London Heathrow airport will reopen Terminal 4 on June 14, 2022, two years after it was closed due to decreased passenger traffic caused by the COVID-19 pandemic.  

Qatar Airways will be the first carrier to return to Terminal 4, followed by 30 other airlines.  

“While we are still years away from passenger numbers returning to pre-pandemic levels, reopening Terminal 4 will give airlines at Heathrow extra space across the airport, helping them manage the impact additional travel documents continue to have on check in times,” Heathrow CEO John Holland-Kaye announced in a statement. 

The reopening of Terminal 4 will free up space in Heathrow’s T1, T2 and T5 ahead of summer peak. Additionally, Heathrow is currently recruiting 1,000 new security personnel as part of a plan to maintain smooth passenger service throughout the summer.    

The UK’s busiest airports, including Heathrow, have been facing long queues as well as numerous flight cancellations and delays due to staff shortages for the past few weeks.   

Heathrow now forecasts that a total of 53 million passengers will travel through the airport in 2022, an increase of 16% compared to previous assumptions. The airport said previously that it expected passenger traffic to reach 45.5 million in 2022.    

Source: Aerotime Hub

The International Air Transport Association (IATA) has released its April 2022 air cargo market analysis, reporting a decline in global air cargo demand as well as reduced capacity.    

According to the report, global demand measured in cargo tonne-kilometers (CTKs) fell 11.2% in In April 2022 compared to April 2021, and international operations dropped 10.6% during the same period. 

“Global demand is down 1% compared to April 2019,” IATA noted.  

Indicators  

According to IATA, the drop, which created a “challenging operating backdrop”, can be attributed to the effects of Omicron in Asia and the Russia–Ukraine war.  

The association highlights that the war in Ukraine resulted in the decline of cargo capacity of “key cargo players” from Russia and Ukraine-based operators that used to serve European market. 

These challenges were further attenuated by China’s zero-COVID policy and flight cancellations resulting from labor shortages.  

IATA noted that “The lockdowns have brought much of the world’s largest port, Shanghai, to a standstill,” as the global goods trade declined as a result of China’s slowing economic growth. 

“Capacity was 2% below 2021 (+1.2% for international operations),” said IATA. “Both global capacity and international capacity decreased slightly in April [2022] compared to March [2022]. Asia experienced the largest falls in capacity.” 

Willie Walsh, IATA’s Director General, said: “The combination of the war in Ukraine and COVID-19 lockdowns in China have pushed up energy costs, intensified supply chain disruptions, and fed inflation.” 

“The operating environment is challenging for all businesses, including air cargo. But with China easing lockdown restrictions, there is cause for some optimism and the supply/demand imbalance is keeping yields high,” Walsh added.  

IATA also highlighted the decline of “new export orders” (which the association describes as a leading indicator of cargo demand and world trade) in all markets except the US.  

Regional performance data 

According to IATA, Asia-Pacific airlines saw air cargo volumes decrease by 15.8% in April 2022 compared to the same month in 2021. This was the weakest performance of all regions and significantly slower than the previous month.  

European carriers saw a 14.4% decrease in cargo volumes in April 2022 compared to the same month in 2021, while Middle Eastern carriers experienced a 11.9% year-on-year decrease in cargo volumes in April. African airlines saw cargo volumes decrease by 6.3% in April 2022 compared to April 2021, the association added.  

North American carriers reported a 6.6% decrease in cargo volumes in April 2021 compared to April 2021 but noted that routes such as Europe-North America remained strong, posting an increase of 5.2% compared to April 2021. 

Latin American carriers reported an increase of 40.9% in cargo volumes in April 2022 compared to the 2021 period. This was the strongest performance of all regions. IATA attributed the result to the increasing optimism of airlines in the region, which have introduced new services, enhanced capacity, as well as investments into additional aircraft for air cargo. 

Source: Aerotime Hub

Laws in every country provide passengers with broad rights in case of airline cancelations, including compensation and refunds.

Nobody likes hearing the dreaded message that their flight has been canceled. However, it’s not all bad news (depending on where you live), with airlines required to offer compensation and new flights. Here’s a guide to your rights as a passenger if your flight is canceled.

All about timing

For the sake of this article, we will focus on flight cancelation rights offered by the European Union (which the UK currently follows as well) and the US. The United States does not legally require airlines to provide any compensation for a delayed or canceled service except for a refund.

However, airlines have historically offered basics such as a new flight, food vouchers, and a hotel for overnight delays. The only situation where travelers in the US can claim benefits is if they are ‘bumped’ or unable to fly due to an oversold flight.

When it comes to the EU and UK, benefits are a lot more generous depending on your route and the airline’s notification of cancelation. These rights are codified in the EU Directive 261/2004 (EU261), which means airlines must provide these in case of any cancelations. Here’s a detailed look.

The conditions

Before calculating your dues from the airline, here are the important conditions to fulfill to be eligible. EU261 includes:

• ALL flights departing from an EU airport;
• Any flights arriving at an EU airport that are operated by EU airlines only.

If your flight meets these conditions, it’s time to check when you were notified of the cancelation. Here’s what matters:

• 14 days or more: no compensation (only refund or rebooking)
• 7 to 14 days: Compensation granted if the airline cannot offer an alternate flight that leaves two hours before the original flight and lands less than four hours later.
• Under 7 days: Compensation granted if the airline cannot offer a new route that leaves less than an hour before the original flight and lands less than two hours later.

If you’ve ticked off both these conditions, here’s a look at the compensation you’ll receive for your axed flight.

How far are you going?

Airlines owe you two things if your flight is canceled less than 14 days from departure and no acceptable rerouting is available: the first is monetary compensation, and the second is a duty of care. Here’s the breakdown of how much to expect in cash:

• Flights under 1,500 kilometers: €250
• Over 1,501 kilometers (within the EU) and between 1,501 and 3,500 kilometers (outside the EU): €400
• Over 3,500 kilometers (outside the EU): €600

Given the price you paid and plans affected, these figures might seem generous or lacking. However, a €200 compensation for a cheap EU flight is a good deal. However, the more significant benefit of longer delays might be the duty of care EU261 requires airlines to provide.

Duty of care means airlines have to:

• Provide vouchers for meals with the value depending on the length of delays
• Hotel rooms for overnight connections
• Reimbursement for communication-related expenses such as a SIM card or phone calls.

Notably, in cases where “extraordinary events” (such as unseen weather or strikes) occur, airlines do not need to provide monetary compensation but must still offer a duty of care.

Source: Simple Flying

Dar es Salaam. The government yesterday unveiled strategies to boost tourism recovery as the Ministry of Natural Resources and Tourism asked Parliament to endorse Sh624.1 billion for its budget for the next financial year.

The tourism sector underwent a series of highs and lows with effect from March 2020 when Covid-19 pandemic hit the world with full force and is now enduring the consequences of a third wave that was triggered by the Omicron variant.

Tabling the budget for her docket in Parliament, Tourism minister Pindi Chana said the strategies aimed at bolstering the sector include shaping domestic tourism, diversifying tourism products, boosting competitiveness and intensifying marketing.

The list of strategies also includes improvement of tourism infrastructure, launching of white rhino tourism in Burigi, Chato and Mikumi National Parks, as well as preparation of a strategy meant for spurring conferences and events tourism. Other strategies include preparation of the sixth Swahili International Tourism Expo and coordination of the fam trip that would bring on board tourism agencies, journalists, celebrities, tourism goodwill ambassadors and tourism investors.

Dr Chana said the government would give the much-needed boost to domestic tourism with a view to moulding the sector and up its contribution to the economy.

Official data has it that the tourism sector was currently accounting for 25 percent of the country’s foreign earnings and creating 1.6 million direct and indirect jobs per annum.

Ambassador Chana said already the approach of giving support to domestic tourism proved itself to be effective and on that the figures could speak for themselves. With campaigns promoting domestic tourism, the country registered 788,933 domestic tourists in 2021, up from 562,549 registered in the preceding year, official data shows.

“The increase was attributable to various efforts including marketing of rhino tourism,” said Dr Chana.

On another hand, she said that her ministry would continue to embrace the Royal Tour that was launched in April in the US with a view to marketing the country’s tourist attractions and attracting more tourists.

To cope with the expected increase in foreign visitors in the country, the minister expressed the government’s commitment to coming up with new strategic tourism products like beach tourism, conferences and events hosting, cruise tourism and recreational and cultural tourism.

In a fresh bid to diversify the country’s sources of tourists and take up the number of visitors, The Citizen understands that the Tanzania Tourist Board (TTB) is already conducting research to identify new products that would be attractive to both domestic and foreign tourists.

President Samia Suluhu Hassan is on record as saying 1.4 million tourists visited the East African nation in 2021 amid the Covid-19 pandemic that hugely affected the tourism industry.

To prop up this vital sector of the economy and make the country’s dream of hitting 5 million tourists by 2025 become a reality, the government has increased the sector’s budget by 9.2 percent in the 2022/23 financial year compared to the current financial year.

The government plans to spend Sh624.1 billion during the next financial year, up from the current financial year’s Sh571.6 billion.

Of the amount, some Sh180.4 billion is meant for development projects, with the rest going to recurrent expenditures.

The projects the government plans to implement in the next financial year include Resilient Natural Resources Management for Tourism and Growth, Public Finance Management and Reform, Support to Combat Poaching and Illegal Wildlife Trade in Tanzania.

Others are Private Plantation and Value Chain in Tanzania and Capacity Building in Forestry and Beekeeping, Support to Beekeeping Value Chain Programme, as well as the meetings, incentives, conventions and exhibitions (Mice) Tourism Development Project.

The Parliamentary Committee on Land, Natural Resources and Tourism was of the view that the government should invest massively in diversifying the country’s tourism products.

“Like we do on animal tourism, we need to intensify our campaign in identifying and marketing other tourist attractions,” said the committee’s vice chairman Shaban Shekilindi. For this to be realised, the committee suggested for the government to see the need of not only disbursing all money meant for development projects, but also on time.

“It is through broadening tourism products that the government’s plan to hit 5 million tourists by 2025 will come true,” Mr Shekilindi stressed. “And it is through the same path that earnings from the sector will jump from $2.6 billion in 2020 to $6 billion in 2025.”

Again, the committee was of the view that the government should expedite the review of outdated policies and laws that were acting as hindrances to the growth of the tourism sector.

He said policies that needed to be reviewed include Tanzania National Tourism Policy of 1999, Tanzania National Forest Policy of 1998 and National Beekeeping Policy of 1998.

Source: The Citizen

The EU and IATA both want to reduce emissions so why can’t they work together on one global solution, rather than chasing their own agendas?

The International Air Transport Association (IATA) went into a tailspin after the European Parliament voted on June 8 to expand its European Union Emissions Trading System (ETS) rules.

ETS aviation is part of the European Union’s (EU) ‘Fit for 55 in 2030’ package, the EU’s plan to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by at least 55% by 2030, compared to 1990 levels, in line with the European Climate Law. The European Commission had previously proposed applying the ETS to intra-EU flights and CORSIA (Carbon Offsetting and Reduction Scheme for International Aviation) to international flights departing from and arriving in the EU. The International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) has adopted CORSIA as the worldwide market-based means to limit aviation’s CO2 emissions.

The European Parliament has now adopted the proposal that the ETS should apply to all flights departing from an airport located in the European Economic Zone. This zone includes the 27 member states of the EU, plus Iceland, Liechtenstein and Norway. The parliament voted 479 in favor, 130 against with 32 abstentions. It also wants the current free allocations to the aviation sector to be phased out by 2025 and that 75% of the revenues generated from auctioning allowances for aviation be used to support innovation and new technologies.

IATA represents around 290 airlines and says this unilateral decision by the European Parliament (EP) will weaken and potentially dismantle the existing CORSIA agreement. The EP push is incompatible with CORSIA and could result in EU operators being double charged for their emissions. IATA Director General Willie Walsh said the decision would endanger international cooperation to tackle aviation’s climate change impacts. He called on the European Council to seek a multilateral solution at this year’s ICAO Assembly.

In 2012 a previous attempt to impose the ETS extra-territorially failed. Walsh said the impact of any regional initiative by the EU will be quickly neutralized if it derails decarbonization efforts in faster-growing markets outside of Europe.

Can ICAO keep CORSIA intact globally?

Both the European ETS and CORSIA allow airlines to buy credits to offset their emissions. The status quo was that the ETS applied to flights within the EU zone and CORSIA was a separate international agreement. The Aerospace and Defence Industries Association of Europe (ASD) also called on the EP to reject the proposed change, saying it could derail discussions in ICAO on adopting a global Long Term Aspirational Goal for civil aviation and the future of CORSIA. The aviation industry is keen for ICAO to adopt the net-zero by 2050 target and the ASD says the unilateral stance of the EU will likely result in the inability of ICAO to adopt such an important target.

CORSIA is not without its critics, who believe the scheme is ineffective in tackling climate change impacts from aviation. Aviation needs to work together to develop effective industry-wide and global solutions, and the September ICAO Assembly is the chance to do that. But will they?

Source: Simple Flying

Twenty-four global hotel brands are considering opening new facilities in Kenya this year, as the industry recovers from the effects of the Covid-19 crisis, a new report shows.

The new hotels will bring to the market 3,155 new hotel rooms, according to the survey by hospitality advisory firm W Hospitality Group, making Kenya the top seven hotspot for new luxury hotels in the African continent.

About 2,450 rooms or over three-quarters of the planned hotel rooms were considered “onsite” meaning they are under construction.

The report says Egypt has the largest number of hotels under development in Africa, recording 85 hotels comprising over 21,000 rooms.

Global hotel chain Marriott International and Europe’s biggest hotel group Accor are some the global brands that will build the newest hotels in Kenya, according to the survey detailing upcoming investments in the hospitality sector.

This accounts for more than 25 percent of all new planned hotels in Africa in the first quarter of 2022.

Following Egypt in terms of total hotel development in the pipeline is Morocco with 7,209 rooms in development, spread across 50 new hotels.

Nigeria comes in third at 5,619 rooms in 33 hotels.

Ethiopia on the other hand has 5,206 rooms spread across 29 hotels while Cape Verde has 4,639 rooms in 17 hotels.

The next five places are taken by Algeria, 3,202 rooms, Kenya, 3,155 rooms, South Africa, 3,133 rooms Tunisia, 2,918 rooms and Senegal 2,693 rooms.

The expansion plans come at a time hotel chains are increasingly facing pressure from ultra-affluent clients who demand special services.

Marriott International announced in March this year it had signed an agreement with Baraka Lodges Limited to open its first luxury safari lodge in Maasai Mara, Narok County.

The JW Marriott Masai Mara Lodge in Kenya is expected to open in 2023 and will be Marriott’s first luxury safari property in Africa.

The US hotel brand in a statement announced that the new facility to be opened next year at the Maasai Mara National Reserve will mark its entry into the Africa safari segment.

The Mara lodge will be the fourth property by the multinational brand in Kenya and plans to employ up to 50 locals once complete.

In 2018, Sankara and Marriott Group signed a franchise agreement that saw the Westlands hotel trade under its independently operated premium brand, Autograph Collection.

Marriott International also operates two other hotels in Nairobi, including the 172-room Four Points by Sheraton Nairobi Airport which opened in October 2017 and the 96-room Four Points by Sheraton Nairobi Hurlingham, which was a conversion.

The global hospitality group also announced in 2019 plans to establish another facility under its affiliate Protea Hotel brand as part of its Sh31 billion investment by its partners in Nairobi.

Other leading luxury hotels in Kenya that have announced an expansion in the last few years include Carlson Rezidor and Acacia Premier among others.

Kenya’s tourism industry has started to pull out of its deep Covid-19-induced slump as local travellers take advantage of lower prices, but foreign visitor numbers are still well below pre-pandemic levels.

Besides InterContinental Hotel, a number of top hotels, including Laico Regency and Radisson Blu in Nairobi’s Upper Hill, earlier stopped operations amid the coronavirus economic fallout. Radisson Blu has since reopened as the economy recovers.

Source: Business Daily

Tourists suffered severe hold-ups at airports including Heathrow, Gatwick, Manchester and Bristol

Holidaymakers who battled lengthy queues and delays leaving the UK could encounter further problems on their return journey as hubs in Europe and the US struggle with their own travel disruption.

Tourists have faced severe hold-ups at UK airports including Heathrow, Gatwick, Manchester, Bristol and Birmingham as they took advantage of relaxed Covid travel restrictions to enjoy a break at half-term.

Those who have been lucky enough to avoid the mass cancellations of flights by airlines such as easyJet and Tui could face problems getting back into the UK both by air and rail as other transport hubs in popular holiday spots reported disruption.

In Ireland, passengers at Dublin airport faced lengthy queues that stretched out of the terminal doors. Pauline Moore, who missed her Ryanair flight from Dublin to Stansted on Sunday morning, said in a Facebook post that the situation at the airport was “total bedlam”.

A press release from the airport acknowledged the problem it had coping with so many travellers and said it intended to implement a new plan to “improve queue management, maximise the availability of staffing resources, and increase the number of security lanes open at peak times”.

Dutch airline KLM last week largely suspended ticket sales for flights leaving from Amsterdam Schiphol airport – Europe’s third busiest – after queues stretched into the streets.

One easyJet customer told the Independent that the situation at the airport was “complete chaos” and that people were behaving “like animals”.

Schiphol’s chief executive officer, Dick Benschop, promised that the issues at the airport would “be gone by summer”.

The Paris Authority, which manages Charles de Gaulle and Orly airports, also warned of major disruption. A tweet from its account said it was having software problems that were affecting border control checks and this would lead to delays.

In a statement on its Twitter account on Wednesday, Eurostar said it was experiencing problems for similar reasons: “Our stations are very busy today. Passport and security checks are taking longer than usual due to issues with French authority control systems.”

In Sweden, the CEO of airport operator Swedavia, Jonas Abrahamsson, has been summoned to parliament to answer questions about long queues at Stockholm’s Arlanda airport. Travel blogger Rakhee said on Twitter that queues at Arlanda were “horrendous” and it took “a few hours” to get through security and passport control.

In the US more than 2,500 flights were cancelled over the four-day memorial day weekend. The industry struggled to cope with the increase in passengers, which led to delays at Los Angeles International Airport and Denver International Airport.

Airports and airlines were forced to significantly cut back staff after a succession of Covid lockdowns in Europe crippled the travel industry. But restrictions on travel have now mostly been dropped, and demand has surged as people try to get abroad.

However, despite a significant recruitment, drive airlines and airports have not managed to hire enough key workers, such as baggage handlers, to ensure that foreign travel runs seamlessly.

Willie Walsh, director general of the International Transport Association (IATA), earlier this week downplayed the prospect of travel chaos spreading to other airports. He said: “There are issues in some airports – it’s not across the world.”

Source: The Guardian

Considering a shortage of accommodation in Doha for the huge influx of football fans for this year-end’s FIFA World Cup in Qatar, the tourism industry in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) is expecting Dubai and other tourist destinations to be the choice of stay by fans who can then commute for matches.

The airfares to Dubai and Qatar have seen an unprecedented rise of 1900 percent. The reason is the football World Cup. It is scheduled to be held from November 21 and December 18 in Qatar this year. The tourism industry is set for a boom in Qatar and the UAE. Football fans from across the world want to be there during this period.

Considering a shortage of accommodation in Doha for the huge influx of football fans for this year-end’s FIFA World Cup in Qatar, the tourism industry in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) is expecting Dubai and other tourist destinations to be the choice of stay by fans who can then commute for matches.

Around 23.5 million enthusiastic football fans from around the world have applied for the tickets and though Qatar is going to add around 5000 more hotel rooms, there is still going to be a shortage, and countries in the GCC region, especially UAE, are expecting to fill the shortfall.

Authorities in UAE are confident that Dubai will be a place of choice to stay for World Cup visitors from other regions.

People associated with the tourism industry in UAE are expecting that travel from UAE to Qatar will be greatly accelerated during the event as football fans will fly to Doha from UAE to watch the matches, thus resulting in a substantial increase in prices.

Data from airlines show that one-way economy class airfare, which ranges from Dh360 (approx INR 7,604.74) to Dh 3,370 (INR 71,188.66approx) as of May 25, has already increased to Dh 7,110 (INR 150,194.30 approx) on November 20, a day before the start of the mega event.

Currently, UAE carriers Flydubai, Etihad, and Air Arabia and Qatar’s national carrier Qatar Airways operate flights between the two Gulf countries. Recently it was reported that Israel would also request Qatar to operate direct flights between the two countries during the FIFA World Cup.

Raheesh Babu, COO, Musafir.com, said that they are still waiting for more clarity from airlines. They are confident that people will be willing to stay outside of Qatar and visit the country for the matches only. Additionally, they are expecting airlines to significantly increase operations to accommodate the demand.

Although Doha has invested heavily in hotel accommodation and infrastructure for the world’s biggest sporting event, a shortfall remains, meaning many will stop for tournaments in neighbouring Gulf countries. Industry people in UAE are expecting Dubai to be their preferred choice.

Dubai-based realtors have said football fans are paying for short-term rentals in the Emirate. This could mean a bumper tourism season for the GCC, especially the UAE. In Dubai, estate agents are already seeing a surge in demand.

Around 23.5 million enthusiastic football fans from around the world have applied for the ticket sales draw. Most applications have been made by fans living in Argentina, Brazil, England, France, Mexico, Saudi Arabia, and the United States.

Apart from eager applications for the final, the most prestigious matches include Argentina v Mexico, Argentina v Saudi Arabia, England v USA and Poland v Argentina. Ticket applicants will be notified of their fate by email from May 31, 2022, beginning with the scheduled payment period.

Meanwhile, FIFA has told police chiefs of competing countries around the world, at a conference in Doha, that the main security concern of the 2022 World Cup would be controlling hundreds of thousands of football fans in Qatar’s capital.

FIFA Safety Director Helmut Spahn told attendees that securing the most geographically compact World Cup is one of the tournament’s biggest challenges. The longest distance between any two of the eight stadiums is approximately 70 kilometres. Police representatives from competing countries will assess World Cup stadiums at the conference and evaluate transportation in Doha.

Source: The Statesman

Critical airport worker and capacity shortfalls in Africa that threaten to keep flights and passengers grounded and impede the continents’ economic recovery can be rapidly and affordably addressed with the adoption of trusted, secure cloud-based solutions, according to SITA, the air transport industry IT and communications systems provider.

Recent experiences in the UK, Australia and other parts of the world exposed airports inability to cope with the surge in demand for air travel as countries are opened up and begin to put the COVID-19 pandemic behind them.

“As the recovery of Africa’s air transport market currently lags many bigger markets by a year, there is a golden opportunity for cash-strapped airports, including smaller provincial and regional facilities, to take pre-emptive steps and future-proof their operations to ensure they do not become transport and economic choke-points as they ramp-up. They can achieve this by digitalising their various passenger processing systems,” said Hani El Assaad, SITA’s President for Africa and the Middle East.

“With so many skilled and experienced people having left the industry during the pandemic, the clock is ticking for airports to ensure they are ready and able to meet the ever-increasing volumes of travellers, their luggage and cargo shipments. The solution is for all airports – from mega-hubs to small municipal and regional facilities — to digitalise and automate time-costly processes like passenger processing and baggage handling. Agile cloud technology platforms that are efficient, flexible, and scalable to fluctuating passenger volumes can help alleviate the pressure. By empowering passengers to use their mobile phones as a remote control for travel, we can reduce bottlenecks and offer a more seamless passenger journey,” El Assaad added.

Until recently, tech-infrastructure costs and support requirements deterred many smaller African airports from investing in digital systems. However, capable and scalable cloud-based technology has become significantly more affordable. It is now also well within reach of smaller, regional airports that need to meet the combined needs to be integrated into the global air transport system and to be able to instantly switch-on additional capacity.

In Africa, so much economic activity depends on airports having sufficient capacity to facilitate efficient, reliable, secure, and safe air transport services. By transforming the passenger experience and meeting their customer airlines’ demands for better efficiencies, smaller airports will be promoting themselves and the communities, industries, and markets they serve as safe, convenient, competitive, agile, and user-friendly destinations.

Over the past decades, the air transport industry has encouraged governments, regulators, and airport and airline operators to embrace digital technology. The result has been the advent of things we now take for granted, such as customer self-service check-in and self-baggage drop solutions, smart-phone boarding passes and various mobile apps, and Digital Health declarations and Trusted Travel Passes for storing and verifying boarding passes and COVID vaccination status, and more. SITA’s print is all over such technologies, and the post-pandemic recovery is a golden opportunity to accelerate and expand digitalisation and take full advantage of the benefits and opportunities it unlocks.

Source: This Day

Nairobi — The tourism sector has received a major boost from the Indian market with a visit of about 300 tourists for an excursion of the country’s tourism products.

Last week, Kenya played host to 150 Indian travellers for a tour of attractions within Nairobi and Masai Mara while another group is expected to the jet in first week of next month.

The trip which is part of an incentive programme organized through Reliance Industries (RIL’s), an Indian multinational conglomerate company, is a shot in the arm to the sector that is picking up from the travel restrictions as a result of the covid-19 pandemic.

The visit comes as part of efforts by Kenya’s Ministry of Tourism to boost MICE and B-leisure tourism, which is ideal for top executives and mid-level management visitors.

While receiving the first group of travellers at the Nairobi National Park, Kenya Tourism Board (KTB) termed the visit as a strong endorsement of the country’s resilience to the impact of the pandemic as well as a first step toward restoring the confidence of Indian travellers in the destination.

“We are delighted to welcome the first batch of an incentive travel group from India. It shows that the destination is quickly re-opening and going back to normal travel business as it were and we are ready and prepared to receive visitors from all corners of the world,” said KTB acting director of Marketing Development Fiona Ngesa.

According to KTB, the growing demand and preference for personalized service, preference for sustainable and responsible travel and affinity for experiential travel are key emerging travel trends that Kenya has adopted to cater for the tourists’ needs.

India is a top five tourist source market to Kenya and whose performance is expected to rise courtesy of incentive programs and other promotional campaigns that KTB has lined up in the market.

On his part, Destination Management Company (DMC) Safari Trails CEO Rajay Thethi, said Kenya’s decision to remove PCR testing for arriving passengers into the country and the resumption of daily flights to India has been key in the increasing interest to travel into the country.

“India is one of the emerging markets we have been focusing on and we are very grateful to the Kenyan government for allowing the resumption of daily direct flights from India on Kenya Airways and also making sure that travel between Kenya and India is eased,” Rajay noted.

Ease of access to Kenya through the national carrier, Kenya Airways, that flies twice daily from Mumbai to Nairobi among other airlines have increased in the past, the flow of visitors into Kenya from the Asian market

Kenya had in 2021 imposed restrictions on travellers from India with the country being one of the worst-hit by the Covid-19 Delta Variant.

However, after the decline in number and the vaccination of citizens, both countries have lifted the restriction with visitors being allowed to travel freely.

Source: Capital FM