Stop Press / Breaking News – Gadaffi’s companies in Africa face uncertain future, may be subject to asset freezes too
LIBYAN OWNED COMPANIES FACE UNCERTAIN FUTURE Concerns are growing amongst management and staff of Libyan owned companies like LAICO Hotels and Uganda Telecom about their future and their biggest shareholder’s ability to inject further capital into the companies for expansion, modernization and system upgrades. LAICO Hotels for instance owns the Lake Victoria Hotel in Entebbe, but […]
Stop press – Breaking News – Kenyans home from Libya, Ugandans on next flight to Entebbe
AFRICAN EVACUEES LAND IN NAIROBI The Kenyan contingent on the Kenya Airways special flight KQ 1322 were given a tumultuous welcome by relatives and friends, when the KQ B767-300 touched down at Nairobi’s Jomo Kenyatta International Airport a short while ago. Unlike many others rescued by the same mission, who will now make their way home […]
Stop Press Update – Libya evacuees from East Africa now in Cairo
EAST AFRICAN LIBYA EVACUEES NOW SAFE IN CAIRO 151 passengers were airlifted out of Tripoli last night under what has been described as ‘chaotic circumstances’, with navigation, ground handling and check in suffering from the political upheavals now witnessed across much of Libya. The mercy flight, which was initially due to take off from Tripoli for […]
Breaking News – Egypt’s thoughts on the Nile waters laid bare by WikiLeaks
WIKILEAKS CONFIRM EGYPT’S HOSTILITY OVER NILE WATER AGREEMENTS The government of fallen ‘Pharaoh’ Hosni Mubarak has now finally been exposed by more WikiLeaks cables published last week, confirming what East African countries for long suspected and what a Ugandan diplomat a few weeks ago ‘spilled’ – reported here at the time: Egypt did consider the use of […]
News update – Kenya plans two tier strategy to sell off hotel, lodge and resort shareholdings
KTDC’S SALE IN HOTEL SHARES TO BE A TWO TIER AFFAIR Information from Nairobi about the upcoming sale of shares in hotels, lodges and resorts, held by the Kenya Tourist Development Corporation on behalf of the Kenyan government, talks of a two tier strategy in selling off these holdings, or as it appears turning some […]
Stop Press – Breaking News – Kenya Airways mercy flight to Tripoli underway
KENYA AIRWAYS COMES TO THE RESCUE OF EAST AFRICANS IN LIBYA Information just received gives an update of the planned Kenya Airways evacuation flight, operated on a wide body B767-300 from Nairobi via Cairo to Tripoli this afternoon. The Libyan Civil Aviation Authority eventually did grant a landing permit on humanitarian grounds, as the aircraft was already […]
News Update – Kenya keeps Visa fee low
SMART MOVE KEEPS KENYAN VISA FEES AT 25 USD The Kenyan government, according to a well placed source in Nairobi, is set to keep the fees for a tourist Visa at 25 US Dollars per person, and will only review this by July 2011. The savings, for instance for a family of four, runs into […]
Breaking News – Uganda habituating two more gorilla groups in Bwindi
MORE HABITUATED GORILLA GROUPS TO ‘COME ON LINE’ BY MID 2011 Information was received from a regular source at the Uganda Wildlife Authority that the habituation of two more groups of mountain gorillas in Bwindi Impenetrable Forest National Park is in its final stages. Hence, later this year a further 16 permits for gorilla tracking will be available […]
Breaking News – UWA makes more bad headlines
UWA BACK IN ‘BADLINES’ More headlines emerged this weekend, when the Daily Monitor made further sweeping allegations about the state of affairs at Uganda Wildlife Authority and blamed the tourism minister Kahinda Otafiire – aka Minister for Crocodiles by his own words – for usurping executive powers in contravention of the existing law. The newspaper reportedly obtained […]
Breaking News – Kenya Airways signs extended agreement with TravelPort
TRAVELPORT AND KENYA AIRWAYS EXTEND PARTNERSHIP This morning both Kenya Airways and TravelPort put pen to paper in Nairobi and extended a successful 14 year old partnership, confirming continued cooperation for distribution services. KQ mainly uses the Galileo platform for their links with the travel trade and corporate clients ‘big enough’ to install the system on their premises. Said […]
Breaking News – Kenya Airways plans to add cargo aircraft
KENYA AIRWAYS OPENS NEW CARGO CENTRE, ANNOUNCES PLANS FOR OWN FREIGHTER The Kenya Airways Group CEO Dr. Titus Naikuni announced the airline’s plans to acquire their own dedicated cargo aircraft by next year, when he formally opened the Africa Air Cargo Centre at Nairobi’s Jomo Kenyatta International Airport earlier. At the same time he announced […]
Breaking News – Rwanda gives date for Kwita Izina 2011
KWITA IZINA SET FOR 18TH JUNE Make a date with Rwanda in the week culminating with the annual Kwita Izina Gorilla naming festival, planned for the 18th of June this year. This date still has to be confirmed by the Rwandan cabinet though, showing the importance tourism has in general and Kwita Izina in particular for the government […]
Breaking News – Air Seychelles CEO sacked
AIR SEYCHELLES CEO SACKED The board of directors of Air Seychelles has taken the unusual step of sacking the company’s CEO, a Mauritian citizen often in the cross hairs of the media and equally often said to be at loggerheads with key staff. No specific details have been ascertained as yet, other that a replacement […]
Breaking News – North African airlines / tourism driven to near ruin
TROUBLED AIRLINES AND TROUBLED RESORTS IN TROUBLED COUNTRIES Information filtering in from airline sources cultivated over many years from several of the countries affected by political upheavals in recent weeks all say the same thing: THE AVIATION AND HOSPITALITY INDUSTRY IS HEADING FOR SERIOUS FINANCIAL TROUBLE AND POSSIBLE SERIOUS DOWNSIZING. Several airlines in fact are […]
Breaking News – Air Seychelles CEO sacked
AIR SEYCHELLES CEO SACKED The board of directors of Air Seychelles has taken the unusual step of sacking the company’s CEO, a Mauritian citizen often in the cross hairs of the media and equally often said to be at loggerheads with key staff. No specific details have been ascertained as yet, other that a replacement […]
Breaking News – Rwanda chosen to host COMESA aviation centre
NEW COMESA AIR TRAFFIC CONTROL CENTRE GOES TO RWANDA The COMESA Secretariat, based in Lusaka / Zambia, has yesterday signed an agreement to establish an air traffic control centre in ‘the land of a thousand hills’, following extensive prior discussions between the two parties. COMESA, which extends from Egypt to Zambia and from Kenya to Congo, will […]
News update – Bridge enroute to Zambia washed away
CRUCIAL BRIDGE ENROUTE TO ZAMBIA DESTROYED The rains brought into Tanzania by the recent tropical cyclone, which swept that part of the Indian Ocean, especially Madagascar and Mozambique, also wreaked havoc in Tanzania when an important traffic link, the bridge over the Msanzi River was completely washed away near Sumbawanga, bringing road traffic to a standstill. This […]
Breaking News – Egypt Air in financial dire straits
EGYPT AIR IN DIRE STRAITS Information was received from usual well informed airline sources that Egypt Air, a member of the global Star Alliance, is seeking assistance from fellow member airlines in need of more aircraft to lease out, by dry or wet lease, as many as two dozen aircraft during the upcoming summer season. […]
Breaking News – Higher fuel supplements on the way by African airlines
AFRICAN AIRLINES BEMOAN FUEL PRICE INCREASES Airlines flying across the East African region have started mulling over an imminent increase in their fuel supplements, charged over and above the ticket costs to cover for the present price explosion. Since the outbreak of political unrest a few weeks ago in Tunisia the wave of protests have […]
News updates – Zanzibar’s tourism stakeholders demand better services
ZANZIBAR TOURISM INVESTORS DEMAND ‘BETTER’ FROM GOVERNMENT Water, electricity, security and garbage removal, amongst many other issues, were the main problems cited by the Zanzibar Association of Tourism Investors, in short ZATI, when they recently met with government officials to discuss matters of mutual interest and also of ongoing and growing concern. Other more administrative […]
Breaking News – Somali ocean terrorists kill American hostages
THE DEATH OF THE YACHTSMEN When news were confirmed yesterday afternoon that the four Americans, captured with their yacht off the coast of Oman, had died at the hand of their captors, the problem of the ocean terrorist took another turn to the worse. Often called a problem from hell, the hell that Somalia has […]
Breaking News – Hilton to manage new hotel in Kigali
HILTON TO COME TO RWANDA’S CAPITAL KIGALI Information was just received that Hilton Hotels, one of the industry leaders and well known brand name in the hospitality industry world wide, has signed a deal for a 160 room and suites hotel in Kigali’s city centre. Adjoining to the hotel will be serviced apartments for rent, also to […]
Breaking News – Tanzania jails Somali pirates to long prison terms
SOMALI PIRATES TO SERVE LONG PRISON TERMS IN TANZANIA NOW Information was received from Dar es Salaam that as many as 11 Somali pirates, captured in recent months, have had their day in court and were found guilty of charges of piracy and related offenses. Reportedly all of them were sentenced to long prison terms […]
Breaking News – Seychelles set date for presidential election
PRESIDENTIAL ELECTIONS SET FOR MAY The Seychelles government has just announced the dates for the Presidential Elections on the archipelago, when May 19th – 21st were set aside for this regular democratic exercise. The Electoral Commission pointed out that May 21st will be the ‘main day’ for voting but that due to the distances across […]
Breaking News – Juba chosen as main venue to declare independence in July
INDEPENDENCE DECLARATION TO TAKE PLACE IN JUBA All available hotel space is being booked up right now for the period of the 09th of July, and the days prior and afterwards, when the new Republic of South Sudan will for formally launched and independence from the ‘old’ Sudan and the regime in Khartoum announced. The […]
News update – Dam ‘not good’ for Lake Turkana
DAM IS NOT GOOD FOR LAKE TURKANA Protests took place in Nairobi last weekend aimed at the Gibe III dam, Ethiopia is constructing on their territory but which is said to have an immediate and massive impact on Kenya too. The only major river, the River Omo, emptying into Lake Turkana in Kenya is being […]
Weekly Roundup – News from Eastern Africa and the Indian Ocean region, fourth edition February 2011
TOURISM, AVIATION AND CONSERVATION NEWS from the Eastern African and Indian Ocean region A weekly roundup of reports, travel stories and opinions by Prof. Dr. Wolfgang H. Thome Get daily breaking news updates via Twitter @whthome or on my blog: www.wolfganghthome.wordpress.com Fourth edition February 2011 WHAT TO READ AND HOW TO STAY INFORMED […]
News update – Tanzania planning special activities for 50th Independence anniversay in December
TANZANIA TOURIST BOARD PLANS ‘SPECIAL EVENTS’ FOR 50 YEARS OF INDEPENDENCE The TTB is reportedly planning a series of events for the tourism industry in the run up to the 09th December, which will mark the half century of Independence for East Africa’s largest country. The various events will cover every aspect the tourism sector […]
News update – Kenya’s tourism stakeholders tell coalition government to keep the peace and not endanger sectoral growth
KENYA’S TOURISM STAKEHOLDERS DEMAND ‘PEACE’ FROM GOVERNMENT The current series of wrangles, spits and spats in the Kenyan government over new appointments and a range of other issues following the introduction of a new constitution last year, has not amused tourism stakeholders at all apparently. Over the last weekend has the Chairman of the Mombasa […]
Breaking News – Museveni wins election
MUSEVENI WINS – NO CHANGE AT THE TOP President Yoweri Kaguta Museveni was as predicted re-elected with a massive majority of votes – 68 percent to be precise – leaving his opponents trailing in his wake with some hardly getting much more than a percent of the overall votes cast. It does leave one to wonder what […]
