Beau Vallon Bay Beach tourism stakeholders set to develop ‘Golden Mile’ concept to give area a face lift

BEAU VALLON TO GET FACE LIFT, BECOME MORE USER FRIENDLY

(Courtesy of Google Maps 2012)
One of the Seychelles best known beaches, Beau Vallon Bay Beach, is set to get spruced up and made more user friendly, following a meeting between Ministers Alain St. Ange, Tourism and Culture and Joel Morgan, Transport and Internal Affairs, the CEO of the Seychelles Tourism Board Elsia Grandcourt and private sector stakeholders led by the Seychelles Hospitality and Tourism Association.
Proposals were discussed last Saturday to make the entire area, along the beach but also the key roads, more friendly for tourist visitors, with more lights to illuminate the paths and roads at night and walk ways and improved landscaping to beautify the area during the day.
Several key beach resorts and restaurants are located along the wider Beau Vallon Bay, such as the Meridien Fishermens Cove, the Berjaya Beau Vallon Resort and Casino or, a little further up the coast, the Hilton Northolme, besides a number of Seychellois owned guest houses and Bed & Breakfast establishments with easy access to the sweeping beach from one end of the bay to the other, amongst them the Bord Mer Guest House. Also located on this stretch of beach are the Boathouse, a famous Creole specialty restaurant and the Al Mare right at the beach, where the freshest seafood is served either outdoors on the terrace or indoors.
Said a regular source upon making enquiries as to the thrust of the meeting: Stakeholders with business interests in the Beau Vallon and Bel Ombre area are very keen to see improvements made to this part of Mahe. It has been proposed to put up life guard stations along the beach and increase patrols by police, maybe even with an extra police outpost in a strategic place. The entire area can be made look much better through gardening and landscaping measures. A lot of tourists like to walk, so sidewalks could be created where possible or boardwalks put up. Attractive shop fronts and boutiques will attract buyers and restaurants with outdoor seating in comfortable surroundings with a look over the ocean will be in demand by visitors enjoying drinks or meals.
Seychelles is rebranding and so every part of the island must play a part in that, to get a fresh look which repeat tourists will appreciate. And we need to keep such areas completely safe for our visitors, and our local residents too. The initiatives by the tourist board and in particular the Minister are moving us in the right direction and those with a stake in business now can voice their issues and concerns.
Similar meetings have been held in the recent past at regular intervals also on the islands of La Digue and Praslin, aimed to capture the sentiments and input from the private sector and it seems that this level of consultative interaction is yielding results with major initiatives like the Victoria beachfront upgrade and now the creation of a Golden Mile along the Beau Vallon Bay Beach area. Watch this space.

Qatar Airways retains ‘Best Business Class in the World’ award from Business Traveller Middle East magazine

QATAR AIRWAYS BAGS BEST BUSINESS CLASS AWARD BY BUSINESS TRAVELLER MAGAZINE

More good news and awards for Qatar Airways were announced at the start of the Arabian Travel Market in Dubai yesterday, when the prestigious Business Traveller Middle East magazine revealed that the airline was voted for Best Business Class in the World for the second year running.
Qatar Airways is in Dubai to attend ATM 2012 and is showcasing for the first time their new cabin product for the B787 Dreamliner, once again as seen in their B777 fleet with a seat less per row than their closest competitors. With 60 B787 Dreamliners on order, Qatar Airways is Boeings launch customer in the Middle East and the upcoming delivery of this revolutionary new aircraft, though years late, will change not only the aviation economics for airlines but also the inflight comfort for passengers.
The Uganda office of Qatar Airways and the airlines corporate communications department wasted no time in sending out this information, which will undoubtedly reaffirm the carriers global standing at The Worlds 5 Star Airline, as it seeks to defend this title by Skytrax for 2012.
Voting criteria included such elements as inflight service, seat comfort including the long haul fleets flat bed seat, ground handling of premium passengers, inflight entertainment, wireless connectivity on board and product offerings in business class, in the air and on the ground. Qatar Airways Chief Executive Akbar Al Baker commented on this latest award: On behalf of Qatar Airways, I would like to thank the readers of Business Traveller Middle East magazine for once again giving their vote of confidence to us and strongly believing in our product, service, hospitality and professionalism in the air and on the ground. Our customers are true advocates of our product and it is a delight to see their support of our premium cabin across the network, whether on short- or long-haul routes for which we promise an unrivalled experience.
Here in East Africa Qatar Airways is already the airline with the widest coverage of destinations, presently serving Nairobi and Dar es Salaam twice a day and Entebbe and Kigali once a day, before in coming months also adding Kilimanjaro via Nairobi and Zanzibar and Mombasa via Dar es Salaam, which will at that stage get a third daily frequency, all flown on the Airbus A320.
Watch this space for breaking and regular news updates from East Africas aviation scene.

Kenya Airways releases Q4 results for 2011/12 FY

KENYA AIRWAYS RELEASES Q4 RESULTS

While everyone is now waiting for the announcement of the results of the share rights issue by Kenya Airways and their financial advisory team, due to be made public on the 30th May, the airline has yesterday released their financial results for the fourth quarter of their financial year.
Notably did the main target area for expansion over the next decade under Project Mawingu, the Middle and Far East and India, record a capacity growth of 3.6 percent in terms of capacity, while North Africa, mainly due to the introduction of the second daily flight to South Sudans capital Juba, grew by 4.2 percent.
The picture is more mixed in Eastern Africa, where overall the capacity reduced due to the combination of Kigali and Bujumbura flights.
Domestic flight capacity reduced in particular on the Mombasa route where capacity optimization reduced the number of seats on the market while Kisumu in particular, now served up to 25 times a week, showed an increase of over 20 percent. Here passenger numbers continue to grow by 4.2 percent with a cabin load factor of 73.5 percent, a rise by 9.7 percent year by year and a clear indication that Kenya Airways return to the domestic market, covering Mombasa, Malindi and Kisumu out of Nairobi in a new market strategy has paid off handsomely. The new flights to Eldoret are expected to continue that trend on the domestic market.
Overall passenger numbers, compared to 2011, grew by 5.2 percent to 832.366 for the quarter, with the Southern African region leading in growth by over 20 percent, with an equally improved cabin load factor across the network of 68.1 versus 66.7 last year.
Cargo tonnage sold also rose by 4.1 percent to 14.909 tons for the quarter on the back of higher demand and renewed focus on the cargo business, which will see a dedicated fleet of freighters come on line under the Project Mawingu is expected to accelerate this trend in coming years, as Kenya Airways is set to join Africas big league on air cargo uplift, now that Nairobi has become Africas largest cargo hub. The following graph, courtesy of KQs corporate communications department, shows which way the fleet planning for the cargo division is going, covering both long haul and regional / continental routes with a mix of wide body and narrow body cargo aircraft.
Watch this space for the most up to date information on East African aviation developments.