The Italian Job

There has been a subtle hue and cry among the local business people and residents that lately the resident Italian in Malindi have taken over all aspects of the local industry. Though publicly uttered, it is nonetheless a subject of much heated debate among locals in clubs and hang joints. The story goes that the Italians came, saw and now are going about conquering business in town.
Malindi town's economy is basically tourism-based and it is in this sector that the Italians have launched a spearhead campaign to own and manage. Lately, it seems that they are the owners, proprietors, managers and clients of hotels, travel and tour agencies, entertainment spots, attraction sites and other tourism establishments. Proponents of this theory point to the fact that almost all the major hotels are Italian-owned and even their clients are almost exclusively from that quaint European country.
The local business owners are now accusing these establishments of locking them out of revenues channels previously their lifeline. One such outspoken and bitter critic claims that even such localized trades as curios and performing arts like traditional dances and acrobats are now wholly operated and controlled by Italian businessmen, leaving people like them who have been in the business for years without any prospects.
Another school of thought goes that unlike in the past, when a boom in tourist arrivals meant a feast for all, in recent times the hoteliers have taken to hogging their clients for the duration of their holiday. Allegedly, they now offer all the services and provide merchandise that before the tourists used to come to town to seek for themselves. So now they have curio boutiques, in-house entertainment, in-house travel and safari operations, salons, cultural events, name it. This way, the tourist have no need to leave the hotels and venture into town where most of the local businesses wait for clients. And this is the crux of the matter.
It seems that now the tourists are positively discouraged to spend their holiday Euros outside of these hotels.