Rosette Rugamba graduates from Aspen’s Global Leadership Course
ROSETTE RUGAMBA GRADUATES FROM ASPENS GLOBAL LEADERSHIP COURSE (Aspen Leadership Initiative Networks African graduates) Rosette Chantal Rugamba, well remembered for her time at the helm of ORTPN and then as Deputy CEO in charge of Tourism and Conservation at the Rwanda Development Board, has last week graduated as a Fellow of the Aspen Leadership Initiative […]
Emirates takes home Best Cargo Airline in the World, Best Cargo Airline in the Middle East and Best Cargo Airline to Africa awards
EMIRATES SKY CARGO NAMED AS CARGO AIRLINE OF THE YEAR (Picture courtesy of Emirates via HK Strategies, Nairobi) The annual Cargo Airline of the Year Awards, held at Londons Lancaster Hotel, once again crowned Emirates Sky Cargo as the cargo kings of the world. The airline was named as Best Cargo Airline in the World […]
Qatar Airways uses ATM 2012 to reaffirm JRO and MBA launch dates
QATAR AIRWAYS CONFIRMS LAUNCH DATES FOR JRO AND MBA Qatars award winning airline used the Arabian Travel Market 2012 as a platform to confirm their planned launch of new destinations for the next six months. Of key importance is the start of flights to Tanzanias safari gateway of Kilimanjaro near Arusha, which has been reconfirmed […]
Beau Vallon Bay Beach tourism stakeholders set to develop ‘Golden Mile’ concept to give area a face lift
BEAU VALLON TO GET FACE LIFT, BECOME MORE USER FRIENDLY (Courtesy of Google Maps 2012) One of the Seychelles best known beaches, Beau Vallon Bay Beach, is set to get spruced up and made more user friendly, following a meeting between Ministers Alain St. Ange, Tourism and Culture and Joel Morgan, Transport and Internal Affairs, […]
Qatar Airways retains ‘Best Business Class in the World’ award from Business Traveller Middle East magazine
QATAR AIRWAYS BAGS BEST BUSINESS CLASS AWARD BY BUSINESS TRAVELLER MAGAZINE More good news and awards for Qatar Airways were announced at the start of the Arabian Travel Market in Dubai yesterday, when the prestigious Business Traveller Middle East magazine revealed that the airline was voted for Best Business Class in the World for the […]
Kenya Airways releases Q4 results for 2011/12 FY
KENYA AIRWAYS RELEASES Q4 RESULTS While everyone is now waiting for the announcement of the results of the share rights issue by Kenya Airways and their financial advisory team, due to be made public on the 30th May, the airline has yesterday released their financial results for the fourth quarter of their financial year. Notably […]
Weekly roundup of news from Eastern Africa and the Indian Ocean islands, Fifth edition April 2012
AVIATION, TOURISM AND CONSERVATION NEWS from Eastern Africa and the Indian Ocean islands. A weekly roundup of breaking news, reports, travel stories and opinions by Prof. Dr. Wolfgang H. Thome Get daily breaking news updates instantly via Twitter by following @whthome, join me on Facebook where the articles also cross load or read the daily […]
Routes Africa meeting enters registration phase
ROUTES AFRICA ENTERS REGISTRATION PHASE Key airlines flying to the Seychelles, where the 2012 edition of Routes Africa is being held this year in July, have already committed themselves for participation. Amongst them are Air Seychelles and their partner Etihad, Qatar Airways, Emirates and South African Airways, with other airlines flying to Mahe and into […]
Seychelles Tourism Academy intends to start German language courses
SEYCHELLES TOURISM ACADEMY TO BENEFIT FROM MINISTERIAL INITIATIVE The Seychelles Minister for Tourism and Culture, Alain St. Ange, has held talks with the German Ambassador accredited to the Seychelles Mrs. Hellwig Boette, with the aim to strengthen cultural ties between the two countries. According to a regular source from Victoria, the discussions focused on several […]
Kenya government set to pay KWS 1.8 billion Kenya Shillings for Nairobi National Park land
GOVERNMENT OF KENYASET TO PAY OFF KWS FOR NAIROBI NATIONAL PARK LAND News emerged over the weekend that the Kenyan government appears to have set aside 21.6 million US Dollars for the Kenya Wildlife Service as a form of compensation for the land carved out of the Nairobi National Park for the construction of the […]
Kenya’s tourism promotion budget cut, causing outcry from stakeholders
KENYAS TOURISM STAKEHOLDERS BLAME NEW MINISTER, PUBLIC EXPENDITURE FOR BUDGET CUTS It is action which counts for us, not words and empty declarations. Maybe now people realize just how much damage the removal of our former minister has done to our sector. Balala was on course to fight for more marketing budget because he knew […]
Mauritius invests in major infrastructure projects to be ready for future growth
MAURITIUS INVESTS IN INFRASTRUCTURE TO BE READY FOR THE FUTURE (Impression of the new terminal building in Plaisance) Information was received from Port Louis overnight about two key infrastructural projects, aimed to keep the island at the cutting edge for tourism and travel. First was the announcement that a new harbour bridge was set to […]
Kisumu to host tourism exhibition for Western Kenya next week
LAKE VICTORIA TOURISM ASSOCIATION TO HOLD EXHIBITION IN KISUMU (Picture courtesy of Wikipedias Kisumu City File) Kenyas lakeside city of Kisumu will be playing host to a planned tourism and travel exhibition next week, organized by the Lake Victoria Tourism Association. Running from Thursday to Saturday inclusive, i.e. from May 03rd to 05th, the exhibition […]
Lake Tanganyika’s main passenger steamer, the MV Liemba, to be refurbished
LAKE TANGANYIKA STEAMER GETS GERMAN FUNDING FOR MAJOR OVERHAUL (Picture courtesy of Wikipedia) Germany is expected to underwrite some major funding for Tanzania to retain part of her own heritage, closely linked with Tanganyika, which used to be Germanys colony in East Africa until the end of the First World War. The mainland of what […]
Houston Marketing’s Spotlight Travel Workshops come to Nairobi
HOUSTON MARKETING BRINGS SPOTLIGHT TRAVEL WORKSHOP TO NAIROBI Derek Houston of Houston Marketing has just announced the date for his upcoming Spotlight Travel Workshop in Nairobi, now set for the 07th of June. Location will be the Southern Sun Mayfair Hotel and is targeting the outbound market from Kenya, growing significantly year after year as […]
Tanzania Civil Aviation Authority to hold licensing meeting in May
CIVIL AVIATION LICENSING MEETING SET FOR MAY The Tanzania Civil Aviation Authoritys licensing committee will meet in May to consider a number of new and renewal applications, aimed to add extra capacity into the market and uphold competition. According to data availed by a regular source in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania presently has nearly 60 […]
UTB comes under harsh criticism from President Museveni
PRESIDENT BLASTS TOURISM BOARD President Museveni used a meeting held at State House Entebbe earlier in the week to discuss his presidential tourism initiative to lay heavily into the strategy and mindset of the Uganda Tourism Board, which he accused of making mistakes, claiming it lacks seriousness and originality. UNDP has been searching for a […]
Air Seychelles to operate their first A320 and A330 flights in May
AIR SEYCHELLES BENEFITS FROM ETIHAD LINK The linkage between Air Seychelles and Abu Dhabis national airline Etihad is starting to bear fruits as from the beginning of May new, initially wet-leased aircraft, will come on line for Air Seychelles. The twice weekly flights between Mahe and Mauritius will be operated from 02nd May on an […]
Air Tanzania launches new website, FB page and Twitter handle amidst more controversy
AIR TANZANIA LAUNCHES WEBSITE FOR BOOKINGS The launch of Air Tanzanias new website earlier in the week has raised another storm of comments, when it became known that the airlines acting CEO had in his comments said it would make bookings easier for passengers wanting to fly with Air Tanzania. It shows that airline lives […]
Kenya Airways share rights issue enters last two days – and where all that money is going to
KENYA AIRWAYS RIGHTS ISSUE COMES TO AN END WHERE TO FROM HERE As the four weeks long Kenya Airways share rights issue offering is coming to an end on Friday, with current subscription levels a tightly guarded secret by top management and their financial advisory team and participating financial institutions, results will likely to filter […]
10th Extraordinary Head of State Summit in Arusha to discuss Juba membership and more
10TH EXTRAORDINARY HEAD OF STATE SUMMIT OF EAC TO DISCUSS JUBAS MEMBERSHIP Ministers preparing in Arusha for the Saturday Head of State Summit have confirmed that they have formed a joint verification committee to assess the state of readiness for the South Sudan to join the East African Community as soon as possible, following a […]
Helicopter Seychelles – what really happened
HELICOPTER SEYCHELLES GONE FOR GOOD FROM THE SKIES OVER THE ARCHIPELAGO? Many questions have been asked since the beginning of the month about Helicopter Seychelles, and if indeed the message now seen on the company website will stick, or only be temporary, which reads: Helicopter Seychelles regrets to announce it has ceased operating commercial flying […]
Seychelles Auditor General Report continues to rouse passion and sharp reactions
MISGUIDED AUDIT REPORT CONTINUES TO UPSET SEYCHELLES TOURISM INDUSTRY Not long ago did I file an article here over the allegations made in a report by the Seychelles Auditor General about audits of the Seychelles Tourism Board, which at the time instantly roused the passion of the private sector, condemning in particular the British consultant […]
Praslin, a different way of seeing the Seychelles
PRASLIN SO NEAR AND YET SO DIFFERENT Considering how much I travel and the often luxurious and exotic places I visit, it has to be very special to be remembered a few weeks or months down the line, since then overshadowed by new experiences, sights and sounds but the Seychelles are just that place which […]
Michael Otieno, Manager Corporate Communications, leaves RwandAir to go into aviation consulting
MICHAEL OTIENO LEAVES RWANDAIR TO GO INTO AVIATION CONSULTING RwandAirs widely respected Manager Corporate Communications and PR, Michael Otieno, has reportedly left the airline after nearly 3 ½ years as one of the public faces of the airline, but not without some pride over the achievements he says were made by RwandAir during his tenure. […]
Kenya’s coast tourism stakeholders mince no words over the challenges they face
TOURISM STAKEHOLDERS MINCE NO WORDS OVER ROADS AND WATER A tourism stakeholder meeting earlier in the week at the Sarova Whitesands Resort and Spa once again focused on the perennial challenges the industry at the Kenyan coast is faced with, poor roads, congestion at the Likoni ferry and a lack of enough water, amongst other […]
Tanzania’s tourism minister in trouble with parliamentary committee
MAIGE IN TROUBLE WITH PARLIAMENTARY COMMITTEE OVER HUNTING BLOCKS Wide ranging allegations were made earlier in the week by the parliamentary committee on Land, Natural Resources and Environment against Tanzanias controversial tourism minister Ezekiel Maige, to the point of the committee chairman accusing the minister of having created a corrupt environment in the ministry. James […]
Air Mauritius seeks to explain their new approach in regard of cost cutting, routes and partnerships
AIR MAURITIUS REACTS TO STINGING CRITICISM Following more losses by Air Mauritius in the last quarter of 2011 and the first quarter of 2012, and decisions to cut initially 8 routes, leaving tour operators and holiday companies in more than just a little lurch, has the airline now apparently decided to go on the media […]
Kenya’s new tourism minister locks horns with the media
KENYAS NEW TOURISM MINISTER LOCKS HORNS WITH MEDIA In an unwarranted broad side against the media and their reporting has the recently appointed new tourism minister Dan Mwazo done more harm than good to his cause to promote tourism, as he blamed flagging tourism fortunes on what he termed irresponsible reporting and coverage of security […]
KWS kills poacher in fire fight, arrests more and confiscates weapons, ammunition and ivory
KWS GET TOUGH WITH POACHERS News of a shootout between poachers and KWS enforcement personnel was reported overnight from the Kora National Park in Northern Kenya. One poacher reportedly was shot dead in what has been described as a fierce fire fight while others were arrested with AK 47 assault rifles and ammunition in their […]
