SEYCHELLES EXCEL AGAIN – CARNIVAL FESTIVAL ATTRACTS COPY CATS ALREADY

CARNIVAL FESTIVAL A RESOUNDING SUCCESS

The well attended first ever Seychelles Carnival Festival, which ended early this week, drew spectators from afar and in fact from across the globe to the archipelago, and what they saw did not disappoint. Political delegations and ‘snoops’ from various tourist boards too came to the Seychelles, as guests and as paying visitors, to assess the impact of the festival on the country’s tourism sector before returning home and scheming up ‘copy cats’ for coming years.

In particular the Zimbabwean delegation, upon returning home, was widely reported to have commented favourably on their experience, vowing to replicate a carnival festival in Harare – claims taken with a pinch of salt though considering recent temporary occupations of hospitality businesses by regime goons and government’s intention to – if necessary by decree, i.e. force – take over the majority in tourism related business enterprises.

Other more down to earth delegations spoke of ‘a wonderful experience’ and compared the Seychelles Carnival Festival already with the more established parades and performances in the better known carnival countries of Europe and South America.

Hotels and resorts report a major inflow of guests for the festival period and tourist were reportedly too vowing to return for next year’s edition, which will undoubtedly become a major feature in the archipelago’s tourism calendar similar to SUBIOS and the Creole Festival activities.

But most of all did the participating private sector of the tourism industry and the Seychelles Tourist Board and their public sector colleagues drawn into the organisation receive praise for a flawless execution of the planned programme and for putting the global spotlight on the country.

Well done all round and plenty of bouquets for Team Seychelles and barbs for the copy cats who should truly invent something original of their own.

Breaking News – Kingdom Hotels/Holdings Al Waleed snubs Uganda and befriends Rwanda instead

KINGDOM HOTELS AL-WALEED SNUBS UGANDA AND PRAISES RWANDA

In a move certain to perplex the powers that be in Uganda has Saudi Prince Al Waleed, owner of Kingdom Hotels, apparently done an about turn on his East African plans and expressed his open favour of Rwanda while on a recent visit to Kigali.

Al Waleed’s Kingdom Hotels became a notorious talking point when the company was given a prime piece of real estate in the city centre, expanding over 17 acres, and in the process of which a key city primary school with over 1.000 pupils and a teachers training college were hurriedly demolished – taking years to be rebuilt elsewhere. His plans however to build a 5 star luxury hotel ahead of the 2007 Commonwealth Summit dragged on and time and again were announcements proved to be hot air, until eventually, in the midst of the global financial and economic crisis of 2007/9 the company announced that their interest in the project had withered away.

The plot was then subject to intense speculation when ‘new owners’ suddenly appeared, again without competitive bidding for the land and they too seem to have taken the slow road of doing anything with it.

Meanwhile though has Prince Al Waleed discovered Rwanda and during a recent visit expressed his desire to invest in the country, undoubtedly also in the hospitality industry, where gaps exists since Dubai World had to withdraw from a range of projects also citing the 2007/9 financial crisis, which saw them struggle for survival, being heavily leveraged. He was in fact quoted as having heaped praise on President Kagame’s ‘progress and visionary leadership’ who ‘helped to put Rwanda on the radar screen around the world with respect and dignity’.

The sudden switch of venue for investments from erstwhile friend Uganda to new friend Rwanda has reportedly ruffled quite a few feathers within the establishment in Kampala, where for at least a while – while still courting the powers that be – Al Waleed was taken as a financial messiah before his broken promises exposed him as yet another ordinary mortal.

Time will tell what exactly Rwanda will see in terms of investments from Kingdom Holdings, under which Kingdom Hotels fall too, and as and when there are real developments, instead of the by now well known promises, you can read it right here.

Aviation news update – Tanzania’s Precision Air to go ahead with share public listing

PRECISION AIR MOVES AHEAD WITH LISTING ON STOCK EXCHANGE

Tanzania’s premier airline, Precision Air, has announced it is set to go ahead with their planned listing of their shares at the Dar es Salaam stock exchange, apparently unperturbed over a recent attempt to have court issue a winding up order against them, following a suit about an alleged debt of a meagre 150.000 US Dollars. The company intends to widen its shareholder base and present shareholders, which include Kenya Airways with 49 percent, are set to reduce their own holdings substantially. KQ in fact is expected to retain about 30 percent shareholding but the commercial cooperation with Precision Air in terms of codeshared flights and the exploitation of synergy effects will not only continue but strengthen further.

Initially, the launch was due by March but may take place as late as April, so watch this space for updated news as and when the IPO is hitting the market, just as soon as the Capital Market Authority and the DSE have cleared the move.

Libyan owned Uganda Telecom gets ‘cut notice’ from MTN

LIBYA FALLOUT FELT IN UGANDA

The Libyan owned, many in fact say Gadaffi owned Uganda Telecom is said to be in serious financial dire straits, allegedly unable to pay interconnection fees to market leader MTN to the tune of 20 billion Uganda Shillings. MTN has now given a termination notice to UTL, effective next Monday 14^th March, that no calls from the UTL network will be accepted into the MTN network, while MTN users will also no longer be able to call UTL numbers. This escalation comes amid stronger and stronger speculation about the future of ‘Gadaffi’ owned companies in Uganda and the rest of the continent, as indications grow that the UN’s sanction panel could include such companies into the ‘frozen asset’ list they are drawing up, aimed to financially cripple Libya’s faltering dictator.

As reports from Libya show the result of airstrikes against civilian targets the global pressure to inflict at least for the time being financial pain on Gadaffi and his family’s holdings anywhere around the globe is growing and Uganda companies too could be affected.

UTL, when taken over by the Libyans, was expecting a major capital injection to move their 3G network to 4G standards, expand coverage and extend their market share but found that this was not the case, leaving them in dispute over payment of those interconnection fees for the last three years, now culminating in a termination. A source from within UTL also indicated that they are now no longer expecting any immediate financial relief from the main owners while the civil war was raging and ongoing in Libya.

In a related development have staff of other companies owned by Libyans expressed their ongoing worries, and while conceding that these firms were locally incorporated and could continue operations as if nothing had changed in Libya, still felt that should their main shareholders find their holdings frozen, or board members banned from international travel, they could be in serious trouble until a resolution has been found.

In a further interesting development, connected to a related article last week, it is worth noting that Uganda’s gutter press publication Red Pepper had in a ‘copy/paste’ job taken the article off this correspondent’s blog site, or else taken it from eTN without giving author’s credit and reposted it as ‘By our reporter’ in a blatant case of copyright theft. Needless to say, communications to them were not responded to.

Watch this space.

Kenya’s ‘Grogan’s Castle’ now open for visitors

GROGAN’S CASTLE NOW TOURIST SITE

Grogan’s Castle is located in an area full of history, where many bloody battles were fought between the German forces based in their then colony Tanganyika and the British and allied troops based in Kenya. Imperial Germany’s General Von Lettow-Vorbeck slipped across the nearby border at Taveta with his troops and continued to inflict heavy casualties upon the allied forces in several battles and encounters, and a First World War Cemetery still reminds visitors of the events which took place nearly a century ago.

Five stylish self contained bedrooms now await tourists, coming either to visit Tsavo West and nearby Lake Jipe and Lake Chala, as does a guest cottage in the grounds of the ‘castle’. Meals are served on a ‘communal’ dining table where visitors have the opportunity during meals to share their finds and experiences and bringing them together in a family like setting rather than the separate seating used in other lodges and camps. Meals are ‘home cooked’ and the menu changes with the season to use fresh produce from their own farm and gardens.

War history buffs will have rich pickings when coming to this – unjustifiably – less visited part of Kenya where they can still trace the old battle grounds and positions taken by the British and German forces, the latter incidentally never defeated in that campaign.

Grogan’s is owned and managed by Basil Criticos, whose family also own an extensive sisal estate in the area and who is both a former member of parliament for Taita/Taveta as well as a former cabinet minister in the government of then President Daniel arap Moi.

Visible from Grogan’s, besides the nearby Pare Mountains, is also Mt. Kilimanjaro across the border in Tanzania which especially at sundowner time often appears in its full majestic view, best enjoyed from either the pool side or the main terrace of the imposing hill top ‘castle’.

A 1.200 meter long murram airstrip offers the easiest option to come to Grogan’s and those with a bit of history on their visiting agenda will not be disappointed to have spent a few days there and being able to combine it with visits to nearby lakes and into the less explored part of Tsavo West National Park. Find Grogan’s Castle also on Facebook where regular updates, pictures and comments are posted by visitors via http://www.facebook.com/GrogansCastle?ref=ts

Rwanda’s Rosette Rugamba on UNWTO panel launching ‘Women in Tourism’ report at ITB

ROSETTE RUGAMBA RETURNS TO HER ‘WINNING PATCH’

Rosette Rugamba, former head of ORTPN and then Deputy CEO at the Rwanda Development Board for Tourism and Conservation, will return to her ‘winning site’ this week as an invited panelist when the global report on ‘Women in Tourism’ is being formally launched by the UNWTO. After leading Rwanda’s tourism delegation to three consecutive ‘Best Exhibitor’ trophies at the ITB in Berlin, Rosette retired from RDB a year ago to go into private business and is now CEO of ‘Songa Africa’ besides making apparent waves across women executives organizations on the continent.

The report launch will take place on the 11^th March – details of the venue and time are available for ITB participants in the main programme – and is organized b the UN’s World Tourism Organization, a sign in how high an esteem Rosette is held in international circles. Said Rosette on the eve of her departure to Berlin / Germany: ‘It is a humbling honour and great opportunity to showcase what Rwanda has achieved in empowering women and the potential it has to be a leading tourism destination’.

Aviation news update – RwandAir now flies to Brazzaville and Libreville

RWANDAIR COMMENCES BRAZZAVILLE / LIBREVILLE FLIGHTS

Last Saturday did RwandAir operate their inaugural flight between Kigali and Brazzaville / Congo B before then proceeding on with full traffic rights to Gabon’s capital Libreville, creating their first such connection from East to West Africa. The flight leaves Kigali’s Kanombe International Airport ever Tuesday, Friday and Saturday and is operated on a B737-500 aircraft. The new link also allows West African travelers to reach a connecting flight on RwandAir from Kigali via Mombasa to Dubai, a pairing reportedly actively sold in both Brazzaville and Libreville due to the attractive launch fares.

In the address to members of the airline fraternity, the business community, diplomats from the respective countries and journalists did the airline’s Executive Chairman John Mirembe say: ‘RwandAir is the first to connect Brazzaville with Libreville’. Others commented that the flight will open up business, trade and tourism opportunities for all the three countries and in fact for the East African Community members’ business sectors, as they all connect easily with RwandAir from their own main cities to Kigali.

Later this year GECAS is due to deliver two brand new B737-800 aircraft to RwandAir as they continue to expand their fleet, destinations and frequencies in key markets.

Watch this space. .