Lufthansa is ushering in a new era of long-haul travel from Nairobi with the introduction of its Allegris cabin experience on flights to Frankfurt and beyond, giving Kenyan travellers access to redesigned cabins, greater privacy and more personalised seating options.
The new product, being introduced on the Nairobi-Frankfurt route from August 2026, marks one of the German carrier’s most significant upgrades to its long-haul passenger experience, spanning Business Class, Premium Economy and Economy.
For business travellers, the centrepiece is a redesigned Business Class offering featuring different seating configurations, including enhanced privacy through Business Class Suites, direct aisle access and upgraded inflight entertainment.
Premium Economy offers additional personal space, improved comfort and an enhanced dining experience, positioning the cabin between conventional Economy and the more premium Business Class product.
Economy passengers will also receive redesigned, ergonomically focused seats, larger entertainment screens and a more personalised onboard experience.
Across the Allegris cabins, Lufthansa has introduced larger next-generation entertainment screens, additional space and privacy, greater choice in seating and Human Centric Lighting designed to support passengers’ natural sleep-wake rhythms during long-haul journeys.
The Nairobi-Frankfurt connection is particularly significant for travellers using Germany as a gateway into Europe and beyond, with Frankfurt providing onward connections across Lufthansa’s network.
Catering takes a new turn
The cabin upgrade comes as Lufthansa also expands its onboard food programme, giving passengers greater control over what they eat during their journey.
From September 1, 2026, the airline will add five hot meals to its Onboard Delights programme for Economy Class passengers travelling on continental routes of two hours or more.
The new choices include beef roulade with potato dumplings, chicken teriyaki, tortellini in tomato sauce with zucchini, currywurst from Dönninghaus and a cheeseburger from HANS IM GLÜCK.
The meals will be available exclusively through pre-order, which passengers can make from four weeks until 24 hours before departure.
Lufthansa says the pre-order model is designed to give passengers greater choice while ensuring that their selected meal is available onboard.
“With these hot meals, we’re expanding Onboard Delights to offer our passengers on longer continental flights an additional selection,” said Olaf Mauthe, Head of Hospitality Catering Management at Lufthansa. “Pre-ordering guarantees our guests that their desired meal will be waiting for them on board – for a relaxed and predictable journey.”
Business Class gets wider choice
Lufthansa is also expanding its pre-selection service for Business Class passengers on long-haul flights.
The airline has offered passengers departing from Frankfurt and Munich the ability to select their main course in advance since 2023. From September 1, the service will extend to most long-haul flights returning to Germany.
Passengers will also have a wider menu to choose from, with six main courses available for pre-selection instead of three.
The selection window will run from four weeks to 24 hours before departure.
For the East African market, the changes place the passenger experience—not just connectivity—at the centre of Lufthansa’s proposition as competition among international carriers serving Nairobi continues to intensify.
With Allegris, the carrier is betting that the next stage of long-haul competition will be fought not only over where airlines fly, but also over how passengers experience the journey once they are onboard.
When Lalit Jobanputra spoke about the Kenya Association of Travel Agents at the 2026 KATA AGM and Convention, he was speaking about an organisation he had watched grow from about 25 members paying KSh3,000 in subscriptions into a much larger voice for Kenya’s travel trade. The emotion caught up with him as he recalled those early days. Later, he presented a cheque towards KATA’s CSR activities and left the stage with a line that drew applause: “Giving while living is the fun of living.”
Lalit Jobanputra speaks during a panel discussion at the 2026 KATA AGM and Convention.
It was a fitting moment for a man whose career has stretched across some of the biggest changes in Kenya’s travel industry. Jobanputra, who turned 75 in July, entered the workforce long before online bookings, electronic tickets and automated settlement systems changed the way travel was sold.
Born in Kisumu in 1951, Jobanputra grew up between Kisumu, Kampala and Nairobi. He returned to Kenya after failing to secure employment in Uganda as a Kenyan and found work as a systems analyst, earning KSh1,000 a month. The job came with a 3 per cent commission, which eventually became almost four times his basic salary.
His next move was to a global textile company, where he spent 14 years and dealt with travel arrangements for more than 10,000 employees. It was his first sustained exposure to corporate travel and gave him an understanding of the needs of business travellers before he entered the industry himself.
Kenya’s tourism market was expanding during this period. International tourist arrivals rose from about 365,000 in 1978 to more than 614,000 in 1986 and about 801,000 in 1990. The growing movement of international visitors and business travellers was creating room for a larger travel services industry.
Jobanputra’s own entry came through an unlikely route. He started a video cassette business, selling and hiring out tapes for about KSh100 each. Customers paid upfront, making the cash cycle relatively simple. He later established a travel department within the business, changed the company’s name, obtained the necessary licences and began the process of securing IATA accreditation.
It took two years to get the IATA licence.
Travel in Style was built from that modest beginning. What started as an ambitious venture 39 years ago, with limited experience but considerable determination, developed into a corporate and travel management business under Jobanputra’s leadership. His background in economics and finance also shaped the way he approached the company’s growth, while his involvement in building relationships with clients and industry partners became central to the business.
Lalit Jobanputra addresses delegates during the 2003 KATA AGM.
Over the years, Jobanputra also served on the KATA Board, giving him a role in the association beyond his own company. At Travel in Style, his leadership has been characterised by a focus on relationships, service and the people around the business.
The business he entered was very different from the one he had left behind. Ticketing was manual, and travel agencies depended heavily on their knowledge of airline schedules, fares and ticketing procedures. But the biggest difference for Jobanputra was financial. While his video customers paid upfront, a travel agency could sell a substantial ticket and wait as long as 90 days for payment.
“Competition was money. Turnover is big. Where is the money coming from?” he recalls.
For years, airline commissions provided an important revenue stream for travel agencies. Then the commissions began to fall. Jobanputra remembers the decline as “10, nine, seven, one” before the industry eventually reached zero.
Lalit Jobanputra (centre), Roger Sylvester of Bunson Travel, then KATA Chairman (left), and Sauda Rajab of Kenya Airways (right) during the 2003 KATA AGM, as the association pushed for airlines to retain the 9 per cent commission paid to travel agents.
The change triggered a major battle between airlines and travel agents. Through KATA, agents opposed the removal of commissions and campaigned against the zero-commission model. As supplier commissions disappeared, KATA pushed for service charges, with the association introducing them in 2007. By 2012, the basic service fee had reached KSh1,245, with different charges applying to various travel services.
The industry was being forced to change its business model just as another disruption was gathering pace: the internet. By 2008/09, Kenya Airways was attracting about 230,000 visitors a month to its website, while online sales had exceeded $10 million. About 3 per cent of its 2.8 million passengers were already using online check-in.
The travel agent could no longer depend on controlling access to fares and schedules. The role increasingly moved towards managing complexity, serving corporate clients and providing assistance when things went wrong.
Jobanputra was also involved in the infrastructure behind the industry. He recalls working with Jayant Acharya of Acharya Travel in the introduction of IATA’s Billing and Settlement Plan (BSP) in Kenya, helping develop the manual processes through which agents and airlines reported ticket sales, reconciled accounts and settled payments.
His involvement with KATA also extended beyond the commission battles. As the association developed, issues around airline-agent relations, ticketing, settlement and the commercial viability of agencies became increasingly important to the industry.
Then came COVID-19.
The pandemic brought international travel to a standstill. Aircraft were grounded, bookings disappeared and refunds accumulated, leaving travel companies with little visibility on when business would return.
Travel in Style had about 35 employees at the time. Jobanputra and his family decided not to send them home without support. Staff were sent home but remained insured and received assistance, while the family also used its own resources to support employees and their families.
The company eventually emerged from the shutdown. Its workforce has since grown to 48 employees.
Jobanputra describes the period in simple terms: “Relationships are more valuable than transactions.” The transactions had stopped. The relationships remained.
The experience also accelerated a process Jobanputra had already begun: handing responsibility to the next generation. He believes founders can become too closely identified with their companies, with decisions, relationships and institutional knowledge centred around one person.
He has taken a different approach. His children, family members and staff have been brought into the business, and decision-making has increasingly moved away from him.
“I don’t make decisions today,” he says. His children and staff now make many of the decisions that once came to him.
Jobanputra says Travel in Style has since grown four-fold across its finances, relationships and other aspects of the business. His approach has been influenced by advice from his guru: “Let go. If there’s a problem, let go; a solution will come.”
The company’s early motto also remains with him: “Promise less, perform more.”
Looking ahead, Jobanputra expects artificial intelligence and technology to change how travel businesses operate. Processes will become increasingly automated and customer expectations will continue to evolve, but he places particular emphasis on emotional intelligence, empathy and trust.
His advice to business owners is to invest their knowledge in employees and family members, make staff feel that they have a stake in the business and, where appropriate, consider giving them shares.
The market around him has changed dramatically. Kenya recorded about 2.4 million international visitors in 2024, generating Sh452.2 billion in tourism earnings. In 2025, international arrivals rose to about 2.7 million, tourism earnings passed Sh500 billion, and combined domestic and international travellers reached about 7.9 million.
The travel business Jobanputra entered with manual tickets and airline commissions now operates in a digital market, with customers able to search fares, make bookings and manage journeys from their phones.
Jobanputra has lived through each of those changes. At 75, the industry is still changing around him.
Kenya and Uganda are being urged to deepen their longstanding economic relationship by expanding tourism exchanges and developing travel products that encourage travellers from both countries to explore more of East Africa.
The call was made during the media launch of the 5th Uganda–Kenya Coast Tourism and Innovation Summit 2026 in Kampala, where industry stakeholders challenged travel agents and tourism businesses to move beyond selling individual destinations and instead develop complementary products across the two markets.
“Uganda has products that Kenya can sell. Kenya has products that Uganda can sell. Together, we can sell East Africa,” was the message at the launch, capturing the growing push for stronger cross-border tourism partnerships.
The summit, which was unveiled on August 25 at Speke Resort Munyonyo in Kampala, will bring together tourism and travel trade stakeholders at Sarova Whitesands Beach Resort in Mombasa on October 26–27.
Representing the Kenya Association of Travel Agents (KATA), Coast Liaison Patrick Maina Kamanga said the opportunity for Kenyan travel agents was not simply to sell the Kenyan Coast as a beach destination, but to reposition Mombasa as a broader leisure destination for the Ugandan market.
He called for increased promotion of Mombasa as a family holiday destination, highlighting the Coast’s combination of beaches, wildlife, adventure, history and heritage.
The strategy comes against the backdrop of an already significant tourism relationship between the two countries. Kenya received a record 2.4 million international visitors in 2024, with Uganda accounting for 9.4 per cent of arrivals, making it Kenya’s second-largest source market after the United States.
This translates to roughly 226,000 Ugandan visitors to Kenya in 2024, underlining the size of the market that could be further developed through targeted travel products, improved connectivity and stronger engagement between travel agents in the two countries.
The opportunity extends beyond tourism. Uganda is Kenya’s largest export market, accounting for 11.3 per cent of Kenya’s total exports in 2024. Kenya’s exports to Uganda were valued at about KSh125 billion during the year, compared with imports of KSh36 billion.
The figures highlight the depth of the commercial relationship between the two countries and provide a wider economic context for efforts to increase people-to-people travel.
In July 2025, Presidents William Ruto and Yoweri Museveni witnessed the signing of eight bilateral agreements covering areas including tourism, transport, agriculture, fisheries, investment and standards. The agreements brought the two countries’ trade and cooperation instruments to 25 and were aimed at strengthening economic integration and people-to-people ties.
The two governments have also moved to address barriers to cross-border commerce. In August 2025, Kenya and Uganda agreed to eliminate tariff and non-tariff barriers affecting trade and directed that products originating from either country be treated as transfers rather than imports. The measures also targeted congestion at the Malaba and Busia border points to facilitate the movement of goods, services and people.
For the travel industry, smoother movement across the border creates an opportunity to connect business travel with leisure, family holidays and regional tourism.
KATA says travel agents have a central role to play in converting this potential into actual travel by developing joint packages, building stronger business-to-business relationships and helping consumers discover destinations on both sides of the border.
For Ugandan travellers, the Kenyan Coast offers an opportunity to extend trips beyond the traditional beach holiday. Family-oriented experiences, marine activities, wildlife excursions, cultural and historical sites, food and adventure can be combined into packages that give travellers more reasons to stay longer and spend more.
For Kenyan travellers, Uganda presents a complementary destination with its own tourism, business and cultural attractions, creating opportunities for two-way travel rather than a one-directional tourism market.
This approach also supports the wider East African Community objective of creating a more integrated regional market in which the movement of people, goods and services supports shared economic growth.
The summit therefore seeks to position the Kenya–Uganda tourism relationship as part of a larger regional proposition: one in which destinations are not marketed in isolation, but combined to create more compelling travel experiences.
As the two countries strengthen cooperation in trade, transport and investment, the tourism sector has an opportunity to build on those ties and turn existing commercial connections into increased visitor flows.
For travel agents, the proposition is straightforward: Uganda does not have to compete with Kenya for the same traveller, and Kenya does not have to compete with Uganda. By packaging their complementary products and selling them together, the two markets can create a stronger East African tourism proposition.
The 5th Uganda–Kenya Coast Tourism and Innovation Summit will seek to advance that conversation, bringing together tourism businesses, travel agents and other stakeholders to explore how stronger B2B partnerships, joint products and improved connectivity can translate the existing Kenya–Uganda relationship into more business for both markets.
Dubai is entering another year of tourism growth with a market that is becoming harder for competing destinations to ignore. The emirate welcomed a record 19.59 million international overnight visitors in 2025, up 5 per cent from 18.72 million in 2024, marking its third consecutive year of record arrivals.
The growth is not being driven by one source market. Western Europe supplied 4.1 million visitors in 2025, while the GCC contributed 2.99 million, South Asia 2.89 million, CIS and Eastern Europe another 2.89 million and the wider MENA region 2.17 million. The spread gives Dubai a diversified demand base rather than dependence on a single region.
That diversification matters for African travel sellers. Africa welcomed 99.2 million international visitors in 2025, up 14.1 per cent, while international visitor spending on the continent is forecast to grow another 6.8 per cent in 2026 to about US$80 billion.
For Dubai, the opportunity is not simply to attract African holidaymakers but to capture a growing mix of leisure, shopping, business, events and stopover traffic. Its position as a major aviation hub gives travel agents another reason to consider Dubai not only as an end destination but also as a gateway between Africa, Asia, Europe and the Middle East.
Dubai’s tourism growth is being matched by investment in accommodation and aviation infrastructure. The emirate ended 2025 with 154,264 hotel rooms across 827 establishments, while average hotel occupancy exceeded 80 per cent. Average daily room rates rose 8 per cent to about Dh579, while revenue per available room increased 11 per cent to Dh467.
The aviation numbers are equally significant. Dubai International Airport handled a record 95.2 million passengers in 2025, up 3.1 per cent, and is forecast to handle about 99.5 million passengers in 2026. The airport is already operating close to its physical limits, increasing pressure for the expansion of Al Maktoum International Airport.
For travel agents, the numbers point to a destination that is continuing to expand its inventory while maintaining strong demand. Dubai is no longer relying solely on the traditional sun-and-shopping proposition; its tourism model increasingly combines leisure, business, events, aviation connectivity and a large accommodation base.
The commercial question for African travel sellers is therefore less about whether Dubai is growing and more about where the next wave of African demand will come from — and how agents position the destination for it.
Kenya’s decision to make travel health insurance mandatory for international visitors has moved from policy proposal to a gazetted requirement, but the travel industry is still waiting for clarity on the procedures that will determine how the rule works in practice.
The requirement is anchored in the Social Health Insurance Act, 2023, and applies to non-Kenyans intending to enter and remain in Kenya for less than 12 months. The Government has prescribed a minimum cumulative benefit of US$50,000, including US$20,000 for medical expenses, US$25,000 for emergency medical transportation, US$300 for prescribed medicines, US$1,000 for mental illness treatment and US$5,000 for repatriation of mortal remains.
The implementation question came into sharper focus at a stakeholder meeting convened by the Ministry of Interior and National Administration, State Department for Immigration and Citizen Services, on August 20, 2026.
Government officials at the meeting, including Evelyn Cheluget, Director General of Immigration Services, and Amb. Isaac Ochieng, Director General of eCitizen, provided industry representatives with details of the proposed operating model.
Officials said the mandatory policy will cost US$44 per traveller and will, in some respects, mirror Zanzibar’s model. Travellers from eTA-required countries are expected to acquire the insurance alongside their eTA through the eTA platform, while those from eTA-exempt countries will obtain it through eCitizen. The policy is expected to be valid for 12 months, with differentiated rates for categories such as children.
Another significant clarification was that ordinary travel insurance purchased from an overseas insurer will not satisfy the Kenyan requirement. The mandatory cover must be issued through the approved Kenyan arrangement by an insurer regulated by the Insurance Regulatory Authority (IRA).
Industry Waiting for Clarity
For the travel industry, the immediate issue is implementation rather than the existence of the requirement.
Agents, airlines and tour operators need clarity on the purchasing process, verification, documentation, exemptions and enforcement, particularly because travel is sold weeks or months before passengers arrive in Kenya.
Association leaders, including KATA Chief Executive Officer, Nicanor Sabula, called for continued consultation and greater industry involvement in decisions affecting the travel-selling process. The argument is that businesses selling Kenya should be involved early enough to understand and communicate new requirements accurately.
The Government is expected to provide further guidance as the scheme moves towards implementation.
A Sensitive Market
The timing is important. Kenya received about 2.7 million international visitors in 2025, up from approximately 2.47 million in 2024, while tourism earnings reached about KSh500 billion.
The Government is targeting 5 million international visitors and KSh1 trillion in tourism earnings by 2027. For an industry competing with destinations across Africa and beyond, the travel trade wants new entry requirements to protect visitors without adding unnecessary friction to the process of coming to Kenya.
Could Kenya Follow Zanzibar?
Zanzibar introduced mandatory inbound travel insurance on October 1, 2024, requiring foreign visitors to obtain designated cover through the Zanzibar Insurance Corporation. The policy costs US$44 per person and covers stays of up to 92 days.
The identical US$44 figure and the Government’s indication that Kenya’s system will mirror Zanzibar in some respects make the island an obvious regional comparison. The key similarity is the use of a designated destination-linked insurance arrangement rather than simply accepting any existing travel insurance.
For Kenya, this could mean travellers with comprehensive policies bought overseas would still need the mandatory Kenyan cover. The Government’s clarification that foreign-issued travel insurance will not satisfy the requirement makes the final purchasing and verification procedures particularly important for travel sellers.
A Wider Protection Question
The initiative also raises a broader policy question. If the objective is to protect travellers against the financial consequences of medical emergencies abroad, should a similar approach eventually cover Kenyans travelling outside the country?
Travel agents routinely handle outbound journeys to destinations where medical treatment can be costly. Extending the principle to outbound travel could turn the initiative from a border-entry requirement into a wider travel consumer-protection framework.
From Policy to Passenger
The August 20 meeting has provided the industry with key parameters: US$44, eTA and eCitizen integration, and mandatory cover through an approved Kenyan insurance arrangement.
What remains is the operational detail. The industry is waiting for formal guidance that clearly sets out how the policy will be bought, verified and enforced, and how different traveller categories and existing insurance arrangements will be handled.
For Kenya, the challenge is to introduce the intended protection while keeping the process predictable for passengers and practical for the businesses responsible for selling the destination.
Kenya’s travel agents are increasingly operating across a patchwork of digital systems as airline distribution, payments, visas, customer management and communication move online. A single international booking can involve a GDS, NDC platform, airline portal, payment gateway, visa system, CRM and WhatsApp before the passenger receives a final itinerary.
The shift is changing what it means to be a travel agent. The job is no longer limited to finding fares and issuing tickets; agents increasingly have to know where airline content sits, how different booking channels work and how to move information between systems when they do not integrate seamlessly.
The technology stack is expanding
The pressure is not unique to Kenya. A 2026 survey of travel industry professionals found that 34 per cent identified technology fragmentation as the biggest challenge facing the sector, while 27 per cent cited the complexity of integrating different technologies.
For Kenyan agencies, the problem can be particularly visible when handling international itineraries. An agent may find a conventional fare through a GDS, check an NDC offer for additional airline content, process payment through a separate platform and then use another system for visa requirements. The customer sees one booking; the agent sees several systems.
NDC adds another distribution layer
The growth of NDC is adding to the complexity while also expanding the content available to agents. In the United States, traditional leisure agencies accounted for 16 per cent of settled NDC transactions in 2025, up from 11 per cent the previous year, while corporate agencies accounted for another 7 per cent.
For Kenyan agents, the significance is that the GDS is increasingly becoming one part of the distribution environment rather than the entire environment. Different channels can present different combinations of fares, baggage, seats and other ancillary products, making it increasingly important for agents to understand where the content originates.
AI enters the agency
Artificial intelligence is now joining the technology stack. Travel Weekly’s 2025 industry survey found that 59 per cent of travel advisers had used AI tools, compared with 41 per cent a year earlier. Among agency owners and managers, 42 per cent reported using AI for marketing materials and website content.
The technology is moving beyond writing and marketing into itinerary preparation, research, customer communication and other repetitive tasks. Phocuswright reported in 2026 that 61 per cent of travel businesses surveyed were experimenting with or scaling agentic AI, although only 6 per cent were already scaling it across their operations.
Is technology actually saving time?
That is the question agencies will increasingly have to answer. A new platform can automate one task while creating another. NDC can provide richer airline content but requires agents to understand different booking and servicing conditions. A CRM can centralise customer information but still requires constant updating, while digital payment systems can simplify collections but add reconciliation requirements.
Technology can therefore shift the workload rather than eliminate it. The agent may spend less time entering information manually but more time checking whether data, payment status, fare conditions and booking details match across different platforms.
The agent becomes the connector
Kenya is already moving deeper into this transition. Kenya Airways began distributing NDC content through the Amadeus Travel Platform in 2025, while Travelport and other distribution companies continue adding NDC connections with international carriers.
For agencies, the competitive advantage may increasingly come from how efficiently these systems are used together. The most technologically advanced agency will not necessarily be the one with the greatest number of platforms, but the one that can complete a booking with the fewest manual steps.
The travel agent is therefore becoming something of a technology operator: not because technology is replacing the agent, but because someone still has to make the systems work for the customer.
For travel agents, the cheapest airfare can be the easiest fare to sell, and sometimes the hardest to explain later.
The reason is simple: the price displayed at the beginning of a search increasingly represents only the core transportation. Baggage, seat selection, flexibility and other services can move the final cost considerably higher.
Ancillaries are no longer small change
Globally, airlines generated an estimated US$148.4 billion in ancillary revenue in 2024, according to IdeaWorksCompany. The figure was forecast to rise to US$157 billion in 2025, more than double the US$67.4 billion recorded in 2016.
Ancillary revenue accounted for about 15.7% of airline revenue in 2025, compared with just 9.1% in 2016. Depending on the airline, the proportion ranges from only a few per cent to more than half of total revenue.
IATA separately forecast US$144 billion in ancillary revenue in 2025, up 6.7% from the previous year, alongside US$693 billion in passenger revenue.
The numbers explain why airlines have increasingly separated the basic fare from additional services.
What it looks like on a Nairobi itinerary
Consider a hypothetical return journey from Nairobi to a European destination.
An agent finds a basic return fare of US$520. It looks like the obvious option when compared with another fare priced at US$590.
But suppose the US$520 fare does not include a checked bag. Adding one for both directions costs US$100. The passenger wants a selected seat on both flights at US$25 each way, adding another US$50.
The alternative fare at US$590 could therefore be US$80 cheaper in the final transaction, depending on what it includes.
The figures are illustrative, not current market prices. The point is the calculation: the lowest base fare is not necessarily the lowest total price.
The problem for agents
This creates a difficult conversation at the point of sale. A customer searching online may see a fare advertised at US$520 and ask an agent why the agency is quoting US$670. The answer may be that the two prices are not selling the same product.
For an agent, therefore, fare comparison increasingly means comparing what is included, not just what appears next to the flight number.
That is particularly important for business travellers, families and passengers carrying checked luggage. A traveller who needs baggage, a specific seat and flexibility may have little interest in the absolute cheapest fare.
NDC changes the shopping experience
This is also where NDC becomes relevant. The standard allows airlines to distribute richer offers and ancillary products rather than limiting the transaction to a traditional fare and schedule display.
For agents, that can mean more information, but also more variables.
Two fares for the same Nairobi–Europe itinerary may differ in baggage allowance, seat conditions, changeability, refundability and other inclusions.
The agent therefore has to interpret the offer rather than simply identify the lowest number.
The revenue is becoming material
The growth in ancillary revenue shows why this model is unlikely to disappear.
Global ancillary revenue increased from US$67.4 billion in 2016 to US$148.4 billion in 2024, an increase of roughly 120%. The 2025 forecast of US$157 billion would put the industry more than US$89 billion above its 2016 level.
And ancillary revenue is not limited to baggage. IdeaWorks includes seat selection, onboard food and other a-la-carte purchases, as well as wider revenue streams such as hotel, car-rental and co-branded card partnerships.
For airlines, the attraction is obvious: the base fare can remain competitive while passengers pay separately for products they value.
What agents should be selling
The lesson is not that agents should stop looking for the lowest fare.
It is that the lowest fare should be the beginning of the comparison, not the end of it.
For agents, the more useful question is increasingly: What will this passenger actually need?
A passenger travelling for two weeks with checked luggage has different requirements from someone travelling with hand baggage only. A corporate traveller may value flexibility more than saving US$50. A family may place greater importance on sitting together.
The agent’s value therefore moves beyond finding a fare.
It is in explaining the difference between the fares and calculating the cost of the journey the customer is actually trying to buy.
As airlines generate an increasing share of revenue from services outside the basic ticket, that distinction is becoming an increasingly important part of selling air travel.
Kenya’s air network is becoming more diverse, with international carriers adding capacity while domestic airlines continue to open links between Nairobi, the coast, secondary cities and the country’s tourism circuits.
For travel agents, the change is less about counting new routes and more about what the expanding network does to itinerary options, connections and the ability to build multi-stop trips.
International capacity builds up
Nairobi remains the centre of the network.
Emirates currently operates 21 flights a week between Nairobi and Dubai, giving agents three daily options on one of the most important connections between East Africa and the Gulf.
Qatar Airways also operates 21 weekly flights between Doha and Nairobi, following its increase from 15 weekly services.
The significance for agents is not simply additional seats. Dubai and Doha function as connecting hubs into Europe, Asia, the Middle East, North America and Australia, giving Kenyan travellers alternatives when constructing long-haul itineraries.
Kenya Airways remains the country’s largest network carrier, connecting Kenya to more than 46 destinations, including 37 in Africa, according to its latest published network data.
That African footprint gives agents another option for building regional itineraries around Nairobi rather than routing every journey through a foreign hub.
Domestic aviation is becoming more granular
The other side of the story is happening at Wilson Airport, where smaller carriers are connecting Nairobi with destinations that do not always support large-aircraft operations.
Jambojet currently serves seven domestic destinations — Mombasa, Malindi, Lamu, Ukunda, Kisumu, Eldoret and Nairobi — alongside Entebbe in Uganda. Its busiest scheduled markets include Nairobi–Mombasa, Nairobi–Kisumu and Nairobi–Eldoret.
Skyward Express has an even broader domestic footprint. Its current schedule covers Mombasa, Malindi, Lamu, Ukunda, Eldoret, Kitale, Lodwar, Migori, Kakamega, Garissa and other destinations, while also operating Nairobi–Dar es Salaam and Mombasa–Dar es Salaam services.
The result is a domestic network that is increasingly less dependent on the traditional Nairobi–Mombasa and Nairobi–Kisumu corridors.
Safari Aviation is a network of its own
For agents selling safari packages, the map looks different.
Safarilink currently serves 18 destinations across three countries, with a fleet of 15 aircraft and more than 30 daily flights, according to the airline. Its network covers destinations including the Maasai Mara, Amboseli, Lamu, Diani, Mombasa, Malindi, Kisumu, Nanyuki and northern Tanzania.
That connectivity is particularly relevant to international agents because Wilson is effectively another gateway into Kenya’s tourism economy.
A client arriving in Nairobi does not necessarily need to return to JKIA for every subsequent sector. A safari itinerary can be built around Wilson connections into the Mara, northern Kenya and the coast.
AirKenya operates a similar specialist model, with scheduled services to 12 destinations and a network spanning Kenya, Tanzania and Uganda through its sister carriers.
Its 2026 schedule also introduced a daily Wilson–Arusha service, while its Mara–Serengeti operation provides a direct link between the two major safari ecosystems.
The Maasai Mara alone receives up to four AirKenya flights a day during July–September, compared with three daily services for much of the year.
Smaller airlines are filling regional gaps
Renegade Air is concentrating on shorter domestic markets, with twice-daily Kisumu services, daily flights to Wajir and daily services to the Mara.
Premier Airlines is taking a different approach, connecting Nairobi with the wider Horn and East Africa. Its current network includes Juba, Mogadishu, Hargeisa and Entebbe. The carrier operates daily Nairobi–Juba services, four weekly Nairobi–Mogadishu flights, two weekly Juba–Entebbe rotations and a weekly Hargeisa service.
The airline also recently placed its inventory on Amadeus and Travelport, putting its schedules in front of more than 100,000 IATA-accredited travel agencies and major online travel platforms.
For agents, distribution is an important part of this story. A route is commercially more useful when it can be found, booked and ticketed through the systems agents already use.
More choice, but more complexity
The expanding network gives agents more ways to build itineraries, but it also creates a more complicated marketplace.
A Nairobi–Mara–Mombasa itinerary may involve a safari carrier rather than a conventional domestic airline. A Nairobi–Juba journey can now be compared across regional operators, while long-haul travellers have multiple Gulf and European connection options.
This makes schedule knowledge increasingly valuable.
The challenge for agents is no longer simply finding a flight. It is knowing which combination of airlines, airports and frequencies produces the most practical itinerary for the client.
Nairobi is becoming a stronger connecting point
The broader trend is clear: Kenya’s aviation network is developing at several levels simultaneously.
International airlines are adding or maintaining high-frequency hub connections. Kenya Airways continues to provide a large African network. Jambojet and Skyward are extending domestic connectivity, while Safarilink, AirKenya and other specialist operators connect tourism markets that conventional airlines cannot serve as efficiently.
For travel agents, that creates a larger inventory of possible journeys.
It also makes the agent’s role more relevant. As the number of routes and combinations increases, the value increasingly lies in knowing how the network fits together: not simply which airline flies where.
New Distribution Capability (NDC) is moving from an airline technology project into a practical issue for travel agents as carriers increasingly distribute fares, ancillary products and other content through the standard.
For agents, the change can affect what fares are displayed, which products can be sold and how bookings are subsequently serviced.
Africa trails mature markets
The numbers suggest Africa is entering the NDC transition later than some mature distribution markets. In the United States, NDC transactions represented 21.6 per cent of ARC-settled agency transactions in June 2026.
Africa, by contrast, remains heavily dependent on traditional distribution, with AFRAA data showing 88 per cent of airline sales still moving through legacy channels.
Yet the gap is beginning to narrow. More than 40 per cent of African airlines surveyed by AFRAA and TPConnects said they were planning or implementing NDC initiatives.
The figures are not directly comparable because they measure different aspects of adoption, but they illustrate the different stages of the transition. NDC is already accounting for a significant share of agency transactions in the US, while traditional distribution remains dominant across Africa.
For African agents, the issue is therefore becoming less about whether NDC will arrive and more about how quickly airlines serving the continent will adopt it.
Travelport expands its NDC connections
Travelport is one of the distribution companies trying to bring NDC content into agency workflows alongside conventional airline content.
During 2026, the company has announced or launched NDC connections with a growing number of carriers.
LOT Polish Airlines’ NDC content became available to Travelport-connected agents in June, initially across 63 countries spanning Europe, North America, Africa, Asia, Australia and the Middle East.
Royal Jordanian’s NDC content followed in May, while Saudia’s rollout in April covered 68 countries across Europe, Africa, the Middle East and Asia-Pacific, as well as the US and Canada.
Travelport has also announced NDC agreements with Turkish Airlines, Icelandair and Oman Air, among others.
For agents, the significance is that NDC content is increasingly appearing within distribution systems they already use rather than being confined to direct airline channels.
What changes at agency level?
NDC allows airlines to distribute richer offers than the traditional fare display, including branded fares, baggage, seat selection and other ancillary products.
It can also allow airlines to construct offers differently depending on the market, customer or sales channel.
That does not necessarily mean every NDC fare will be cheaper.
Instead, the difference may be in what is included in the offer and what additional products the agent can sell alongside the base fare.
For agencies, this makes the ability to compare content across distribution channels increasingly important.
Servicing remains the test
The biggest question for agents may not be whether an NDC fare can be booked, but what happens afterwards.
Changes, refunds, exchanges, disruptions and other servicing requirements can vary between airlines and distribution channels.
NDC is therefore not a single uniform product. Airlines can implement the standard differently, with different capabilities and rules.
That creates a learning curve for agents, particularly those handling complex international itineraries.
A hybrid system is emerging
The transition also does not appear to be an immediate replacement of traditional GDS distribution.
Travelport’s agreement with Oman Air, for example, provides for NDC content while the carrier’s existing EDIFACT distribution remains available.
This hybrid approach is likely to continue as airlines move at different speeds.
For African agencies, it may be particularly relevant because international itineraries often involve several airlines operating at different stages of NDC adoption.
What agents should watch
The practical questions for agents are increasingly specific: which airlines offer NDC content, whether it is available in their market, whether registration is required and what servicing functions are supported.
The economics also matter.
If NDC gives an airline access to new ways of pricing and merchandising its products, agents will need to understand how those offers affect fare comparison, commissions, incentives and ancillary sales.
Africa’s relatively low adoption therefore does not mean NDC is irrelevant to the continent’s travel trade.
It means the market is at an earlier stage of the transition.
With more African airlines beginning to plan or implement NDC and international carriers expanding their connections through distribution platforms such as Travelport, the technology is likely to become increasingly visible in the agent’s booking workflow.
For now, traditional distribution remains dominant. But the direction of travel is becoming clearer.
Africa’s tourism industry is entering a period of significant opportunity. Visitor numbers are recovering, countries are progressively opening their borders and governments are increasingly recognising tourism as a major contributor to economic growth, employment and foreign exchange. Yet despite the continent’s enormous tourism assets, investment continues to fall short of potential. The challenge is no longer simply attracting travellers to Africa; it is creating an environment in which investors can confidently commit capital, develop projects and operate businesses over the long term.
One of the most visible changes has been the gradual improvement in visa openness across the continent. Visa-free intra-African travel increased from about 20 per cent in 2016 to 28 per cent in 2025, while several countries have introduced more liberal visa policies to encourage regional mobility. This is important for tourism because easier movement expands the potential market for hotels, airlines, tour operators, attractions and other tourism businesses. However, greater access alone cannot guarantee investment. An investor may be able to enter a country easily as a visitor and still encounter significant obstacles when attempting to establish a tourism business. Read the eTurboNews analysis
The more fundamental question is whether destinations have the infrastructure and operating environment required to support investment. Tourism projects depend on reliable roads, airports, electricity, water, telecommunications and other essential services. In many emerging destinations, investors may have to absorb some of these infrastructure costs themselves, significantly increasing the amount of capital required before a project can become operational. The result is that destinations with strong tourism potential can remain commercially unattractive because the cost and complexity of developing the supporting infrastructure are simply too high.
Land is another major consideration. Tourism development requires long-term confidence that investors can legally acquire, lease or develop land and that those rights will remain secure throughout the life of the investment. Research highlighted in the eTurboNews analysis identified land-tenure insecurity as one of the most frequently cited barriers to tourism investment in Sub-Saharan Africa. When investors cannot establish clear ownership or long-term development rights, even a highly attractive tourism opportunity can become too risky to finance.
Regulation also matters. Investors need to know how long approvals will take, which agencies are involved, what licences are required and whether the rules will remain predictable once a project is underway. Multiple approval processes, inconsistent enforcement and bureaucratic delays can increase project costs and discourage investment. The same applies to the movement of capital. Investors need confidence that legitimate profits can be transferred across borders and that foreign-exchange restrictions will not unexpectedly undermine the commercial viability of their projects.
Infrastructure, land and regulation are closely connected to another critical issue: investor confidence. Tourism is a long-term business. A hotel, lodge, resort, attraction or airport-linked development can require years to recover its initial investment. Investors therefore assess not only current conditions but also whether the policy and economic environment is likely to remain stable over the next decade. Issues such as corruption, security, taxation, foreign-exchange availability and political uncertainty can significantly influence that decision. Where risks are perceived to be high, investors demand higher returns or simply take their capital elsewhere.
This is why Africa needs to shift the conversation from attracting investment to converting investment interest into completed projects. Tourism conferences, investment summits and business forums can create valuable connections, but the real measure of success is what happens afterwards. How many projects secure financing? How many reach construction? How many create jobs and generate new tourism products? A memorandum of understanding can generate publicity, but a completed hotel, expanded aviation route, new attraction or functioning tourism circuit creates tangible economic value.
The continent also needs to become more sophisticated in how it presents investment opportunities. Rather than simply telling investors that Africa has extraordinary tourism potential, governments and tourism authorities need to present projects that are properly structured, researched and financially viable. Investors need access to reliable market data, clear land arrangements, infrastructure plans, regulatory information, projected demand and realistic financial models. Development finance institutions can support this process through guarantees, blended finance and risk-sharing mechanisms, particularly for projects that have strong development potential but face challenges in securing conventional commercial financing.
At the same time, Africa should avoid being treated as a single tourism or investment market. The opportunities and risks vary dramatically between countries and destinations. Investors should be able to distinguish between individual markets based on their infrastructure, governance, connectivity, security, tourism products and economic fundamentals. A strong investment environment in one country should not be undermined by broad perceptions about the continent as a whole.
The opportunity is nevertheless substantial. Tourism already contributes significantly to Africa’s economy and supports millions of livelihoods across the continent. The combination of rising travel demand, a growing African middle class, expanding intra-African travel and increasing international interest presents a strong foundation for future investment. What is required now is the enabling environment to match that demand.
Africa does not need to convince the world that it has tourism assets. The wildlife, beaches, culture, heritage, landscapes and cities already make that case. The next challenge is making it easier to invest in those assets. That means improving infrastructure, securing land rights, simplifying regulation, strengthening governance, addressing security concerns and developing projects that are genuinely bankable. If these barriers are addressed, Africa’s tourism investment story could move from one of immense potential to one of sustained, measurable delivery.
