22, 2007
Tourist Finance Corporation5
Concept Paper on Development of The Ras Marina Project
3.2.2 Luxury Villas
The resort envisages development of Villas that will be available as Luxury vacation rentals. Just as the
hotel apartments the luxury villas be constructed be a mixture of
3.2.3 Restaurants and Conference facilities
The resort will also comprise of other hotel facilities such as speciality restaurants and conference halls,
all styled in Swahili/Arabic architecture. The food and drinks to be served will be purely halal or Islamic
compliance.
Tourist Finance Corporation6
Concept Paper on Development of The Ras Marina Project
3.2.4 Entertainment and Sports facilities
Entertainment and sports activities include water parks and sports
4.0 MARKET ANALYSIS
4.1 Demand
The demand for Islamic hotels or hospitality is increasing rapidly in the Muslim world as well as in other
destinations preferred Muslim travellers. The purported Islamic hospitality market is expanding in line
with the rising number of tourists from the Arab nations as well as from nations with Muslim population.
The Muslim travelers’ market represents 10 percent of the world tourism market and according to the
World Tourism Organization, travelers from the GCC spend over $12 billion annually. UAE travelers
alone spend an average of $1,700 per vacation, which is $500 more than the European average. With 300
million Muslims in the Arab world and one billion worldwide, experts estimate that Islamic hotels could
take over 40 percent of the market in the UAE alone within the next years2.
The Shariah-compliant establishment to be created is geared to offer all the traditional values and customs
for Muslims traveling alone or with families and will offer a unique service not only for Muslims but also
for customers of other religions and cultural backgrounds.
The key reasons and motivation for Muslim travellers to Kenya coast would mainly be for leisure and
business. The Leisure (including Visiting Friends and Relatives (VFR)) will accounts for around 75
percent of the travel and business travel will probably account for 25 percent. In terms of the leisure
segment, the establishment envisages to exploit the inherent strength of having a Muslim friendly
2 Author: Lisa Kaaki I Arab News Publication Date: Wed, 2008-09-24
Tourist Finance Corporation7
Concept Paper on Development of The Ras Marina Project
environment that will include better productizing the Arab history and heritage sites/attractions in
Mombasa.
The proposed marina can expect to receive a number of yachts from the Mediterranean through the Red
Sea route cruising to South Africa, Seychelles, Mauritius and Reunion Island. The country’s convenient
position on the route in addition to its many tourism attractions should make it a natural stopover.

Tourism Arrivals
Muslim visitor arrivals were estimated to be 116 million in 2014, and are projected to grow to 178 million
by 2020. This constitutes around 11.4 percent of the total visitor arrivals projected by 2020. Given that by
2020 the Muslim population will be around 26 percent of the world’s population, the Muslim travel market
should have sustained growth beyond 20203. This worldwide growth of the Muslim population in the
middle class and younger population has meant that Muslim travellers are becoming a significant segment
within the global travel and tourism sector3.
Table 1: Inbound Muslim Visitor arrivals for the period 2010 to 2020
Year 2010 Year 2014 Year 2020 Growth Forecast
(2015-2020)
Total Muslim Visitor Arrivals (millions)
98
116
180
54.50
Total Muslim Visitor Arrivals to OIC
53
64
98
51.87
(millions)
Total Muslim Visitor Arrivals to non45
52
82
57.75
OIC (millions)
Source: Crescent Rating (2015)
The growth of the Muslim travellers is a new emerging segment within the travel sector, which will affect
the global tourism industry. In this case the hotel demand will additionally be driven by conventional
customers to coast region which coast continues to be the most popular and prominent place attracting
more visitors due to its spectacular sights and places of interest ranging from magnificent beaches, unique
cuisine, reefs, diving to snorkelling.
Islamic hospitality is one of the fastest-growing tourism segments in Kenya, with statistics showing that
leisure travel among Muslims is growing in leaps and bounds. In 2015, for example, there were 40,875
visitors from United Arab Emirates, up from 24,828 the previous year4
4.2 Supply
In Kenya there are a few international chains of hotels are actively pursuing plans to attract the Muslim
tourist originating from either the Arab world or South East Asian countries. Tanzania, Zanzibar and South
Africa are currently the most popular destinations and the best equipped for Halal market.
There fewer hotels in the Country that include Muslim-friendly amenities in rooms, such as Qurans, prayer
carpets, Arabic-language TV channels and qiblah direction marking, which indicates the direction of
Makkah.
On the other hand, in many destinations such as Malaysia, UAE, Turkey, Indonesia, Qatar, Brunei etc.,
the Hotels which call themselves as “Halal Hotels”, “Muslim Friendly Hotels” or “Sharia-compliant
hotels” are growing.
3
4
Crescentrating (2015); Singapore
Mr Hersi, Standard digital 30April 2017.
Tourist Finance Corporation8
Concept Paper on Development of The Ras Marina Project
4.3 Competition
Even globally there is a lack of hotels catering to Halal tourism. Locally, however and in terms of
accommodation the marina resort will be in competition with a number of classified hotels within the
coast region. However, in terms of marina facilities the English Point Marina with 60berth will its closest
competitor. The English Point Marina in Mombasa is set on a four-acre plot overlooking the Old Town
and its key landmarks such as Fort Jesus, however, the proposed marina will have 18 acres for
development of halal compliant facilities to differentiate itself from competition.
On the regional scene the competitive market area from which the target customer is likely consider marina
alternatives is narrowed down to South Africa, Seychelles, Mauritius, and Reunion Island as analysed in
table below.
4.4 Economic of Marinas
(i) Development and Operation cost
A market review and feasibility study for Leeward Marina Village, Turks and Caicos Islands, Caribbean
contacted by Marina Projects Ltd., in 2006 established that the construction work on waterfront
development and marina scheme could cost up to$15 million equivalent to Kshs. 1,050,000,000.00.
(ii) Source of funding
The marina project is proposed for development through private funding where interested the private
developers can form companies and develop the facility through consortia either wholly private or through
public/private partnership.
5.0 WAYFORWARD
This concept proposes a technical approach to the development of the marina as follows

A feasibility study
Carry out a well formulated feasibility statement of total concept including halal compliant facilities,
service, image, prices, options and recommendations.

Technical analysis
In liaison with interested developers, manufactures/suppliers, public agencies, competitors, local
authorities, utility companies and boat owners, a technical analysis provided by technical advisor(s) shall
be obtained.

Environment Impact of marinas
An Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) be carried out to establish major environmental problems
arising such development and the proposed measures to mitigate its effects.
Tourist Finance Corporation9
Concept Paper on Development of The Ras Marina Project

Establish partnerships
Partnerships with public institutions such as Tourism Finance Corporation, Coast Development Authority
(CDA), Kenya Ports Authority (KPA) and Kenya Maritime Authority will be sought with the intention of
interesting their participation through either technical support and funding if needed.
6.0 CONCLUSION
Marina Resort development can be a complex process but the Corporation can provide support through
the planning and development processes. Marina development and construction carries risks similar to
those of any development project, so access to sound professional advice, which is independent of this
concept is therefore very essential.
Except South Africa, the marina concept is yet to be fully developed in the rest of Africa and Kenya is no
exception.
Tourist Finance Corporation10