Tourism industry players led by Cabinet Secretary Najib Balala have lamented the impact of Covid-19 travel restrictions imposed by foreign countries that are hindering international travels in Kenya.

Mr Balala said it’s unfortunate some foreign countries are discriminating against Africa on the travel restrictions.

“These restrictions are uncalled for. Previously, Africa and Kenya in particular have suffered from perceived insecurity. Travel advisories have been issued before against our countries,” he said.

Speaking during a webinar on the impact of Covid-19 on travel restrictions on African economies by the Royal African Society on July 15, Mr Balala lauded African nations for effectively dealing with the pandemic.

“Compared to many other African countries in the world, Africa and particularly Kenya has managed well. Look at our Covid-19 statistics, we have fewer deaths cases,” he noted.

The CS called for regional collaboration, coordination, and cooperation to promote domestic and regional tourism in East Africa.

Hotelier Mohamed Hersi also faulted foreign nations for imposing travel restrictions.

“We are still yet to get any good numbers of arrivals from the US, North America due to all the conditions placed on us. We are making progress, but we are losing out from the British tourists due to the red list from the UK government,” said Mr Hersi.

The latest data from the Tourism Research Institute (TRI) shows Kenya received 305, 635 international visitors between January to June this year.

Out of the 305, 635 international tourists, 96,003 were females and 209,632 males.

Source: Business Daily

As the rich world speeds ahead with vaccinations, developing countries – including those that did a good job at controlling the pandemic early on – look set to be hit with increasingly stringent travel restrictions that could affect their citizens for a long time.

The debate around the implications of vaccinated-related travel rules heated up as it was announced that the India-made AstraZeneca vaccine, Covishield – which is produced by India’s Serum Institute and distributed across much of Africa through the EU-supported Covax programme – has not been included in the EU Digital Green Pass programme. (Specific European countries have since agreed to recognise it, including Ireland.)

Africa has the slowest vaccination rate in the world. Just 18 million Africans are fully vaccinated on a continent of 1.3 billion people. But those in charge of procuring vaccines say rich countries have pushed their way to the front of the queue and taken control of production assets, denying the developing world a proper chance to get what is needed.

They are frustrated seeing politicians in wealthy countries talking about administering third doses to their citizens, rather than sharing what they have with the rest of the world.

“[There are] vaccine production centres across Europe. Not a single dose, not one vial has left a European factory for Africa,” charged Strive Masiyiwa, the African Union special envoy and Zimbabwean telecommunications billionaire tasked with leading efforts to procure Covid-19 vaccines, recently. “When we’ve gone to talk to their manufacturers, they tell us that they are completely maxed out, meeting the needs of Europe…They have vaccinated so many of their own people that they can now watch football without masks.”

“Now is the time for Europe to open up its production facilities so that we can buy vaccines,” he said.

Most African countries were quick to impose border controls and other restrictions in March 2020, greatly limiting the spread of the disease. To date, the UK has recorded almost the same number of deaths as the whole of Africa. However, the arrival of the Delta variant has caused a surge in cases. Over the past week, the continent recorded 6,273 deaths, a rise of 43 per cent on the 4,384 deaths of the previous week. Five countries – Namibia, South Africa, Tunisia, Uganda and Zambia – accounted for 83 per cent of new cases. Hospital admissions are increasing and some countries are facing shortages of oxygen and intensive care beds, while there are concerns about under-testing and unrecorded deaths.

One of the fastest increases has been in Uganda. The east African country of roughly 44 million people is back in a nationwide lockdown, while the WHO said the Delta variant was detected in 97 per cent of new cases. This week, Ugandan government minister Chris Baryomunsi told the Guardian newspaper that Uganda is unable to get further vaccinations, after giving shots to more than one million people.

“The problem has been the supply side,” he said. “We have the money but we simply can’t get the vaccine. This is a challenge of access and equity. We have to rely on the western world and the western world has focused on its population. The impression is that people there don’t care about Africans.”

In January John Nkengasong, the director of the Africa Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, said he was surprised African countries were being put on European travel ban lists while countries with much greater numbers of cases, like the US and France, remained off them. “From a public health standpoint, what we should be doing is requiring that people travel with a negative Covid-19 test,” he said. “If an African is traveling to the UK and shows a negative Covid test, that person doesn’t cause a risk to you.”

But fears are growing that the continent could be facing years of travel restrictions and bans hindering travel to the West, which would affect everyone from students and business people to Africans accessing medical care. Last month, Nkengasong appealed to G7 leaders to be on the “right side of history”, saying the limited supply of vaccines for Africa will have serious economic as well as health consequences.

Kenyan author Nanjala Nyabola, who recently published the book Travelling While Black, which was inspired by travels to 70 countries, said she believes extra restrictions imposed on African travellers could last far longer than the pandemic.

“Most African countries will not hit 30 per cent [of people vaccinated] until 2023, and that means that we will not hit 70 per cent until 2025. So, what they’re effectively saying is that they’re going to ban African travellers from certain countries until 2025. And once that becomes established as practice, how many years will it take to undo that?”

She said it is important to ensure racist policymaking does not take over at a time like this.

“The UK has a much more out of control outbreak than most African countries, but we are on red lists, and we have to carry that scarlet letter, but it’s almost never likely going to happen in the other direction.”

Source: The Irish Times

Kenyans are traveling more to Doha (Qatar), Dar es Salaam, London, Johannesburg and Kampala this year a survey indicates, even as countries continue to impose travel bans and restrictions.

This is mainly for business and leisure, a comparative study by technology company–Uber, conducted between 2019 to 2021, shows.

The survey is showcasing top city trips and holiday destinations.

“In 2019, the East African capitals of Dar es Salaam and Kampala were among the top cities that Kenyans travelled to. This was followed by Johannesburg, London and Doha in the same year. In 2021, top destinations included Doha, Dar es Salaam, London, Johannesburg and Kampala,” the global firm’s report notes.

Beyond Africa, popular destinations among Kenyans in 2019 were Washington D.C, New Delhi, Dubai and Toronto, while in 2021 it was Washington D.C, Toronto, Birmingham and New York City.

“The uptake in travel is providing a much-needed lifeline to travel and hospitality industries locally and internationally as more people take trips for business and leisure,” says Brian Njao, Head of East Africa, Uber.

The firm was among the first to unveil ride-hailing services in Kenya.

According to Uber’s data, Lisbon (Portugal’s hilly, coastal capital city) ranked the most popular city across Europe, Middle East and Africa (EMEA) among Uber riders, claiming the top spot from London in 2019.

In addition, the United States ranked the most popular country among Uber riders in EMEA, while five European countries joined the top ten (Portugal, Spain, France, UK and Poland).

The report indicates London is popular with Kenyans despite UK’s decision to place Kenya on its ‘Red List’ this year, over the South African coronavirus variant.

The listing affected international visitors to Kenya between January and June where a paltry 16,264 British citizens visited the country, compared to 181,484 arrivals in 2019.

Kampala is popular for imports of shoes and clothing by Kenyan businesses, mainly stalls in Nairobi, hence the ranking among top visited cities.

Uganda is equally a top tourist market source for Kenya with a total of 31,418 Ugandans visiting Kenya in the year to June.

Tanzania’s commercial hub of Dar es Salaam is also a key business destination where Kenyan companies have invested heavily in tech and financial services.

The neighbouring country is a key tourist market source with at least 31,291 of its citizens visiting Kenya between January and June this year.

Tourism Research Institute (TRI) data shows Kenya recorded a total of 305,635 international arrivals during the period, with global travel restrictions affecting the numbers.

During the six months, the US topped with 49,178.

There is a high number of Kenyans traveling to Qatar and other Middle East countries for business and greener pastures, which includes domestic work.

Source: The Star

The UK last week updated countries on England’s “Red List” amid concerns about the spread of new Covid-19 variants.

Kenya remained on the travel ban list where it was first included in April, triggering a tit-for-tat travel blockade from Nairobi.

The UK travel ban comes amid fears that the highly contagious Covid-19 Delta variant may spark a fourth wave of infections in Kenya over the next two months.

It also signals those reconciliatory talks initiated in mid-April to review the travel restrictions between Kenya and the UK, which threatened bilateral trade, economic and security relations, have not prompted England to downgrade the movement limits.

The UK ban has added weight to the decision of more than 50 countries to deny access to Kenyans in the global race to protect nations against new variants of coronavirus.

In May, Kenya lifted the ban on flights between Nairobi and London and eased restrictions imposed in retaliation to its inclusion in the red list.

The UK has segmented countries into a green, amber and red lists, each carrying different degrees of restrictions for arrivals back into the UK.

A British citizen travelling from a Green List is not required to undergo a mandatory quarantine.

Travellers arriving in the UK from countries on the Red List will be denied entry, while returning Britons must submit to 10 days of mandatory quarantine in hotels.

Kenya has relaxed punitive requirements that it had imposed on British citizens that required them to be isolated for 14 days before they can be admitted to the country.

In mid-June review, the Kenya Civil Aviation Authority (KCAA) said the British nationals and non-citizens travelling through London are required to self-isolate for only seven days.

The UK claims its decisions are based on scientific evidence on the incidence of deadly and highly contagious Covid-19 strains. The rapidly transmissible Covid-19 Delta variant, first identified in India, is dominant in western Kenya, where it was initially detected in the country.

The government-imposed restrictions on movement in the region to try and stem it from spreading nationwide.

Most countries are preparing to sign off on plans for unrestricted travel for people who have had both jabs.

About 1.61 million people have been inoculated so far in Kenya, of which 581,003 got their second doses.

The government expects to receive 13 million Johnson & Johnson vaccine doses from August and targets to inoculate more than 10 million people by the end of December and the entire 26 million adult population by the end of 2022.

Kenya had 192,435 confirmed Covid-19 cases and 3,760 deaths as of July 17, with a positivity rate of 10.5 percent.

The UK decision has delivered yet another devastating blow to tourism not only in Kenya but across the continent. With a number of Middle East and African countries on the Red List, Nairobi has been the last major hub for connecting flights into the UK.

Britain is one of Kenya’s main trading partners and in 2019 accounted for the fourth largest arrivals through Jomo Kenyatta International Airport with 181,400 visitors.

Tourist arrivals from the UK stood at 16,264 in the first half of this year from 42,341 in the same period last year, representing a 62 percent drop.

Besides the UK, Australia, Argentina, Belgium, Cambodia, Canada, Portugal, Denmark, Bulgaria and Singapore top the list of countries that have banned or placed restrictions on holders of Kenyan passports. Others are Hong Kong, Bangladesh, Chile, Czech Republic, Cyprus and Cameroon, which Henley & Partners lists as the only African country to place restrictions on Kenya.

The Henley Passport Index made the revelations showing how the virus has hurt travel.

Source: The East African

Months into the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020, Kenya’s normally manicured beaches were carpeted three-feet deep in parts with thick layers of seaweed.

The Indian Ocean had seemingly taken advantage of the shuttered hotels and absence of tourists to reclaim the white sands in normally bustling Diani, Watamu, Malindi, and other favoured places along Kenya’s coastline.

The story was similar across much of Africa: pandemic-induced lockdowns and grounded flights devastated the continent’s tourism industry, forcing many operators to the brink of bankruptcy—or to cease operations.

During the height of the pandemic in West Africa, the Azalaï Hotel Group took the difficult decision to close completely. The Group has since reopened most of its hotels in the region, but more than half its rooms remain empty.

“I think 2021 is going to be another tough year for the sector,” said Mossadeck Bally, founder and Chief Executive Officer of the hotel group. “The vaccination rollout will give travellers some confidence, but I don’t think people will travel much this year. The recovery will really start in 2022.”

Unprecedented Crisis

Over the past 20 years, tourism has become vital to African economies. In 2019, the industry accounted for about seven percent of Africa’s GDP and contributed $169 billion to its economy—about the size of Côte d’Ivoire’s and Kenya’s combined GDP.

Africa’s travel and tourism sector employed more than 24 million people in 2019, according to the World Travel and Tourism Council (WTTC).

But COVID-19 has created an unprecedented crisis for the tourism industry in Africa and around the world, crushing the supporting food, service, and manufacturing sectors that depend on tourism for employment and incomes.

In July 2020, the African Union estimated that Africa lost nearly $55 billion in travel and tourism revenues and two million jobs in only the first three months of the pandemic. The International Monetary Fund predicted that real GDP among African countries dependent on tourism shrunk by 12 percent in 2020.

The Azalai Group, with nine hotels across six West African countries, knows too well the pain the pandemic has inflicted. To survive, it furloughed some staff, reduced salaries, and negotiated a relief-from-debt service with its lenders, including with IFC.

“The impact has been very strong,” said Bally, who refused a salary himself for more than a year. “Our industry was devastated because all of a sudden, we’ve been asked to just stop operating. We are a front-line sector so we are suffering first before it reaches the other industries.”

Aside from its Grand Hotel in Bamako, Mali’s capital, Azalai’s locations have resumed operations but with fewer staff, pay cuts of up to 40 percent and a hiring freeze, Bally said. Occupancy rates range from five percent in Guinea Bissau to 40 percent in Côte d’Ivoire, still well below normal levels.

Dependence on Foreign Travelers

Africa’s tourism sector has persevered largely without the financial relief provided by governments in wealthier, more developed regions, with the continent’s smaller businesses in the sector most affected.

The crisis has also exposed Africa’s dependence on foreign travelers. This is especially true for countries in Eastern and Southern Africa, which have developed significant leisure and safari-oriented facilities that appeal to European, American, Asian, and other visitors.

In December 2020, an IFC and Dalberg Advisors survey of selected tourism companies in Tanzania, Uganda, and Zambia revealed that the companies would lose two thirds of their revenue from international tourism receipts in the 2020-2021 season.

Some experts believe that Africa might take longer to recover than other regions due in part to a lack of domestic and intraregional demand and the sector’s weaker supply chain.

According to the WTTC, domestic tourism accounted for 55 percent of travel and tourism spending in Africa in 2019, below the contribution of local tourism in North America (83 percent), Europe (64 percent) and Asia-Pacific (74 percent). Domestic tourism accounted for 73 percent of the total global tourism spending in 2017.

“Much of the world has had the advantage of relying on captive domestic and regional audiences. But in Africa, domestic tourism has been overlooked for a long time,” said Hermione Nevill, an IFC Senior Tourism Specialist in Johannesburg. “The sector needs to be oriented towards more diversified markets so that there is greater resilience in future.”

But all is not lost for Africa’s hard-pressed tourism sector—and some countries have already acted to entice domestic tourists.

South Africa, which welcomed 10 million international tourists in 2019, made local tourism in 2020 a focus of its recovery plan. Rwanda, with advisory support from IFC, is developing a recovery strategy that includes developing local and regional markets. Meanwhile in Kenya, entry fees to all game parks and reserves have been cut for one year to attract more local tourists.

“Where we’ve seen some resilience is when there’s domestic travel,” Wayne Godwin, senior vice-president of JLL Hotels & Hospitality Group for Sub-Saharan Africa, said at a virtual IFC event on the future of the tourism sector in Africa and the Middle-East.

Young Travellers and Free Trade

Africa’s growing middle class, its soaring population of young travellers hungry for adventure, and the recently launched African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA), the world’s largest free trade area by the number of participating countries, are among the pillars seen supporting the future growth of domestic and regional tourism in the continent.

“The free-trade agreement is an absolute game changer for travel,” Godwin said. “If 97 percent of commodities and goods are tariff-free, that’s going to do a lot for regional trade. And when there’s regional trade, travel will follow. It just will happen.”

With its abundant wildlife and varied landscapes, Kenya is a leader in Africa in promoting local tourism.

The country’s beaches have been busy again following COVID’s initial shock, though another month-long lockdown announced for parts of the country in April 2021 frayed nerves among the country’s tourism operators.

Even before COVID-19, Kenya enjoyed a 55 percent rise in bed night occupancies by domestic tourists between 2014 to 2018, according to official data. The growth has been credited to digital campaigns, growing disposable income among Kenyans, and efforts to promote affordable alternatives to five-star resorts.

“International bookings are a higher value in terms of revenue but the domestic market is more resilient,” said Muthuri Kinyamu, cofounder of Kenyan tour operator Turnup.Travel. “Clients take multiple trips with you, and they come back.”

Kinyamu’s company has held up well during the pandemic, even adding staff. It benefited from a strong digital presence, developed new packages and partnered with low-cost airline Jambojet, a unit of Kenya Airways, to create content to reassure travelers and boost domestic bookings, Kinyamu said.

“Of course, our growth trajectory has been hampered by COVID-19 but when we look at our 2020 numbers, the revenues have evened out,” Kinyamu said. “With the restrictions, we had to adapt but we never had to lay off our staff as our business has diverse sources of incomes.”

Across the continent in West Africa, Zaina Lodge, a luxury safari hotel in Ghana, enjoyed its second-best month ever in December 2020—thanks to the power of domestic tourism.

“We established ourselves as a local brand from day one,” said company cofounder Andy Murphy. “The long-term growth in the continent is going to have to come from domestic tourism. If you’re a business in tourism in Africa, you need to seriously think about how you build a domestic client base to match or even exceed your international base,” he said.

Reinventing the Industry

While Africa’s domestic tourism industry is growing—by 2050, Nigeria will have the world’s third largest population, for example—it remains largely untapped and burdened by challenges.

Connectivity is an issue. Traveling around the continent can be complicated and expensive, in part because countries restrict their markets to protect their state-owned air carriers. Although 44 African countries adopted the Yamoussoukro decision to liberalize the aviation market in 1999, implementation has fallen short.

There’s also a need for more and better infrastructure beyond capital cities, which are now generally well served with hotels and other amenities, said Olivier Baric, Africa Aviation Director at Egis, a French multinational company involved in infrastructure and transport.

Tourism experts believe domestic tourists could be enticed if operators invest in the economy and mid-scale market, develop smaller, more authentic, and greener resorts, and introduce more products aimed at middle-class African families and millennials, while marketing more directly to these groups.

Finally, there is the question—and problem—of ownership. The long-term strength and sustainability of Africa’s tourism industry will in part depend on the number of Africans building businesses and supporting and encouraging others on the continent to do so.

Despite the many challenges ahead, Azalai’s Bally says he sees the crisis as an opportunity—but one that can only be grasped through hard work and with fresh thinking:

“I am not worried, but I am perfectly aware that we have to reinvent ourselves to deal with the new situation,” he added. “Those who can reinvent themselves will survive.”

Source: IFC

On Monday, July 12th, Rwandair, the flag carrier of Rwanda, announced that it would be entering a partnership with Qatar Airways. This new deal will see the two airlines’ loyalty programs working together, a new collaboration that will allow customers of each airline to both earn and spend the points of their respective carrier’s program with the other.

“Our partnership with RwandAir opens up a world of possibilities for the customers of both airlines, allowing them to discover exciting destinations.” -H.E. Mr Akbar Al Baker, Chief Executive, Qatar Airways Group

Linking loyalty programs

With this week’s announcement, members of RwandAir Dream Miles and Qatar Airways Privilege Club will have access to each other’s destinations, with the opportunity to ‘earn and burn’ points across the carriers’ reciprocal route networks. It’s a fairly easy-to-understand concept, but here is how the partnership will benefit travelers:

RwandAir Dream Miles members will be able to fly to Qatar Airways destinations using miles earned by flights bought through RwandAir. With over 140 destinations on six continents, much of the world is now accessible with Dream Miles.

Qatar Airways Privilege Club members will have the ability to earn miles on RwandAir’s flights, both within Africa and on long-haul routes. The carrier’s higher-profile destinations include New York and London.

“Customer loyalty is of huge importance to both RwandAir and Qatar Airways. We both strive to put the customer experience first and give recognition to our most frequent fliers.” -Yvonne Makolo, CEO, RwandAir

Rwandair loyalists will benefit more

With this new ability, travelers loyal to Rwandair will have that same loyalty honored at Qatar Airways- a huge benefit with the latter airline’s significant global reach. Therefore, it’s fairly clear that travelers loyal to Rwandair (presumably mostly residents of Rwanda) will benefit the most from this deal.

Indeed, if someone living in Rwanda (primarily Kigali) chooses to travel to any destination in the Middle East, India, East Asia, or Oceania, Qatar Airways would now be the most obvious choice. The Qatari carrier makes long-haul travel simple with a single stop at its hub at Doha’s Hamad International Airport.

On the other side, travelers loyal to Qatar Airways may now find that Rwandair is their airline of choice when it comes to accessing East and West Sub-Saharan Africa.

Will loyalty status also be honored?

While it’s been made clear that members of each program can earn and spend miles on flights operated by the other airline, the mutual recognition of loyalty benefits was one function that was left out.

It’s standard these days to offer perks to your most frequent flyers. These often take the form of privileges and benefits at each membership tier and can include additional baggage allowance, lounge access, and priority boarding. With the two membership programs cooperating, it would have been fantastic if mutual recognition is an included feature- although status recognition tends to be more of a given when it comes to fully established airline alliances.

Source: Simple Flying

Denying individuals who have been vaccinated by Covishield the chance to travel to certain countries undermines the confidence in life saving vaccines, says the government of Kenya while responding to complaints by travellers that many European Union member had rejected both the negative test and proof of full vaccination.

Kenya’s Health Cabinet Secretary Mutahi Kagwe warned that distrusting vaccines that have already been shown to be safe and effective by the World Health Organization (WHO) risks putting billions of lives at risk.

Effect on uptake

“When you reject the visa application of those vaccinated by a certain vaccine type that is considered safe, are you telling them that the vaccine is unsafe?” Mr Kagwe said.

This, he said, will affect the uptake of the vaccine in the said countries.

His sentiments were followed by a statement from the Covax facility urging all global regional and national government authorities to recognise everyone who has received Covid-19 vaccines authorised by the WHO as fully vaccinated when making decisions on who is able to travel or attend events.

“Any measure that only allows people protected by a subset of WHO-approved vaccines to benefit from the re-opening of travel into and within that region would effectively create a two-tier system,” says the statement.

Though Covishield provides the expected defences against the virus, and is currently being administered in Kenya and most African countries, the EU Commission does not recognise it.

The European Medicines Agency (EMA), which is responsible for the evaluation and supervision of medicinal products, has approved only four Covid-19 vaccines so far: Comirnaty (Pfizer/BioNTech), Moderna, Vaxzervria (AstraZeneca), Janssen (Johnson & Johnson).

However, Covishield, the Indian version of AstraZeneca and University of Oxford’s Covid vaccine, is yet to be recognised by the agency though the WHO has endorsed it for emergency use across the world.

The European Union recently issued guidelines regarding the applicability of the EU Digital Covid Certificate “Green Pass” to different Covid-19 vaccines which would facilitate free and safe movement across all EU member states and associated countries.

The EU Digital Covid certificate or ‘Green Pass’ will be mandatory to travel to European countries and the document will serve as proof that a person is vaccinated against Covid-19.

The “Green Pass” came to effect on July 1 with an aim to facilitate free movement during the Covid-19 pandemic.

India has already asked the EU member countries to individually consider allowing Indians who have taken Covishield and Covaxin vaccines and want to travel to Europe.

Source: The East African

The heightened travel restrictions between Kenya and the UK in April led to a drop in international arrivals into the country, amid Covid-19 impact on the sector.

Pre-Covid, UK was the second overseas market source with 181,484 arrivals in 2019, a year that saw the country record the highest international numbers ever, at 2,048, 834, with the US being the lead market with 245,437 visitors.

The decision by the UK to place Kenya on its ‘Red List’ this year, over the lethal South African coronavirus variant, affected arrivals from the traditional market as tourists to Kenya remained low in the first six months of the year.

Tourism Research Institute (TRI) data released yesterday indicates Kenya recorded 305,635 international arrivals in the period between January and June 2021.

This is 262, 213 shy of the total arrival recorded in full year 2020 which the East African Business Council (EABC) has captured at 567,848, as Kenya led her regional peers in the number of international visitors.

During the six months reviewed by TRI, the US topped with 49,178 arrivals followed by Uganda and Tanzania which had 31,418 and 31,291 of its citizens visit Kenya, respectively.

China for the first time beat UK with a total of 18,069 arrivals as British visitors to Kenya totalled 16,264, a distant fourth among top five markets.

It was followed by India with 13,950 visitors, a period that visiting family and friends topped the reason of travel to Kenya (94,241 arrivals), as opposed to the traditional holidays to beach destinations and parks.

“We can see the UK dropped to number five due to the effects of the unfair travel restrictions and putting Kenya in the Red list despite our Covid-19 numbers giving a different scenario,” Tourism and Wildlife CS Najib Balala said in a statement yesterday.

When Kenya was red listed, the government retaliated by banning visitors from the UK with the two countries restricting flights from either end.

Kenya Airways, a key carrier on the route and other airlines were affected as UK banned Kenyans or anybody transiting through Kenyan airports from setting foot in the UK, save for residents who had to undergo mandatory quarantine at a government listed facility.

“We are still engaging and we hope these travel restrictions will be lifted not only by the UK but across the world. Meanwhile, we are still continuing to observe safe travel protocols, ” Balala said.

During the period under review, business and MICE(Meetings, incentives, conferences and exhibitions) was the second most purpose of travel, which saw 92,828 visitors come into the country.

Holiday travellers came in third with a total of 87,629 arrivals while those on transit totalled 15, 811.

Other purposes were education(8,637), medical (3,592), religion (1,722) while 1,175 came into the country for sporting activities.

The six-month arrival is a paltry 14.9 per cent of the total 2, 048, 834 arrivals in 2019, the highest in the country’s history which saw earnings hit Sh163.56 billion.

It falls short of the 860,000 international visitors projected in the medium-term if the economy was to open in July last year.

The pandemic which has affected the global travel trends, hitting the tourism industry hard, saw Kenya lose Sh130.9 billion in potential revenues last year, as the government stared at a loss of up to Sh2.5 billion in catering levy alone.

Government data in collaboration with the Kenya Private Sector Alliance indicates at least 3.1 million jobs in the travel and tourism sector were hit four months after the first Covid-19 case was reported in Kenya, in March.

These include hotel employees, pubs and restaurants, tour operators, airlines, travel agents and their related suppliers and support services.

About 2.3 million employees were sent home on unpaid leave with most hotel temporarily closing.

The government has been counting on domestic tourists, mainly from Nairobi, to cushion the industry from collapse, as sector players hope for a strong post-Covid recovery in the wake of continued vaccination across the globe.

Domestic tourism accounted for 4.9 million bed-nights in 2019.

The numbers however remain low on the occasion of the on-and-off cessation of movement and the nation-wide curfew which has been in place since last year.

“The vaccine is expected to be a significant boost for the tourism and hospitality industry, which has been badly affected by border closures, travel restrictions, curfew and social distancing measures related to Covid-19,” notes Hasnain Noorani, PrideInn Group Managing Director.

Source: The Star

As the world starts to open up, a number of nations are actively contemplating allowing free travel to those who have received both shots of the vaccine. While that’s great for people in countries where the rollout has been a success, the inequality in the distribution of vaccine doses could leave some citizens shut out of such policies – most notably, Africans.

Less than 2% of Africa is fully vaccinated

The vaccination drive across the world has been celebrated as a huge success. In North America and Europe, around a third of the population is classed as fully vaccinated, having had both shots of a two-jab vaccine, or one of a single shot solution. But the situation elsewhere is not such a success.

Across the entire world, the fully vaccinated rate is less than 13%, with the average dragged down by lower rates in Asia and Oceania. However, the region with the very lowest rate is the continent of Africa, a region that is suffering from a lack of supply, despite efforts by airlines and governments alike to get doses where they’re needed.

Speaking at today’s CAPA Live event, Rwandair CEO Yvonne Manzi Makolo raised the issue of vaccine inequity, noting that,

“A lot of African countries have managed to contain the pandemic pretty well for the last almost year and a half now, including Rwanda where we operate from. But unfortunately, given the issue of vaccine inequity, a lot of African countries have not been able to get the number of vaccines that they have booked, including Rwanda. So we are seeing a situation where in the entire African continent, less than 2% of the population is vaccinated, which is very worrying.”

Statistics from Our World In Data show that, to July 13th, 2.9% of Africa’s population had received at least one dose of the vaccine. Fully vaccinated (double jabbed) sits at less than 1.4%.

Even though rates across Africa are generally very low, there is still some significant variation in the rates between countries. Some of the lowest rates, such as in the DRC, Chad, Burkina Faso, and South Sudan, less than 0.5% of the population have received a single vaccine dose.

Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, director-general of the World Health Organization (WHO), has spoken out recently about the vaccine inequity issue. He has branded the inequity a “catastrophic moral failure” that has led to a “two-track pandemic,” even going so far as to call it “vaccine apartheid.”

Citizens could be shut out with current travel policies

As the world looks to reopen for travel, some governments are eyeing policies that would see fully vaccinated travelers moving around freely. Those without the full quota of doses would be restricted in where they could go, and could face expensive quarantine and testing regimens if they are allowed to travel at all.

Speaking on behalf of aviation in Africa, Makolo was concerned that Africa citizens could face being shut out of international travel through no fault of their own. She said,

“This gives us a lot of concern in the aviation industry in terms of the full restart of the industry. A lot of the developed world, in the US and Europe and in other areas, have achieved much higher levels of vaccination and we are also hearing a lot of calls for requests to allow travel for people who are vaccinated. This is a concern for us, because if you have almost the entire African continent unvaccinated, how are people going to travel?”

The Rwandair CEO believes that restricting travel to the fully vaccinated only would be unfair to the citizens of Africa who have not had the opportunity to take the jab. For a continent that did a sterling job of containing the virus, with only 4.5 million total confirmed cases compared to 66 million-plus in North and South America as well as Europe, it seems a cruel and unusual punishment for their efforts to date.

Testing is the only way forward

For the African aviation industry, which has typically struggled with profitability anyway, getting back to a solid restart is vital for their survival. Makolo believes that the only way to restart travel fairly in the face of vaccine inequity is to afford the same travel privileges to those presenting with a negative COVID test result as to those who have had the benefit of the vaccine.

“From our side, we really want to see a situation where we still allow people to travel wherever they need to travel, as long as they have a negative COVID test. And the ones who are vaccinated can be allowed to travel freely. We have to allow for both.”

Rwandair is the first airline in Africa to begin trialing the IATA Travel Pass as a means of proving vaccination and test result status. The airline is also in talks with Common Pass and with the African Union to test out their offers of digital health certificates. Ultimately, it will choose the one that best suits its needs.

With digital passes possessing the ability to eliminate fraudulent test results, airlines in African can only hope these hold the key to unlocking international travel sooner rather than later.

Source: Simple Flying

Mastercard released Recovery Insights: Ready for Takeoff? – A view into key travel trends in the air and on the ground, around the world. While the global travel recovery remains uneven, a rebound in ground travel and pick-up in domestic flight bookings are showing encouraging signs.

The report, developed by the Mastercard Economics Institute, draws on aggregated and anonymized sales activity across the global Mastercard network to better understand the next phase for travel, its drivers and challenges. This includes the balance between leisure and business, local and long-distance, and saving and spending. The report also looks at the spending categories seeing an uptick and what they signal for travel recovery.

“There are indicators of recovery across some markets in the Middle East & Africa, for example gas spending in Nigeria and Egypt are already above 2019 peaks. Although we still have some way to go amidst ongoing uncertainty, there is an appetite among consumers to move and discover. Alongside safe, systematic opening of markets and continued momentum in vaccine rollouts, countries will start to see more signs of gradual travel recovery,” said David Mann, Chief Economist, Asia and MEA, Mastercard.

Key trends include:

Global gasoline spending is up 13%* from its previous peak in 2019. In Egypt and Nigeria, spend at gas stations are already higher than their 2019 peaks, while in the UAE and Kenya, they have equalized previous levels. Road trips—the big trend of 2020 around the world—aren’t going anywhere.

As people prepare to reemerge, pent-up savings help fuel sales across a variety of categories. Sales for beauty salons and luggage stores are up, likely reflecting plans to move around and increase in-person interactions. Spending at bike stores (+62%) also grew. Furthermore, sales at toupee and wigs stores have increased 75% in the past year compared to pre-pandemic, with increases in this category also seen among consumers in South Africa.

Air travel remains down significantly globally, although the trajectory is upwards. In markets like the UAE, Egypt, Nigeria, and Kenya, international flight bookings are climbing, but are still at a fraction of where they were before the pandemic began. This also holds true for South Africa, although domestic flights (56.7% share) are recovering at a quicker pace, above its 40.9% share in 2019.

Global business travel lags global leisure travel by approximately four months. In the Middle East & Africa though, there is a closer correlation to leisure and business travel growth.

Borders reopening have fueled 10 interesting travel corridors.  The limited borders reopening has proven to be challenging for travelers and the travel industry alike. But select open corridors are showing partial recovery. For example, flights out of the Middle East and Africa are gradually improving, with intra-regional travel to Egypt and the United Arab Emirates most notable.

“The past year has only reinforced how important travel is—to our connection with friends, family and the broader world, to our business communities, and to our personal fulfillment,” said Raj Seshadri, President of Data and Services, Mastercard. “The economic implications of tourism are vast, with virtually no industry untouched when travelers stay home. Through Recovery Insights, we’ve helped airlines redesign travel routes, retailers rejig inventory, and cities understand shifts in neighborhood spending. It’s about enabling smarter decisions for better outcomes—today and tomorrow.”

Mastercard launched Recovery Insights to help businesses and governments better manage the economic risks presented by COVID-19. Through this initiative, Mastercard has provided data-driven insights, analytics and other services to businesses and governments to help them understand ever-changing consumer spending trends and how to address them.

For instance, early last year, a leading Asia-Pacific airline leveraged Mastercard Test & Learn to understand what was driving performance during the pandemic. It was discovered that trip duration greater than seven days grew by nearly two-thirds, and tickets bought months in advance grew by roughly half. Building on these insights, the airline was able to instantly adjust their strategy in real-time to optimize their sales and better serve travelers.

Source: KBC