Kenya and South Africa, some of the two strongest economies on the African continent, have agreed to reduce barriers to cross-border movement by allowing visa free travel between them.

The pact agreed upon by Kenya’s President William Ruto and his South African counterpart on November 9, 2022, will resolve a long-standing visa dispute between the two countries. With the formalisation, Kenyans will, from January 2023, be eligible for visa free travel to South Africa for up to three months (90 days) in a calendar year.

Already, South Africans get free visas on arrival in the East African nation, a gesture Kenyans have wanted to be reciprocated for a long time. For Kenyans travelling to South Africa, they were required to pay US$40 for the visa while they also had to provide proof they had sufficient funds and had booked return flight tickets.

The Kenya and South Africa visa deal will take effect on January 1, kicking off the visa free travel arrangement.

At the time of the announcement, South African President Cyril Ramaphosa was in Kenya for his first official trip to the country at the invitation of President Ruto.

Ramaphosa said they discussed the visas issue between Kenya and South Africa to allow Kenyans to visit the Southern African nation visa-free basis.

“This will officially start on January 1, 2023, and it will be available to Kenyans for a 90-day period per year,” he said.

In addition, the Kenyan and South African leaders directed their respective trade ministers to work on removing barriers limiting trade between the two African countries. The two countries are also working to address trade barriers to increase business and trade cooperation which will now be easier with visa free travel.

Following a meeting between Presidents Ruto and Ramaphosa, they said that Kenya and South Africa will deal with non-tariff barriers like the bureaucracy in licensing, regulation restrictions and sanctions which will allow the opening up for business in industries, export of agricultural produce and logistics.

The two leaders signed four instruments, and the removal of the trade barriers agreement was part of this to foster cooperation.

President Ruto said that with his counterpart they agreed to develop a sustainable mechanism for the identification, monitoring and resolution of non-trade barriers that limit trade potential between Kenya and South Africa.

Additionally, three memoranda of understanding between Kenya and South Africa were signed and a cooperation of correctional sciences agreement was inked on housing and human settlement and cooperation between the Kenya School of Government and the South African National School of Governments on audio-visual co-production.

The decision to allow Kenyans visa-free travel to South Africa could boost Kenya’s passport which was ranked among the favourite passports in Africa in July by the Henley Passport Index Report.

Kenya was ranked 76th globally, having improved by one point from 77th last year.

The Henley Passport Index mobility score stood at 72. The score measures the number of countries a passport holder from a certain nation can travel to without a visa.

In Africa, the Kenyan passport was ranked the most powerful after Seychelles, Mauritius, South Africa, Botswana, eSwatini, Malawi and Lesotho.

Even as Kenya and South Africa relax their visa requirements, Africans continue harbouring hope that there will be an African Passport for every African to enable visa free travel on the continent.

An African passport would be instrumental in relaxing travel restrictions and breaking barriers in mobility and intra-African trade.

The African passport is a flagship project of the African Union (AU)’s Agenda 2063, which envisions an integrated continent that is politically united and based on the ideals of Pan-Africanism with the vision of Africa’s Renaissance.

An African passport would help collapse both physical and invisible barriers that have thwarted and limited the integration of the African people. It would be a key component of the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA) which could immensely benefit from visa free travel.

To test the systems, the AU unified African passport was launched in July 2016 at the 27th Ordinary session of the AU held in Kigali, Rwanda. It was scheduled to be availed to Africans by 2020, but with the pandemic, the plans seem to have been shelved.

Currently, only AU officials, diplomats and government leaders have been issued the passport, which holds the potential to bring down Africa’s physical barriers to visa free travel.

On successful launch, the African passport will become a common document that will replace the nationally issued AU member states’ passports. It will exempt bearers from having to obtain any visas for all 55 African states easing visa free travel.

Just like it has been happening with nationally issued documents, the three types of AU passports to be issued will include the Ordinary Passport, which is 32 pages and valid for five years. This document will be issued to citizens intended for occasional travel like business trips and vacations making visa free travel a reality.

Government institutions with officials travelling on official business will be issued the official or Service passport will be issued to officials attached to.

At the same time, the two leaders hailed Ethiopia’s peace agreement signed last week brokered by the African Union in South Africa.

Ruto and Ramaphosa appealed to the Ethiopian parties to fully implement the agreement for a lasting political settlement.

Source: The Exchange

London Heathrow, the UK’s largest airport, cautioned that demand is unlikely to return to pre-COVID levels for “a number of years” and indicated caps on passenger numbers were not fully off the table.  

Heathrow said it expected total passenger numbers for 2022 to reach between 60 million and 62 million, around 25% less than 2019. 

“Headwinds of a global economic crisis, war in Ukraine and the impact of COVID-19 mean we are unlikely to return to pre-pandemic demand for a number of years, except at peak times,” the airport said in a statement on financial results for the first nine months of 2022.  

Heathrow also said while it was removing a cap on passenger capacity from October 30, 2022, it was working with airlines on a plan that would “align supply and demand” on a small number of days during the busy Christmas travel period.  

The airport implemented passenger caps over summer 2022, effectively preventing airlines from selling too many tickets, due to staff shortages.  

“This would encourage demand into less busy periods, protecting the heavier peaks, and avoiding flight cancellations due to resource pressures,” the airport commented in the statement on October 26, 2022.  

For the nine months to September 30, 2022, Heathrow continued to make losses, but much reduced compared to the peak of the COVID-19 pandemic. Its underlying losses reached £0.4 billion ($462 million) in the period, adding to losses already incurred over the last two years of £4 billion ($4.6 billion). 

Source: Aerotime Hub

Travel agencies have been shutting down operations in Nigeria over the last six months due to the challenge of trapped funds.

Also, some of the travel agencies have reduced their number of staff within the period as some of the airlines, especially European, American, and the Middle East, including Ethiopian Airlines from Africa have shut their Global Distribution Systems (GDS) against the travel agencies.

The shutting down of the GDS automatically stops travel agents who are regarded as travel partners to airlines from booking flights for their clients through the platform.

The travel agents get some commission for each booking made for air travellers through the airlines’ GDS. The commission varies from one airline to another.

Travel Agents struggling to survive

When Nairametrics visited one of the major travel agents in Lagos over the weekend, it was a hopeless situation. All the staff, including the chief executive officer (CEO) of the company, wore a forlorn look. There is no hope in sight.

• The agency, which used to be a beehive of activities, was almost a ghost yard.
• The number of staff had reduced drastically by over 30%, while a few staff that were on duty only tapped on the mouse and laptops sitting on white tables in front of them aimlessly.
• The travel agency, like others, no longer has access to many of the foreign airlines’ GDS.
• Airlines like Delta, Air France/KLM, Emirates, British Airways, Virgin Atlantic, Lufthansa, Turkish, and Qatar among others have closed down their GDS against the travel agency because of the unpleasant situation of trapped funds.

What this means

The implication of this is that travel agencies will no longer be able to sell air tickets to their willing clients, while passengers are compelled to buy tickets at the black-market rate of N730 to a dollar to purchase air tickets.

• The bulk of commissions of travel agencies is earned from foreign airlines. The situation since January has further compounded their challenges as bills continue to rise, yet no resource is earned.

The CEO of the travel agency, who preferred to remain anonymous for fear of being victimized, in interaction with Nairametrics painted a gloomy picture of the whole scenario.

• The company, with its headquarters in Lagos Island, said all efforts by the umbrella body of travel agencies in Nigeria, the National Association of Nigeria Travel Agencies (NANTA) to intervene in the last three months have proved abortive.
• He said almost two months after the federal government directed the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) to release $265 million, representing 50% of the trapped funds, the situation was yet to abate.
• The CEO said air traffic had dropped on international routes in Nigeria, while the airlines have continued to squeeze the travel agencies out of business through their antics.

The helmsman also said most of their clients, especially those who have their children in Europe and America for education purposes, have begun their withdrawal and moved to institutions in West Africa in order to save the cost of airfares.

• He said: “Most of the travel agencies are closing shop because they can’t pay their staff. They don’t even have the funds again. Most of their clients can no longer buy dollars. Some of them are even returning their children to African countries, including Togo and the Benin Republic. That money they would have paid to buy tickets for their children is enough to put them in schools in Ghana, Benin, and other countries within the continent.
• “So, that has affected the travel agencies tremendously and most of them are crying daily. Their accounts are in red and they are at the Save-Our-Soul (SOS) level now. NANTA too is not folding its arms, but it can’t embark on any action without the support of the majority of its members.

What NANTA should do

He also commented on what the industry association should be doing to address the situation.

• “NANTA will react officially to all this nonsense the airlines are doing. The leadership is under pressure. The airlines have not been fair to the agencies at all in this case. They are suffocating the people who are also their trade partners, which does not seem to be right. This challenge is not peculiar to Nigeria alone. Why are the airlines not reacting the same way in other countries? This is where they can even feed their aircraft and go.”

Besides, a top staff with one of the leading airlines in Africa said the airline was yet to get any amount of money from its trapped funds in Nigeria since January.

According to him, the airline had over $160 million as trapped funds in the country, while efforts by the carrier to recover the sum had failed despite the involvement of the International Air Transport Association (IATA).

• He, however, said unlike some of the foreign airlines that removed the travel agencies from their GDS, the airline refused to do so because of the consequence on the travel agencies and the effect on the traveling public.
• He also insisted that the carrier would not stop the Nigerian routes, but appealed to the federal government to intervene in the situation to prevent a total collapse of the industry.

To curb the crisis, he said the airline now pays for some services in naira, rather than dollars.

• “We now pay for fueling and some other charges in naira, but there are some critical ones that have to be paid in dollars and we have a lot of money stuck in Nigeria.
• “The money is in the hands of the CBN, we are not earning interest on it, yet we can’t get it. The airlines are losing big time,” he said.

What you should know

Just last month, NANTA described as exploitative the current foreign airline’s airfare of over N3 million for economy class tickets.

• President of NANTA, Mrs. Susan Akporiaye at a news conference in Lagos had said an economy flight ticket of N300,000 now sells for N1.5 million, while another N1 million is charged for change of travel dates.
• Executive members of the NANTA who were part of the news conference expressed disappointment with the action taken by foreign airlines to frustrate Nigerian passengers and destroy their businesses.
• They said the foreign airlines have no right to capitalise on their trapped funds to exploit the market in the name of protecting their business.
• Akporiaye, while appreciating the response to the release of some funds, urged the government to, as a matter of urgency, open further windows of engagement by calling a meeting with all parties.
• Akporiaye stated that the foreign airlines were unhappy because they were paid short of the 25% of the trapped funds released while others were yet to get their money.

She emphasised that there were transparency and trust issues in the matter.

• “This now is creating trust issues with the airlines; there is no transparency and so the airlines are not confident that we really mean to pay them this money, hence the reason why they are still holding forth and they are still watching to see how it goes,” she said.

Source: Nairametrics

Despite the requirement to present a negative Covid-19 test to enter Qatar, flight bookings to the country for travel during FIFA World Cup — between November 14 and December 24 — have witnessed a massive boom, according to ForwardKeys’ data based on issued flight tickets, including day trips.

The flight bookings to Qatar from countries, including United Arab Emirates (UAE), Spain, Japan France and the U.S., are currently ten times the volume of pre-pandemic levels, according to data analytics firm ForwardKeys. 

The strongest-performing market during the World Cup period is United Arab Emirates, where bookings are currently ahead 103 times compared to 2016. The benchmark period for United Arab Emirates is 2016 as the Qatar diplomatic crisis stopped direct flights between Qatar and the UAE between 2017 and 2021.

Bookings from Mexico have gone up 79 times compared to 2019, while bookings from Argentina are up 77 times. The bookings from Spain and Japan have gone up 53 times and 46 times respectively.

The shortage of accommodation in Qatar and the availability of shuttle flights from cities in the United Arab Emirates will allow many people to stay in the UAE and fly over for on match days. The flight time between Dubai and Doha is a little over 60 minutes.

The UAE’s hospitality market is set to expand by 25 percent by 2030, with a further 48,000 rooms adding to the nation’s extensive 200,000 key portfolio, global consultancy firm Knight Frank noted in Sepetember.

Dubai is set to account for the lion’s share of this total, with 76 percent of all new rooms coming to the emirate, which already has over 130,000 rooms, Knight Frank fother observed.

Currently, day trips account for 4 percent of all arrivals in Qatar during the World Cup, 85 percent of which originate in the UAE.

The World Cup is set to benefit the whole Gulf region, as flight bookings to countries in the region during the competition are currently 16 percent ahead compared to 2019, and, for the initial stages of the tournament 61 percent ahead.

Many World Cup visitors would also be travelling to other destinations in the region as the number of visitors staying at least two nights in Qatar and going on to stay at least two more nights in another Gulf country is sixteen times greater than it was before the pandemic.

Set to capture 65 percent onward visits, Dubai is the biggest beneficiary of this trend by far, followed by Abu Dhabi with 14 percent and Jeddah would be capturing 8 percent of these visits.

U.S. travelers make up 26 percent of the “regional tourists,” followed by travelers from Canada at 10 percent and British tourists at 9 percent. Around 32 percent of travelers coming in to Dubai would be from the U.S.

The FIFA World Cup is one of the most attractive drivers of travel there is, so much so, that other destinations in the Gulf will benefit, not just the host nation, Qatar.

In tourism promotion terms, the World Cup will throw a media spotlight on Qatar and help it become a more established destination, and not just a major hub for intercontinental air traffic.

“Normally, just 3 percent of travel to Doha is destined to stay in the country; and 97 percent comprises onward connections. However, during the World Cup almost 27 percent has Qatar as the ultimate destination,” said Olivier Ponti, VP Insights of ForwardKeys.

Ponti said that the UAE would also benefit substantially from the tournament because it has much more hotel accommodation than Qatar, and two global hub airports in Dubai and Abu Dhabi.

Source: Skift

The launch of a portal to share route traffic data, including on underserved markets, connections, and partnership opportunities, is the latest attempt by African airlines to shore up intra- Africa air travel numbers.

The route intelligence portal launched this October by the African Airlines Association (AFRAA) to give its 44 operator members access to Africa-specific data and analysis, is seen helping airlines develop more robust post-COVID recovery plans.

The portal “will facilitate data-driven decision-making on connectivity opportunities, passenger/cargo capacity, and route profitability to effectively meet the needs of the growing African aviation market,” said AFRAA Secretary General, Abdérahmane Berthé.

The latest development will complement the lobby group’s earlier proposal to create a roadmap for “hop and pick” and implement a Single African Air Transport Market (SAATM).

Under the “hop-and-pick” plan, carriers plying say intra-African routes between capital cities would be allowed to pick up and drop off passengers at other main and smaller airports along the route – allowing them to reduce losses and carry more passengers.

By the end of September, data compiled by the association showed intra-Africa passengers represented only 29.5 percent of air passenger traffic, a significant opportunity for regional airlines.

In early October, Zimbabwe became the latest country to join the single Africa air transport market, committing to open up its skies and encouraging fair competition between airlines from other markets.

“By Zimbabwe signing into SAATM, means the country is committed to lift market access restrictions for airlines, grant fellow SAATM members countries air traffic rights(first through fifth freedoms), and liberalises flight frequency and capacity limits,” Zimbabwe’s minister of Transport and infrastructure development, Felix Mhona told local media.

Zimbabwe is now the 22nd to join the common market, out of 35 African countries that committed to it in 2015.

Large African airlines are also seeing major opportunities by entering local markets in other countries. Nigeria Air, which collapsed two decades ago, is currently being resuscitated by Ethiopia Airlines. In late September, Ethiopian, the largest airline on the continent, won a bid to become Nigeria Air’s lead technical partner and single largest shareholder, with a 49 percent stake.

“The National Carrier, Nigeria Air, is well on its way to being launched with three Boeing 737-800 in configuration very suitable for the Nigerian Market,” said Nigerian Minister of Aviation, Senator Hadi Sirika.

The airline plans to initially launch shuttle services between two major Nigerian airports – Abuja and Lagos before expanding to other destinations.

This latest acquisition opens Ethiopian Airlines to the biggest West African markets and puts it ahead of other pan-African focused airlines, like South Africa Airways, RwandAir and Kenya Airways.

After signing a strategic partnership framework in November 2021, the South African and Kenyan national carriers listed Nigeria among key markets for an expansion plan under a code-share agreement.

At an investor briefing in Nairobi in March, Kenya Airways Chairman, Michael Joseph announced the intention to link up with a West African airline to deployment a three-hub strategy focused on Nairobi, Johannesburg and West Africa.

Privately owned airlines are also racing to fill in the gap left by struggling state-owned operators as they look to tap into regional markets.

South Africa’s Airlink in late September, acquired a 40 percent stake in FlyNamibia, in a strategic move to fill up the gap left after the collapse of state-owned Air Namibia, in early 2021.

Fly Namibia will now codeshare with Airlink to ply the latter’s 45 routes – including Ghana, the Democratic Republic of Congo, Kenya and Malawi.

Low-cost Emirati carrier, Air Arabia has also announced a joint venture with Sudanese conglomerate DAL Group to launch Air Arabia Sudan. The new airline will gain access to over 120 destinations, including Egypt and Morocco.

Passenger numbers to, from and within Africa are expected to recover more gradually than in other regions, surpassing pre-crisis levels only in 2025, according to the International Air Transport Association (IATA).

IATA said it expects overall air traveller numbers to reach 4 billion in 2024 (counting multi-sector connecting trips as one passenger), exceeding pre-COVID-19 levels.

Source: Bird Story Agency

Uganda is seeking partnership that will see the Pearl of Africa tap into the big number of visitors to Kenya’s coastal towns and the respective beaches on the coast.

Every year thousands of visitors, especially from Europe, America and beyond visit the Kenyan coast to enjoy various tourism products including the historical Fort Jesus, beaches, resorts, marine national parks, elephant sanctuary, the dolphins, slave caves, sacred forests , Vasco Da Gama Fort, white sands, coral reefs , diving and snorkeling among others.

However, most of these visitors end normally end their trips at the Kenyan coast yet there are many other completely different attractions in Uganda that would sway them to visit in a bid to have fulfilling experiences.

For example, adventure tourism, cultural tourism and eco-tourism are so much rooted in Uganda and can attract a large number of tourists as well as the unique safaris, mountain gorillas rare tree climbing lions and the over 1063 bird species to the country which is also the source of the Nile, the world’s longest river.

In 2021, Uganda registered 512945 tourism arrivals, 326387 of which, translating into 63.63% being from Kenya .

To harness the opportunities, Uganda’s Consulate in Mombasa has organized the first Uganda Kenya Coast Tourism Conference and exhibition set for November 20 to 27 both in Mombasa and in Uganda.

According to Amb.Paul Mukumbya, Uganda’s Consulat General in Mombasa, both countries can benefit from tourist arrivals to each country.

“Uganda has completely different tourism products from Kenya and yet there are so many travelers who come to the coast. Many of them are retirees who come and spend two to three weeks at the coast and have a lot of money but come back every year to see the same things. We thought that it was high time we created partnerships between the tourism sectors of Kenya and Uganda,” Amb.Mukumbya said.

He explained that the partnership facilitated by both governments will be between the private tours operators of Kenya and Uganda so as to work together to market each other’s tourism products.

“They can create networks and synergies because the tourism products will be complementary so much that when they get to the coast, you can come up with packages marketed together. Someone who has been at the coast can be convinced to come to Uganda to see the mountain gorillas which are not at the coast, source of the Nile, rafting, the beautiful night life of Kampala, Namugongo and so many other products here.”

Amb. Mukumbya said by jointly marketing the products, the two countries will benefit mutually from each other by ensuring tourists get more value for their money but also governments benefit.

Banking on Uganda Airlines that flies to Mombasa three times a week, the Consulate General in Mombasa said apart from easing connections between Entebbe and Mombasa, this will be another avenue to bring business for Uganda’s national carrier.

Private Sector Foundation Uganda Executive Director, Stephen Asiimwe described the initiative as one that would greatly benefit the private sector in Uganda but also tourism at large in the region.

“Tourism is one of our key strategic business portfolios that before Covid, it was Uganda’s number one foreign exchange earner bringing in 10% of the GDP but also employing thousands of people. This initiative has come in at the right time and will enable more Kenyans come into Uganda not into competition but to complement each other,” Asiimwe said.

Describing Uganda as the primate capital of the world, home to the largest constituency of birds in Africa, home to snowcapped Rwenzori Mountain, Asiimwe said it is only befitting that tourists to the coastal towns of Kenya visit the country christened the Pearl of Africa due to its immense beauty.

“The Mombasa and coastal area is the second largest economic zone in Kenya and we have seen more of those residents in Kenya go more to Middle East but we would like more of them to come here.”

The Uganda Tourism Association president, Herbert Byaruhanga says the initiative will greatly benefit both countries.

“Tour guides, hoteliers, operators and all involved will greatly benefit both in Kenya and Uganda. While the coastal region has a lot of things, there are many others they don’t have and can be found in Uganda.”

The state minister for Foreign Affairs, Henry Okello Oryem said the initiative will help to also encourage Ugandans and Kenyans visit their respective neighbouring countries.

“Ugandans will start saving their money so as to a nice holiday in Mombasa and the same will be for Kenyans to enjoy beautiful experiences in Kidepo national park. These will go back to their respective countries to inspire others. This initiative will help market the region and its tourism opportunities as one destination. If we package this thing properly, tourists will come from both countries. The two countries have distinct opportunities.”

According to Amb.Paul Mukumbya, Uganda’s Consulat General in Mombasa, as part of the initiative, participants will tour Mombasa City and the respective coastal tourist attractions before the conference and exhibition on November 17 followed by sightseeing on November 18 and 19.

There will then be a familiarization trip to Uganda between November20 and 27 led by the Consulate General and the Uganda Tourism Association to visit the various tourism sites.

Tour operators from both countries will be part of the trips.

Source: All Africa

Travel demand is increasing rapidly after two years of limited opportunities due to the pandemic. Today, people are dreaming big and want to build experiential journeys that inspire lifelong memories. Before the world knew of COVID-19, destination management organizations (DMOs) such as Dubai’s Department of Economy and Tourism (DET) were seeking opportunities to create awareness for its city and capture the attention of travelers.

With this in mind, DET has renewed its digital media partnership with Amadeus to continue to leverage the power of Amadeus’ business intelligence solutions and media services on its travel advertising platform. This will pave the way for the delivery of custom, omni-channel marketing campaigns powered by the hospitality industry’s most comprehensive business intelligence data.

The partnership has enabled DET to measure success and gain further insights into traveler intention and patterns with remarkable results. To date, the advertising campaigns have driven more than 1 million bookings since early 2020, even during pandemic uncertainty.

Understanding the changing market dynamics and the need to stay ahead of shifting marketing trends, the Amadeus team has continued to enhance the technology used to deliver tailored marketing campaigns for destinations. Most recently, the team has improved machine learning and artificial intelligence capabilities with a growing and diverse set of insights across hotels, airlines, metasearch, and online travel agencies. The predictive analytics enhanced with this rich data over time enable the algorithms to become smarter and deliver continually improving results that meet, and often exceed, customer goals.

“Enabling our customers to understand how to bring more travelers to their destination is a key aspect of supporting industry recovery,” said Scott Falconer, Executive Vice President, Media Solutions, Hospitality, Amadeus. “Our ongoing relationship with Dubai’s Department of Economy and Tourism is a testament to the power of our media offering. The depth of our market insight is unmatched in the industry and we’re pleased to work with leading destination management organizations such as DET to demonstrate the effectiveness of data-driven, innovative advertising technology to deliver high performing media campaigns.”

Source: Hospitalitynet

Kenya Airways will be split into various subsidiaries in a State-backed restructuring plan that is aimed at returning the lossmaking national carrier to profitability.

Roads, Transport and Public Works Cabinet Secretary nominee Kipchumba Murkomen told a parliamentary vetting panel Wednesday that the reforms will lead to the breaking of Kenya Airways along its main business lines of cargo and passenger.

Its other subsidiaries envisaged by the new administration are charter services and new businesses like drone services.

Mr Murkomen said President William Ruto was working with Kenya Airways and other players to restructure the airline and return it to profitability.

The fresh restructuring plan comes after the State dropped the favoured long-term solution that was anchored on nationalisation of the airline.

The plan approved by lawmakers in July 2019 would have led to the delisting of the airline from the Nairobi Securities Exchange (NSE).

The national carrier has received multi-billion shilling State bailouts amid delayed recovery from a travel slump following Covid-19.

Mr Murkomen told MPs that Nairobi is the leading cargo destination in the region yet KQ, as it is known by its international code, controls only 10 percent of cargo market share.

“We need to separate cargo from passenger services so that KQ benefits from the business,” Mr Murkomen said.

“We intend to create subsidiaries in KQ. We need to have a passenger airline, cargo airline and charter airline. We might also need KQ to have other businesses on the side like drone services and surveying services as one way of raising revenue,” he added.

He did not offer details how the breakup of KQ will help turn around the carrier that has been in losses for over a decade. KQ’s main business lines—cargo, passenger and handling—are all in losses. Passenger service returned an operating loss of Sh4.5 billion, cargo Sh1.74 billion and handling Sh166 million.

This marks a departure from the Treasury’s earlier position to pursue a turnaround under the plan to nationalise KQ. A law to pave the way for the nationalisation of the airline, which had been proposed before the pandemic, is before Parliament.

Kenya wanted to emulate countries like Ethiopia which run air transport assets — from airports to fuelling operations —under a single company, using funds from the more profitable parts to support others.

Under the model approved by MPs, KQ would become one of four subsidiaries in an aviation holding company.

The others would be Jomo Kenyatta International Airport, an aviation college and the Kenya Airports Authority operating all other airports.

The previous administration, which was replaced by Dr Ruto’s on September 13, pushed for the restructuring of the carrier on the back of the multi-billion-shilling bailout after dropping the nationalisation plan.

Mr Murkomen Wednesday told Parliament that the State would not convert its debts or bailout cash into shares. “We do not want to cross the 50 percent shareholding because we want KQ to remain a privately owned company,” he said. The government owns 48.9 percent of KQ shares.

“We have to ask ourselves why KQ is in the situation it is currently. It is because of mismanagement of project Mawingu, but there is a restructuring process currently underway led by President Ruto,” he said.

KQ recorded a ninth consecutive half-year loss, sinking it Sh15 billion deeper into a negative equity position.

The airline, which has been surviving on State bailouts since the Covid-19 pandemic, reported a Sh9.8 billion loss in August — a better performance than the Sh11.48 billion loss it recorded in the same period a year earlier.

It booked a further Sh5.3 billion loss on hedged foreign exchange differences, driving its total comprehensive loss to Sh14.9 billion.

Source: Business Daily

It was an evening marked by colour, glamour and pomp as Nairobi played the host to the World Travel Awards (WTA) Africa and Indian Ocean Gala Ceremony 2022.

The annual event saw 400 leading travel industry individuals and decision-makers drawn from 25 African and Indian Ocean countries drop business attire for ritzy evening gowns and dapper tuxedos as they attended the red-carpet gala held at the Kenyatta International Convention Centre (KICC) on October 15.

The WTA was established in 1993 to acknowledge, reward and celebrate excellence across all sectors of the tourism industry.

The KICC chief executive, Nana Gecaga, said Kenyans were thrilled to showcase their world-renowned culture and hospitality during the gala ceremony as well as ensure guests have an unforgettable magical experience.

25 Kenyan nominees emerged as winners.

The Port of Mombasa bagged Africa’s Leading Cruise Port 2022.

The national carrier Kenya Airways (KQ) scored a hat-trick emerging as Africa’s Leading Airline 2022, Africa’s Leading Airline-Business Class 2022, Africa’s Leading Airline Brand 2022. Jambojet, KQ’s offshoot, was named Africa’s Leading Low-Cost Airline 2022.

Other notable Kenya winners included Manda Bay (Africa’s Leading Private Island Resort), The Residences at Leopard Beach Resort and Spa (Africa’s Leading Hotel Residences 2022), Ol Pejeta Conservancy (Africa’s Leading Conservation Company 2022) and Sirai House (Africa’s Leading Luxury Private Villa 2022).

On the domestic front, 23 winners were crowned in their respective categories. They included: Kinondo Kwetu (Kenya’s Leading Resort 2022), Porini Mara Camp (Kenya’s Leading Tented Safari Camp 2022), and The Social House (Kenya’s Leading Boutique Hotel 2022) among others.

Founder of WTA, Graham Cooke said he was honoured to come back to Nairobi after KICC hosted the 2020 edition.

“Nairobi is a pulsating city, rich in heritage but with a dynamic, forward-thinking business focus. As the industry bounces back better and stronger, Kenya should take its place at the high table of world-class tourism destinations”.,” he said.

WTA gala ceremonies are widely regarded as the best networking opportunities in the travel industry, attended by government and industry leaders. The next red-carpet events on the WTA Grand Tour 2022 will take place in Amman, Jordan (Middle East) followed by Muscat, Oman (Grand Final).

Source: Business Daily

Wooing spoilt-for-choice travelers to visit a particular destination may be an uphill task, but the road gets much smoother if you have a celebrity vouching for its wonders.

You might be forgiven for thinking it to be a Hollywood romantic comedy. Zac Effron and Jessica Alba get their suitcases mixed up, and the search for the right bag leads to them finding each other, all heart eyes as the dust of the Dubai desert swirls around them.

Except, this “A Romance to Remember” is a promotional film commissioned by Dubai Tourism to get you to fall in love with the city.

Celebrity endorsements deliver strong triggers in the decision-making process for travelers, and tourism entities in the Middle East know that well.

Think, the many celebrity brand ambassadors for Dubai, John Cena for Abu Dhabi, Jennifer Aniston and Chris Hemsworth for Emirates Airlines, Nicole Kidman for Etihad Airways and the latest entrant on the field, David Beckham for Qatar.

Celebrity endorsements help a destination to highlight a tourism product that it may not be known for, announce a change or transition and also shine a light on the place for a new market, according to Danny Cohanpour, CEO and founder of Trove Tourism Development Advisors.

For instance, the Abu Dhabi campaign with John Cena last year helped to promote international sporting events in the city while also using it as an opportunity to announce that borders were re-opening for vaccinated international travelers.

However, while celebrities can influence the decision-making process, trust can only follow from how brands invest in building, delivering and sustaining the promised experience, noted Abdul Samee Qureshi, managing director at The Adroit Agency.

Once destinations have gone past the general awareness and created the first inbound traffic, they need to establish credibility, and that trust is reinforced by people coming back to the destination.

Even Popular Destinations Need Celebrities to Market Them

Any brand — including a destination — cannot rest on its laurels even if it is doing well or is popular, said Issam Kazim, CEO of Dubai Corporation for Tourism and Commerce Marketing (Dubai Tourism), calling celebrity endorsements one of the elements of a much more diverse and intertangled marketing matrix that a destination employs.

When working with celebrities a destination like Dubai doesn’t just consider their status in isolation, noted Kazim. “We start with the idea and concept, then make sure the campaign is aligned to the objectives and has clear outcomes. Only then will we decide if the celebrity route works for us, and which one/s would be the best partners.”

In the early stages, brands often use ambassadors with a wide following. One of the most popular examples being Nespresso signing on George Clooney as brand ambassador in 2006.

Drawing comparisons, Nicolas Mayer, global tourism industry leader at PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC), explained that when Switzerland wanted to activate the Indian market, it tapped Bollywood actor Ranveer Singh to promote the destination — a logical choice considering the popularity of mainstream Hindi cinema among Indians as well as in large parts of South Asia.

The Right Message for the Right Audience

As long as the message created with the celebrity is relevant to the target audience, it seems to do the trick, opined Qureshi. “One of the key markets where the United Arab Emirates delivers exceptionally well is engaging celebrities from India and the outcome can be seen as India has been one of the biggest inbound markets for many years.”

India has consistently remained a top source market for Dubai. The emirate welcomed 7.12 million overnight visitors from January to June this year, of which the highest number of international guests were from India at 858,000 visitors.

One of the most popular Indian actors — Shah Rukh Khan has been the brand ambassador for Dubai tourism since 2016. Dubai tourism’s Kazim acknowledged that the choice of Khan is an indication of how important India is as a source market for the emirate.

In the past too, Dubai has worked on many marketing campaigns featuring prominent regional celebrities as well as influencers.

The celebrity mantra seems to work well for brands on either end of the spectrum. While some tourism boards may be very popular, they are looking to attract more tourists and may not even be halfway to where they would want to go. And then there may be many untapped geographical pockets, where destinations would want to be better known, according to PwC’s Mayer.

Tapping Niche Markets

Destinations also use celebrities to promote sub-segments. Tourism boards usually tap prominent names from a specific field to promote a particular event or occasion, with the expectation that these campaigns would be watched by people sharing similar interests.

A perfect example of that would be David Beckham for Qatar. Beckham would not only help Qatar to activate the UK market but would also help deliver the message of football to fans of the game as Qatar will be hosting the football World Cup later this year.

“With this, Qatar would be surgically targeting general football fans as well as travelers in the UK,” said Mayer.

While celebrity endorsements offer a substantial reach, running a parallel micro-influencer campaign can convert online visitors into actual visitors, opined Cohanpour. “Destinations must simultaneously leverage micro-influencers with proven experience with a direct and engaged audience on social media.”

Dubai tourism also works with influencers across the spectrum — from prominent names down to a micro-influencer, who may have a specific niche impact, said Kazim.

This is, however, just one string in the bow. As Kazim explained, “We have to map every channel of influence by market, audience, segment, time and point of the conversion funnel and build a marketing strategy tapestry from there.”

If it has a credible offering, a destination can find its audience through social media, according to Mayer. “The catalogue is dead and social media allows brands to identify and reach their target clients faster in the promotional awareness phase. The results too are instant and any correction that needs to be done can be done much faster.”

Source: Skift