MANGO ADDS THIRD ZANZIBAR FLIGHT FOR HIGH SEASON
(Posted 17th December 2014)
South Africa’s low cost and leisure airline Mango has added a third weekly flight between Johannesburg and Zanzibar over the upcoming holiday high season to cater for growing demand. The absence of Visa requirements for South Africans when visiting Tanzania, incidentally the same for Tanzanians visiting South Africa, has given travel between the two countries a significant boost since the measure was put in place last year. The cost of a return ticket is said to be in the region of 450 US Dollars for a flight of just over 3 hours while costing about the same when flying to Zanzibar from Nairobi or Entebbe, seen as a deterrent of sorts.
Also offering flights to Zanzibar is Fastjet, in conjunction with Coastal Aviation, and since that arrangement was put into place have several hundred travellers from South Africa taken advantage of the option to reach the Spice Island at the lowest fares in the market.
Travel from South Africa to Zanzibar in particular and Tanzania in general was greatly boosted at the expense of Kenya when a diplomatic spat earlier in the year introduced new Visa requirements for South Africans, who suddenly needed to apply in person at the Kenya High Commission in Pretoria instead of being granted visitors’ Visa on arrival. While soon withdrawn after a heated campaign by Kenya’s already suffering tourism industry, for the time being at least to pave the way for further negotiations between the two countries, did it nevertheless damage demand for Kenya holidays in South Africa. The absence of direct flights from Johannesburg to Mombasa is also regularly named as a major obstacle to revive demand and it is now clear that Destination Zanzibar has taken full advantage of these logistical challenges and image problems Kenya is facing.
