The Pearl Guide’s Best of January 2014
Interested in more news from and about Uganda, where to go and what to do? Here is an insight from The Pearl Guide – republished for your benefit! The Pearl Guide’s Best of January 2014 Best of January 2014 Enabling you to make the most of Uganda with the best reviews, features, photography and more.. […]
More European destinations by Brussels Airlines come summer schedule
BRUSSELS AIRLINES TO EXPAND THEIR EUROPEAN DESTINATIONS IN SUMMER SCHEDULE (Posted 31st January 2014) Apart from adding two Polish destinations from March onwards, namely Warsaw and Krakow, will Brussels Airlines this summer add nine extra seasonal destinations across Europe. SN will serve Malta, Athens, Cagliari, Bari, Seville, Montpellier but also Ajaccio, Bari and Bastia effective […]
RVR news – both ups and downs
RIFT VALLEY RAILWAYS – ARRIVAL OF NEW EQUIPMENT OVERSHADOWED BY MORE QUESTION MARKS (Posted 31st January 2014) Two sets of news emerged about Rift Valley Railways, operators of the present rail system in Kenya and Uganda under a long term concession from the two governments. The arrival of a new automated track maintenance machines, a […]
Uganda tourism relegated to ‘less important economic sector’ ranking
TOURISM SECTOR STABBED IN THE BACK AS GOVERNMENT KICKS SECTOR FROM TOP 10 (Posted 31st January 2014) Uganda’s tourism industry is coming to terms with the latest shock inflicted on it by the government, when it became known that for the 2014/15 budget was tourism booted down the ranking list even further and no longer […]
A day in the Nairobi National Park
This shared article, received from Porini Camps’ Aleema Noormohamed, is an absolute ‘Must Read’ as it describes the marvels of having a national park at the fringes of one of Africa’s major cities where just 10 miles from the Central Business District a new world opens for visitors. Thank you Aleema for sharing! A hidden […]
HOSEA partners with 3G Payment Solutions
KENYA HOSPITALITY TRADE FAIR LAUNCHES NEW PAYMENT PLATFORM (Posted 31st January 2014) The organizers of the 2nd Kenya Hospitality Trade Fair and the Hotel Summit East Africa, which will both run concurrently from 14th to 16th of May this year, have yesterday signed a deal with 3G Direct Pay to facilitate easy payments for trade […]
ServiceMag Rwanda announces 2013 award winners for best services
RWANDA’ S SERVICE MAGAZINE ANNOUNCES THE 2013 WINNERS (Posted 31st January 2014) The Kigali Serena Hotel ballroom was the venue last night for the award ceremony of Rwanda’s leading magazine, the ServiceMag and publisher Miss Sandra Idossou was at hand to welcome the over 200 invited guests, which included the who is who from across […]
Wildcat strike by sections of Watamu Boat Owners a threat to tourism
TROUBLE IN PARADISE (Posted 30th January 2014) A number of Watamu based hoteliers have opposed blatant threats by a section of members of the Watamu Boat Owners Association, which has been attempting to picket boat trips into the marine national park over their opposition to entrance fee hikes implemented by the Kenya Wildlife Service. This […]
Come an extra hour early when travelling from Nairobi’s JKIA
TRAVELLERS THROUGH JKIA IN NAIROBI TO ARRIVE AN EXTRA HOUR EARLY (Posted 30th January 2014) It was learned overnight that airport security at Jomo Kenyatta International Airport in Nairobi was stepped up with added perimeter gate vehicle checks, though police had been deployed there for several years already but only periodically stopped a car and […]
Qatar Airways bags two more awards in the UK
QATAR AIRWAYS BAGS MORE TROPHIES (Posted 30th January 2014) One of East Africa’s most popular foreign airlines, Qatar Airways, was at the UK Travel Awards named as ‘Business Airline of the Year’ and also bagged the ‘Best long-haul Airline’ award for the second year running. Over 1,300 industry representatives attended the 19th Annual Business Travel […]
Promotion trip to South Africa to boost tourist arrival
As part of sharing industry news, here is the latest from Mauritius.That said, you will no longer receive any such news from ATTA as they mouthed off for sharing ‘classified’ information with you, a strange proprietary behaviour it seems from an organization which professes to promote travel to Africa. Alas, it is their loss for […]
Reunion steps up overseas marketing
IRT RETURNS FROM GENEVA’S ‘VACANCES’ TOURISM FAIR (Posted 30th January 2014) A team comprising staff from Ile de la Reunion Tourism, Air Austral and the Saint Alexis Resort were in Geneva earlier in the week, attending ‘Vacances – Le Salon de Vacances, Voyages et Loisirs’ which was staged from 24th to 26th of January as […]
Ready, Set and Go for Bike for Africa as group arrives in Entebbe
FOURTY BRUSSELS AIRLINES STAFF ARRIVE IN UGANDA FOR ‘BIKE FOR AFRICA’ EVENT (Posted 30th January 2014) Late yesterday evening did 40 Brussels Airlines staff arrive in Entebbe on their SN flight from Brussels, to start their planned cycling event which will launch on the 31st January from Jinja, East Africa’s adventure capital. The 450 kilometre […]
Chinese ivory smuggler gets 232.000 US Dollar fine or 7 years in prison
KENYAN COURT HANDS DOWN 20 MILLION SHILLINGS FINE AS MORE SMUGGLERS NABBED (Posted 29th January 2014) A court in Nairobi has for the first time fully applied the new wildlife law when it sentenced a Chinese ivory smuggler, who was nabbed last week while in transit at JKIA transferring to his flight home to China. […]
Air Mauritius eyes SkyTeam membership as new deal with Air France inked
AIR MAURITIUS RENEWS PARTNERSHIP WITH AIR FRANCE, EYES SKYTEAM (Posted 29th January 2014) Air Mauritius has renewed an extensive partnership agreement with equity shareholder Air France, aimed to further improve the airline’s march towards service improvements, cost savings and profitability, Air France and Air Mauritius have been cooperating since 1998 through maintenance support, savings through […]
Mombasa hotel bed levy squashed by Senate ruling – for now
GREEDY COUNTY GOVERNMENTS KICKED IN THE TEETH BY SENATE RULING (Posted 29th January 2014) The mood among hoteliers at the Kenya coast improved considerably when it became known that Kenya’s upper house, the Senate, had shot down county governments’ attempts to levy what was described as ‘illegal taxes’ various county governments had introduced and among […]
Reunion resumes travel agents fam trips
REUNION TOURISM RESUMES AGENTS FAM TRIPS TO PROMOTE THE ISLAND (Posted 29th January 2014) The Reunion Tourism Office has resumed their fam trip activity by bringing a group of 12 French travel agents to the island, working hand in hand with local DMC Mille Tours and French tour operator SOLEA. Over the space of 4 […]
Locals decimate hippos in Rusizi National Park, Burundi
POACHING MENACE NOW SPREADS TO BURUNDI (Posted 29th January 2014) From a report received today by a regular reader with close ties to Burundi it was learned that the poaching menace has now also spread to this East African Community member country. It appears that at least 8 hippos have been killed in recent weeks […]
RwandAir promotes first Rwandan to CRJ900NextGen captain
RWANDAIR INTRODUCES THEIR FIRST EVER RWANDAN CRJ CAPTAIN (Posted 29th January 2014) RwandAir just announced that they have promoted the first ever Rwandan to captain on their CRJ900NextGen aircraft, when Jean Paul Muvunyi received his fourth stripe yesterday in a ceremony at the Kigali International Airport after landing flight WB 401 from Nairobi to Kigali. […]
East African Tourism Platform promotes regional destination workshops
DESTINATION KENYA COMES TO UGANDA AND RWANDA (Posted 29th January 2014) The East African Tourism Platform, the regional tourism private sector apex body, will in conjunction with the Kenya Tourism Board launch a series of workshops in Uganda and Rwanda, offering Kenya Destination specialist training programmes. Three sessions have so far been announced, one each […]
Air Seychelles announces the appointment of Manoj Papa as new CEO
AIR SEYCHELLES APPOINTS NEW CEO (Posted 28th January 2014) The announcement by Air Seychelles just now, that they have appointed Mr. Manoj Papa as their new CEO, succeeding Cramer Ball who earlier today made the formal announcement of his departure by the end of February, suggests that this change of guard has been in the […]
Air Seychelles set to bid good bye to CEO Cramer Ball after a perfect run of good fortunes
AIR SEYCHELLES CEO CRAMER BALL ANNOUNCES HIS DEPARTURE FROM THE AIRLINE (Posted 28th January 2014) In what has been described as a shock announcement for the staff at Air Seychelles, who apparently apart from less than a handful of trusted individuals did not know about this development, has Cramer Ball announced his departure from the […]
India drops opposition to A380 use by foreign carriers
EMIRATES FINALLY SEES SILVER LINING TO USE THE AIRBUS A 380 TO INDIA (Posted 28th January 2014) News broke overnight that the Indian aviation authorities have at long last come to terms with the reality of today’s aviation world, which includes the growing use of the largest passenger aircraft in service, the Airbus A380, and […]
Annual 10to4 Mountain Bike Challenge set for February 14/15
MOUNTAIN BIKE CHALLENGE PRESS BRIEFING BY MOUNT KENYA TRUST (Posted 28th January 2014) The Mount Kenya Trust will tomorrow, 29th of January, hold a media briefing ahead of the Mountain Bike Challenge to provide information about the event and its purpose. The briefing will be held at the Fly540 hangar at Wilson Airport from 14.30 […]
Serena goes ‘Chinese’ on latest website edition
SERENA’S WEBSITE GOES ‘CHINESE’ IN LATEST SITE REVAMP (Posted 28th January 2014) Serena Hotels’ latest website upgrade which went ‘live’ a few days ago, now features the option to read the content in Mandarin, the official language in China, allowing millions of potential travelers to Kenya, Uganda, Tanzania, Rwanda and Mozambique to find out more […]
Outright lies or innocent mistake – why name Kenya for a South African incident
WHAT AGENDA DOES THE TELEGRAPH.CO.UK HAVE AGAINST KENYA (Posted 28th January 2014) The authors of an article with a deliberately misleading headline, suggesting an incident in South Africa, where a tourist got gored by an elephant actually took place in Kenya, has immediately led to suggestions that the publication has a hidden agenda against Kenya. […]
Vanilla Island TV set for April launch
VANILLA ISLANDS SET TO LAUNCH VANILLA TV (Posted 28th January 2014) News just broke that the Vanilla Islands will in April this year launch their first joint TV station under the name of OI7. Aimed to promote the various islands’ tourism attractions the station will also heavily feature cultural events, economic and general interest news. […]
Boeing uses B777-300ER delivery to Ethiopian to ship donations to Ethiopia
BOEING AND ETHIOPIAN PARTNER TO USE B777-300ER DELIVERY FLIGHT FOR DOING GOOD (Posted 28th January 2014) Ethiopian Airlines’ latest aircraft delivery, a B777-300ER which the airline will receive via GECAS on a long term lease, will carry over 3 tons of medical and educational supplies for projects in Ethiopia. Beneficiaries will be the Black Lion […]
Another rhino killed in Kenya
RHINO KILLING IN NAIROBI NATIONAL PARK SHOCKS KENYA’S CONSERVATIONISTS (Posted 27th January 2014) News emerged late yesterday, Sunday 26th of January, that a rhino was shot dead by poachers inside the generally well protected Nairobi National Park, as rangers found the carcass with the horns already removed. A similar attack had taken place just 5 […]
ZanAir plane in slight landing mishap on Pemba island
ZAN AIR PLANE IN MISHAP ON LANDING IN PEMBA (Posted 27th January 2014) Zanzibar based Zan Air was reportedly suffering a landing mishap last Friday when landing on the island of Pemba in the late afternoon. The plane, after touching down, apparently slid off the main runway but came to a halt without causing any […]
