Tourism players seek direct flights to Mombasa

A dancer welcomes one of the tourists who arrived at the Moi International Airport on a South African charter flight on January27, 2012. Hoteliers want the government to allow major airlines to fly to Mombasa. Photo/FILE/Laban Walloga

By MATHIAS RINGA

IN SUMMARY
Tourist hotels at the Coast temporarily close down due to dwindling guests as the airlines withdraw flights owing to low passenger numbers during low tourism season.
For years, players in the industry had been lobbying the government to open up the Moi International Airport in Mombasa for airlines to operate direct scheduled flights from Europe and other continents.
Last month, Transport PS Nduva Muli said global airlines planning to launch scheduled flights to Mombasa must first enter into bilateral air service agreements with Kenya.

Over the years, tourism sector at the Coast has been depending on chartered airlines from Europe.

Tourist hotels at the Coast temporarily close down due to dwindling guests as the airlines withdraw flights owing to low passenger numbers during low tourism season. But despite the fact that it is high season, tourism sector in the region has been hit in the wake of low number of charter flights from Europe to Mombasa.

Some of the reasons given for the sharp drop is the economic crunch in the Eurozone, rise in air travel costs, degeneration of hotel standards and poor services rendered to guests blamed on huge number of untrained hotel workers in the region.

Other issues cited are that Kenyan parks charge higher fees than its competitors such Tanzania and South Africa which also have abundant wildlife including the big five — lion, leopard, elephant, buffalo and rhino.

For years, players in the industry had been lobbying the government to open up the Moi International Airport in Mombasa for airlines to operate direct scheduled flights from Europe and other continents.

This, they say, could cushion the sector from the effects of low number of charter flights during low season.

But to date Mombasa still relies on charter flights because Turkish Airlines is the only European carrier which operates direct flights from Istanbul to Mombasa. The others are regional airlines such as Ethiopian airlines, Rwanda Air and Uganda Airways.

Currently, the frequency of charter flights from Europe has dropped to less than 10 a week compared to between 17 and 20 flights a week in the same period last year.

The decline has adversely affected hotel bed occupancy in Mombasa at an average of 40 per cent compared to 70 per cent in the same period last year.

Sharp decline

In Kilifi and Kwale counties, hotel occupancy stand at between 30 and 35 per cent respectively as international tourist arrivals decline.

Players in the industry have come out strongly to push the government to permit willing international airlines to operate direct flights to Mombasa to save the sector from collapse.

Mombasa and Coast Tourist Association chairman Mohamed Hersi warns that hotels might soon be forced to lay off of workers due to a lack of business.

He said that some hotels would close down due to a lack of guests following a sharp decline in charter flights to less than 10 a week this month.

READ: Low tourist arrivals from eurozone hit hotels at the Coast