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 […]
To pay or not to pay – that is now the question for Mombasa hoteliers
KNIVES ARE OUT BETWEEN COAST HOTELIERS AND MOMBASA COUNTY GOVERNMENT (Posted 27th January 2014) Emotions are running high, and rightly so, between coast hoteliers with properties falling under the Mombasa county government and that very same devolved government, many now wish to hell and beyond. The dispute arose when the county assembly passed a new […]
Shockwaves spread as Africa’s membership numbers on UNWTO Affiliate platform become known
EAST AFRICA’S PRESENCE ON UNWTO AFFILIATE CATEGORY DESCRIBED AS ‘ABYSMAL’ (Posted 27th January 2014) Information has come to light that out of the over 400 UNWTO affiliate members only three are presently from East Africa while the continent overall only has 17 members. All three East African members are notably from Kenya, namely the Kenya […]
Groundbreaking for new Nile bridge announced for Tuesday
TUESDAY IS D-DAY FOR NEW NILE BRIDGE GROUNDBREAKING (Posted 27th January 2014) According to information received will President Yoweri Kaguta Museveni perform the ground breaking ceremony for the new bride over the River Nile in Jinja, in the presence of the Japanese Ambassador and the head of the Japan International Cooperation Agency, in short known […]
South Coast bypass – finally some good news
NEW BYPASS ROAD FROM NAIROBI HIGHWAY TO SOUTH COAST SET FOR START IN LATE 2014 (Posted 26th January 2014) Approximate new time frames were given yesterday by the Kenyan government for the long overdue bypass road to the South Coast, which is due to connect the international airport in Mombasa as well as the Nairobi […]
Conde Nast Gold List 2014 includes the Sarova Mara Game Camp
SAROVA MARA MAKES IT ON TO THE CONDE NAST GOLD LIST (Posted 26th January 2014) It is this time of year when hospitality businesses are keenly checking their mail inboxes to find out, some as expected and others perhaps a little more surprised, if they got news from TripAdvisor or Conde Nast about their rating […]
Now Logo New Game for Uganda Tourism
UGANDA TOURISM SEEKS NEW LOGO FOR ‘THE PEARL OF AFRICA’ (Posted 26th January 2014) In a renewed effort to rebrand Uganda, known around the globe as ‘The Pearl of Africa’, after quietly discarding an earlier slogan coined in the middle of the last decade ‘Uganda – Gifted by Nature’, is the Ministry of Tourism in […]
Tropical rainstorm lashes La Digue
SEYCHELLES ISLAND OF LA DIGUE HIT BY TORRENTIAL RAINS (Posted 25th January 2014) The Seychelles’ third largest island, La Digue, was yesterday at the centre of an epic rainstorm, which brought down 220 millimetres of rain in the space of just 7 hours in the deep of the night, lashing the island like hardly any […]
Ngorongoro Marathon – Running against Malaria
NGORONGORO MARATHON SET FOR 19TH APRIL (Posted 25th January 2014) This now annual race, first organized in 2008, will take to the road on 19th of April this year with an expected record attendance as the Ngorongoro Marathon has gained stature and recognition and become a hugely popular sporting event. Organized by the Rift Valley […]
Bag snatching crime hits foreign diplomat in Dar es Salaam
CRIME GETTING OUT OF CONTROL IN DAR ES SALAAM SUGGESTS DIPLOMAT’S RANT (Posted 25th January 2014) A rant taken from Facebook about yet another bag snatching incident on a busy street of Dar es Salaam brought back recollections of a number of similar reports last year, including one where a tourists was killed as she […]
Lucy Mbugua confirmed as KAA Chief Executive
LUCY MBUGUA CONFIRMED AS NEW KENYA AIRPORT AUTHORITY CEO (Posted 25th January 2014) (Picture via LinkedIn) Grapevine talk was finally confirmed yesterday when the Transport cabinet secretary Eng. Michael Kamau gave the green light for the KAA board chairman to formally announce the appointment of Ms. Lucy Mbugua as the new KAA Chief Executive Officer. […]
The ‘Chui’ and the Aberdare Country Club among the 2014 TripAdvisor winners
KENYAS LODGES AND RESORTS SCOOP TRIPADVISOR ‘TRAVELERS CHOICE 2014’ AWARD (Posted 25th January 2014) Two old ‘friends’ are among the 10 TripAdvisor winners already announced for 2014, which scooped the coveted ‘Travelers Choice Award’ for the current year, affirming again the quality these properties consistently deliver to their faithful clientele. The Leopard Beach Resort and […]
