Seychelles chosen as ICTP launch venue

SEYCHELLES CHOSEN AS ICTP LAUNCH VENUE

The International Council of Tourism Partners will be formally launched, with now nearly 180 members from over 40 countries, at the tropical island paradise of the Seychelles on July 07th.
The formation announcement was made at last years World Tourism Market when the Seychelles were a founder member alongside Rwanda. La Reunion, Oman, Grenada, North Shore / Hawaii and Richmond / Virginia and Johannesburg Tourism.
The phenomenal growth of ICTP, under President Professor Geoffrey Lipman and Chairman Thomas Juergen Steinmetz of the eTN Group, is evidence that ICTP was and is needed as a now formal alliance of tourism destinations committed to green practice and sustainability.
The ICTP General meeting will be flanked by the RETOSA Board of Directors meeting on one side of the calendar and the much awaited Routes Africa meeting due for July 08th to 10th, for which record registrations have been pouring in, all drawn no doubt by the appeal of the Seychelles as THE destination in the Indian Ocean.
Said Thomas Steinmetz in a press release just received here: I am pleased to announce that with the support of our executive members and the Minister of Tourism & Culture of the Seychelles, our inaugural launch meeting will take place along with a combined Executive and Academy Board meeting in the Seychelles on July 7. We’re inviting all government and private industry stakeholders to join us in the Seychelles on July 7 for this important event, when we will be setting the future role of our fast-evolving organization. ICTP will be announcing hotel, media, and airline sponsors for these two events shortly.
When that announcement becomes available, be sure to read all about it here, including the draft agenda for the meeting, and prepare to travel to Seychelles, Another World.

ICTP is a new grassroot travel and tourism coalition of global destinations committed to quality service and green growth. The ICTP logo represents the strength in collaboration (the block) of many small communities (the lines) committed to sustainable oceans (blue) and land (green).
ICTP engages communities and their stakeholders to share quality and green opportunities including tools and resources, access to funding, education, and marketing support. ICTP advocates sustainable aviation growth, streamlined travel formalities, and fair coherent taxation.

ICTP supports the UN Millennium Development Goals, the UN World Tourism Organization’s Global Code of Ethics for Tourism, and a range of programs that underpin them. The ICTP alliance is represented in Haleiwa, Hawaii, USA; Brussels, Belgium; Bali, Indonesia; and Victoria, Seychelles. ICTP membership is available to qualified destinations free of charge. Academy membership features a prestigious and selected group of destinations.

Members of destinations currently include Anguilla; Aruba; China, Croatia; Grenada; Maharashtra, India; Flores & Manggarai Baratkab County, Indonesia; Iran; La Reunion (French Indian Ocean); Malaysia; Malawi; Nicaragua; Northern Mariana Islands, US Pacific Island Territory; Pakistan; Palestine; Rwanda; Seychelles; Sierra Leone; Johannesburg, Kruger Park & Sandton, South Africa; Sri Lanka; Oman; Tajikistan; Tanzania; Yemen; Zimbabwe; and from the US: California; Georgia; North Shore, Oahu Hawaii; Bangor, Maine; St. Louis, Missouri; San Juan County & Moab, Utah; Richmond & Fairfax, Virginia.

Partner associations include: African Bureau of Conventions; African Chamber of Commerce Dallas/Fort Worth; Africa Travel Association; Alliance for training and research in the field of social and solidarity tourism (ISTO/OITS); Cultural and Environment Conservation Society; DC-Cam (Cambodia); Hawaii Tourism Association; International Institute for Peace Through Tourism (IIPT); International Organization of Electronic Tourism Industry (IOETI); Livingstone International University of Tourism Excellence, Zambia; Shanghai Institute of Foreign Trade, China, Society for Accessible Travel & Hospitality (SATH); Sustainable Travel International (STI); The Region Initiative, Pakistan; University of Florida: Eric Friedheim Tourism Institute; University of Hawaii and vzw Reis-en Opleidingscentrum, Gent, Belgium.

Visit www.tourismpartners.org for more information on the goals and objectives of ICTP, how to join, how to support and how to promote them.

ETS comes under renewed fire as EU commissioner threatens Chinese airlines with ‘consequences’ for non compliance, come June

ETS COMES UNDER MORE PRESSURE
While some countries appear to have been quietly threatening the EU to block any agreements in upcoming climate talks to show their active disagreement to EU negotiators, should Brussels not refer their hugely controversial emission trading scheme to ICAO for moderation and to reach a globally acceptable solution ICAO and IATA have been working for over a decade to progress this topic while manufacturers have very significantly reduced emissions of new aircraft the recent threats by the EU commissioner in charge of climate has fallen on deaf ears at best and met a steely resolve to let it come to a showdown with Chinese airlines. Connie Hedegaard was quoted a few days ago having words with Indian and Chinese airlines refusing, which have the backing of their governments it should be pointed out, to comply with the EUs controversial rules. Hedegaard gave the airlines in question, 8 Chinese and 2 Indian, up to mid June to comply or else start the process of sanctions, which could include fines of 100 Euros per ton of carbon not reported, but could in the worst case scenario include withdrawal of traffic rights or impounding of aircraft, a recipe for an immediate trade war when, as is predicted, in particular the Chinese government wades in and bans EU carriers from their own skies.
A broad coalition is forming worldwide, led by presently 20 hugely important countries including China, India, Russia and the US, but also including Brazil and others, which met last month in Moscow to strategize and coordinate a united response, when as expected the EU bureaucrats are pushed into a corner and start hitting out wildly with fines and bans. Here in Africa has AFRAA taken the lead as African governments seem to shy away from making their position clear vis a vis ETS, something at least one government source in Eastern Africa described as: welcome, let the aviation industry formulate their concerns and the AU can then take it up instead of us small countries fighting with the EU. When there is enough opposition, we will know where tpo give our support to because our airlines are important to us. Indias aviation minister Ajit Singh was quoted to have said: You cannot enforce laws outside your sovereign area, a clear signal that this may head to the international court over sovereignty issues besides prompting tit for tat exchanges on economic levels which could stifle growth and extinguish the already low flames of global recovery.
Chinas Air Transport Associations Director General Zhenzhong too was quoted in media reports that he blasted the EUs ETS scheme as unilateral action [which] lacks any basis to enforcement action and punishment before like most of the 20 and their new followers from the Gulf and Africa also pointing to ICAO and IATA to formulate a globally acceptable solution. It was not lost on this correspondent that Hedegaards assurance, the EU would like to see nothing better than such an ICAO inspired solution, was at best a thinly concealed misleading statement for the global aviation industry, as the EU persistently failed to constructively engage with ICAO and IATA over this issue for the past 10 years, clearly preferring their own bureaucrats own ideas and dictates to global consensus.
All eyes are now focusing on the mid June date the EU has set when it threw the gauntlet to the Chinese airlines, and by definition the Chinese government, as senior officials in Beijing have already in February declared that their airlines will be prohibited from compliance, mapping out a path for a major collision by the fast emerging new world power China with the old continent of Europe.
One outcome though is certain, no matter what Bureaucrazy EU civil servants do in June and thereafter, that Europe has singlehandedly managed to unite the US with Russia, China, India and others they often do not see eye to eye to, in their joint opposition to ETS, a fight with very likely one outcome which will see Europe at the losing end, having to climb down from the untenable position it took and subject itself to the ruling by ICAO, when the global aviation regulatory body hands it a universally supported draft for implementation. Watch this space.

Entebbe welcomes Nasair inaugural flight

NASAIR MAKES MAIDEN FLIGHT TO ENTEBBE

Eritreas official airline Nasair Eritrea, which last year merged with Eritrean Airlines to form a stronger and financially more viable national airline, has now commenced flights to Entebbe Uganda from Asmara, offering the first direct flight between the two countries instead of having to travel via Nairobi.
While the fact of the inaugural flight could be established through an aviation source at the airport, it was inspite of this correspondents best efforts not possible to get details on the airlines frequency or schedule, nor if any waypoints would be served Nasair has been flying to the South Sudan capital Juba since last year already at the time of going to press.
Ugandas relations with Eritrea have been rocky since Ugandan troops were deployed as a key part of the UNs and AUs AMISOM peace keeping force in Somalia, following constant allegation over Eritrean support for the radical Islamist Al Shabab militias, themselves part of the global Al Qaida network. In particular Kenya has warned off Eritrea from flying supplies into the Somali war zone when at the early stages of the Kenyan forward defense against terrorists in Somalia several planes were reported to have offloaded ammunition and weapons before the Kenyan airforce established air superiority. Eritrea also faced pressure from fellow IGAD members over further allegations of harbouring terror groups inside their territory, something the Eritrean government has repeatedly denied though the allegations have never gone away.
That all said, in the best aviation tradition Happy Landings to crews and passengers from here on.

Emirates adds Vietnam as destination 124 in their growing network

EMIRATES ADDS VIETNAM

East African travelers will soon be able to say themselves the famous phrase spoken by Robin Williams, starring as the cantankerous, authority defying armed forces network DJ: Goooooood Mooooooorning Vietnaaaaaaam when travelling with Dubais award winning carrier Emirates, even though the daily flight will actually arrive at 19.20 hrs local time in the evening. An announcement made yesterday by the airlines Uganda country manager Khalid Al Zarouni confirmed that on 04th June will Ho Chi Minh City, the former Saigon, join the Emirates network as the 124th global destination, giving Ugandans, and other East Africans flying out of Nairobi and Dar es Salaam a daily one stop connection via Dubai.
The airline will initially use an A330-200 aircraft in a two class configuration of 27 business class and 251 economy class seats, before moving up the a three class B777-300ER from 28th October, it was stated to this correspondent in a media release.
Vietnam has in recent years become one of South Asias emerging economic powers and structural reforms have made the country an important upcoming investment and trade destination. The country also offers an astonishing number of tourist attractions including a UNESCO World Heritage Site on Hoi An island at Halong Bay and world class beach resorts along miles upon miles of white sandy beaches, making it a truly exotic place to visit.

(Picture provided by HK Strategies, courtesy of Emirates)

Ho Chi Minh City is Emirates 8th new route already launched this year, following, as reported here before, Rio de Janeiro, Buenos Aires, Dublin, Lusaka, Harare, Dallas and Seattle, with more new destinations to follow as the airline receives additional new aircraft from both Airbus and Boeing. Added a regular source at the Emirates office in Kampala: We expand our network to offer our travelers the widest choices when they fly on our daily flight from Entebbe and connect in Dubai. We offer stop over options both ways which give passengers the opportunity to see Dubai for a day or two and explore one of the fastest growing cities in the world. Since we moved to a nonstop flight between Entebbe and Dubai our popularity has grown and we connect Ugandans with one stop to the world, clearly buoyed by the news of having yet another destination feather in their cap. Visit www.emirates.com for more information.