Seychelles to host next RETOSA ministerial meeting ahead of Routes Africa 2012

SEYCHELLES TOURISM LANDS RETOSA BOARD MEETING ALONGSIDE ROUTES AFRICA

The Midas touch of Seychelles Minister for Tourism and Culture continues unabated, as he just announced, upon his return from the SADC and RETOSA meetings in Mauritius, that Victoria will be the venue of the next RETOSA board meeting, just ahead of the time when Routes Africa 2012 is taking place between the 08th and 10th of July.
This will give added weight to the Routes Africa 2012 meeting, arguably increasing potential attendance and highlighting the importance of aviation to the tourism sectors of not just the islands but for the mainland countries on the continent of Africa. Airlines, Civil Aviation bodies and tourist boards will jointly map out how best in the future they can cooperate to increase traffic to Africa, which with a billion tourists expected to travel in 2012 receives only a minute percentage of global visitors, something urgently in need of changing.
Minister St. Ange also reiterated important points about the Routes Africa meeting when he said: Participants of the forum will include representatives from the Airline Industry, Tourism authorities and Civil Aviation Authorities and for this 2012 edition we are looking at the cruise ship businesses because our region remains an ideal venue for the fly-cruise business possibility options. Seychelles noted the importance to push forward the triangular approach to Tourism by consolidating the Tourism Authorities, Civil Aviation and Airlines with the added angle of cruise ship integration for this years edition of ROUTES AFRICA 2012.
He also reportedly used his presence at the Mauritius RETOSA meeting to re-iterate the need for SADC countries to work hand in hand in fighting piracy, an issue where the Seychelles have been acknowledged to have taken global leadership with their robust and determined responses when pirates attempting to enter the Seychelles waters are detected by aerial surveillance and then relentlessly hunted down. For up-to-date news from the Seychelles do not look any further but simply watch this space.

Uganda hosts International Parliamentary Union in Kampala

2.000 PARLIAMENTARIANS ASSEMBLE IN KAMPALA
About 2.000 members of parliament from around the world are expected to come to Kampala for the International Parliamentary Union meeting, which is going to last for 6 days. Delegates who came early have already taken advantage of seeing some of Ugandas spectacular sights in the national parks, boosting #VisitUganda2012, a tag line developed after the Lonely Planet guide book company elevated the Pearl of Africa as their global number one destination for the current year. Others have reportedly opted to take post conference tours to visit the mountain gorillas in Bwindi National Park, or else see chimpanzees in Kibale, take the launch rides on the Kazinga Channel in Queen Elizabeth National Park or see the Nile squeeze through a 7 metre wide gap in Murchisons Falls.
The meetings of the IPU will take place at both the Kampala Serena Conference Centre and the Commonwealth Resort in Munyonyo, where today the official opening will take place in the presence of President Yoweri Kaguta Museveni.
Ugandas tourism fraternity was needless to say excited and the Uganda Tourists Board was a key player in the preparation for the global conference, providing delegates and participants with material about where to visit and what to see. Other publications like The Eye (www.theeye.co.ug) will also be availed to the visitors showing the great variety of restaurants, art galleries and places to visit Kampala now has on offer for tourists. Official carrier for the event was Brussels Airlines which had key staff participate in the planning and preparation for the IPU Meeting in 2012.
For more information on the countrys tourism attractions see www.visituganda.com

Kenya Airways launches share rights issue amid breaking news of Eldoret becoming KQ’s fifth domestic destination.

KENYA AIRWAYS NEW SHARE ISSUE LAUNCH GETS PRESIDENTIAL NOD OF APPROVAL

The long awaited launch of Kenya Airways share rights issue yesterday in Nairobi was graced by the presence of President Mwai Kibaki, who in his keynote address called this financial transaction the biggest ever in the history of Kenya and the Eastern and Central African region before soundly endorsing Kenya Airways plans to embark on a major expansion drive, the intended 250 million US Dollars are expected to co-finance. He went on to say that Kenya Airways was the fastest growing airline on the African continent, prompting KLMs CEO Peter Hartman to publicly throw KLM / Air Frances support into the public domain too: The decision by the government to take up [their] rights gave KLM [the] confidence to do the same.
The unequivocal support by President Kibaki, who threw the weight of his government behind Kenya Airways, resulted in an immediate result when shortly after the function the International Finance Corporation announced that it would fully subscribe to their 25 million US Dollar share rights, and in addition finance a further 80 million US Dollars in additional debt / loans to help The Pride of Africa accomplish their plans in doubling their fleet in the medium term before embarking on the next stage, which by 2020 would see the fleet size triple compared to the 34 aircraft now in operation.
This announcement follows the previous commitment of KLM / Air France, holding 26 percent of the shares, and the Government of Kenya, holding 23 percent of the shares, to fully take up their combined 49 percent as well as other institutional shareholders in the run up to the function, propelling the start up take up ahead of the sale commencing on Monday to over 70 percent already, leaving only 30 percent of the new shares on offer to be sold and that should be easy according to a staff member of Standard Investment Bank. Financial analysts and other bankers present at the function also expressed their confidence that they expected this share issue to be oversubscribed, in particular with key shareholders already expressing their confidence in the future of the airline by making public announcements in support.
Presently some 60 percent of all shares issued are owned by Kenyan institutional and individual investors and the company shares are cross listed on all three major East African stock exchanges in Nairobi, Kampala and Dar es Salaam. This is the first time Kenya Airways came to the capital market since its IPO in 1996, which was equally oversubscribed at the time.

While at the function it was also learned that KQ will increase their daily frequencies to Zanzibar with double daily flights on weekends, to meet growing demand for travel to the Spice Island. Within Kenya the airline will also commence daily flights to Eldoret, using one of their Embraer 170 aircraft, effectively then covering all four international airports namely Nairobi JKIA, Mombasa, Kisumu and from midyear onwards Eldoret. This will be the fifth domestic destination considering KQ is also flying daily to Malindi.
On the fleet development front a senior airline official confirmed that another Embraer 190 will join the fleet in May this year before from July onwards the delivery of 9 more E190 is expected in monthly intervals. 2013, according to the same official, will be the year of the B737-800 when 10 such aircraft on order are expected to be delivered to Kenya Airways, before in 2014 the big expansion drive with wide bodied aircraft commences, seeing the long awaited B787 Dreamliner and several more B777 boost Kenya Airways long haul capacity.
Big plans by The Pride of Africa and big news for the readers as I report live from Nairobi. Watch this space.

Kenya tourism news – KTB partners with Jockey Club of Kenya to promote domestic travel

NAIROBIS TOURISM FRATERNITY HEADS TO NGONG FOR MAGICAL KENYA SHOW

The Jockey Club of Kenya is partnering with the Kenya Tourist Board this weekend to bring Kenyans to the Ngong Race Course, to promote both horse racing as well as domestic tourism across the country, now generally known as #TembeaKenya.
The mini exhibition will be well timed, a week prior to the long Easter weekend, to give Nairobeans the overview of what special deals are on offer for them, at the coast as well as upcountry, inside and outside the safari parks. Said a staff of KTB during the just ended e-Tourism Conference to this correspondent: #TembeaKenya is now entering a new phase. Domestic tourism has to be affordable for a broad section of Kenyans who want to see their own country. Horse racing at Ngong is popular already with Kenyans and visitors from overseas. But we still can get more people to participate in such activities. And the mini exhibition is aimed to promote both family outings to the Ngong race course and will give last minute offers for a mini vacation over the long Easter weekend.
It has become official policy that by 2015 half of Kenyas tourism numbers are to be generated through domestic and regional tourism, reducing reliance on the often volatile markets overseas when political or economic events dampen interest and financial ability to travel long haul.
The Ngong Race Course is expected to be packed to capacity especially on Sunday 01st April, when the annual Kenya Derby is being run, this year sponsored by Spur Steak Ranches. A winning combination for sure between the Kenya Tourist Board and the Jockey Club of Kenya. Watch this space.