(Posted 01st March 2026)
The East African tourism destinations of Uganda, Kenya, Tanzania including Zanzibar, Rwanda but also countries beyond such as Mozambique, Malawi, Zimbabwe, Zambia, Botswana, South Africa, Namibia and of course the West African tourism destinations are taking massive financial hits as flights normally filled to capacity, bringing tourists to beach and bush, are now stranded and unable to travel.
For Entebbe the absence of daily flights by Emirates and (double daily) Qatar Airways, as well as the services of Fly Dubai was felt immediately as safaris have been either cancelled outright or postponed. Drivers normally busy ferrying arriving and departing passengers to and from Entebbe, are already lamenting the lack of clientele and the financial impact this has on their often small scale business.
For Nairobi and Mombasa is the situation even worse, as besides Emirates, Qatar Airways and Fly Dubai such airlines as Air Arabia, Oman Airways, Etihad, Gulf Air and Saudia are now unable to fly out of their home hubs, leaving beds in city hotels, beach resorts and safari lodges and camps empty, instantly threatening a vibrant industry which employs tens of thousands of people.
The same situation is felt in Tanzania, where flights of these airlines into Kilimanjaro, Dar es Salaam and Zanzibar are now notably absent while Kigali is suffering from the same fate.
The fallout is largely blamed on Iran’s indiscriminate bombing of aviation facilities and even hotels across the Gulf region, from Kuwait over Bahrain to Doha, the UAE, Oman and Saudi Arabia – all parties and countries not involved in any current or previous hostile action against Iran, and yet targeted by the world largest state sponsor of terrorism – something which in the past affected all the Gulf states to greater or lesser degrees.
It is hoped that with the death of Iran’s terror leadership the conflict can end soon and a level of normality return to the world of aviation and the world at large.
