EDELWEISS MAY DROP MOMBASA ROUTE FOR SUMMER 2014
(Posted 12th September 2013)
Information is emerging that Edelweiss, the Swiss charter airline, is considering halting their charter flights to Mombasa for the summer season 2014, after flying to the Kenya coast for a number of years regardless of season.
Should this information be confirmed, and every effort is being made to obtain this confirmation, it would be a hammer blow for tourism to the Kenya coast, as Air Berlin too has already a while ago indicated they would halt flights at the end of the high season 2013/14.
With current occupancies still way below those of a year ago, the hospitality industry is getting increasingly concerned and restless, and many responses received here over the announcement by the Kenya’s minister in charge of tourism, when she revealed the full year data for 2012/13, indicate that a barrage of questions are floating about over the budget government will allocate to KTB to roll out a global recovery marketing campaign with the private sector in tow, to fill those beds along the Kenya coast.
While it is clear that some resorts are doing way better than others, it is those others the industry is worried about, as one resort in Diani will reportedly close down soon while others are trying to stay open for the sake of their staff, yet drawing a red line in the sand when their financial circumstances will become so dire that they find it impossible to pay salaries and utilities from their cash flow.
Challenging times ahead for sure and all the more a reason to market Kenya’s coastal resorts in the wider region and beyond on the African continent, since value for money has never been much of an issue at the coast with special offers waiting to be snapped up. Watch this space for future updates.
