Fastjet On Course For Kigoma Flights
East Africa Travel And Tourism News – Fastjet has opened bookings, again, for Kigoma which is now set to become the airline’s fifth destination after Dar es Salaam, Kilimanjaro, Mwanza and Mbeya.
Shown as a destination several months ago already – and then taken off again reportedly due to civil aviation shenanigans – will the new destination connect yet another undeserved part of Tanzania with affordable airfares, the secret of Fastjet’s success in the sprawling East African country.
It is expected that the new destination will be served with an ATR72-600 of which the airline has purchased three, the remaining two to be placed with other Fastjet companies in Africa.
This aircraft type is already type approved in Tanzania so adding an ATR on the airline’s AOC should not give Fastjet unsurmountable challenges unless TCAA plays games again as has clearly been the case in January.
Source: Prof Dr. Wolfgang Thome
Rwanda’s Tourism Private Sector Continues To Strive For Improvements
The tourism private sector, led by the Tourism Chamber – now ably presided over by Ariella Kageruka, formerly of RwandAir – has again taken the initiative to bring their stakeholders together.
On the 05th of June will an evening discussion take place at the Inkomoko Offices, Fairview Building to debate the country’s tourism industry.
Discussants are, besides Ariella, well known Carmen Nibigira, now working at Horwath HTL, Christian Bugabo of GROFIN, Emmanuel Nsabimana of RDB and Ken Munyeki, GM of the Ubumwe Grande Hotel.
Moderation is in the hands of Olive Ashimwe of Inkomoko.
Notice is served to members of the Tourism Chamber and other related tourism stakeholders in Rwanda.
Source: Prof Dr. Wolfgang Thome
Uganda Turns To Its Dark History to Attract Tourists
Looking to attract more tourists, the government of Uganda plans to unveil a war museum showcasing colonial-era wars and more recent conflicts. It will feature a figure many Ugandans would rather not remember — the late president Idi Amin.
Gifted by Nature is a slogan Uganda uses to promote its tourism, especially wildlife, primates, and freshwater lakes. The tourist trade brings in more than $1.3 billion per year.
Now, Uganda plans to join countries such as Germany, Cambodia, Japan and Rwanda as destinations for what is known as dark tourism.
A planned war museum will showcase Uganda’s long history of conflict. Exhibits will focus on the colonial era, the Lord’s Resistance Army war, and President Idi Amin’s bloody eight-year rule, when as many as 500,000 people were killed in political or ethnic persecution.
The topics are unpleasant. But for Kiwanda Godfrey, Uganda’s state minister for tourism, they are an opportunity to show that the country has moved on.
“Can you imagine, if you go to some countries, some people still believe that this country is still governed by Amin and some people still fear our country because of Amin?” he said. “You cannot be in leadership and you leave that. So we are coming up with a package, what we call dark tourism. We should have a record. What are the massacre memorial sites? How many are they in Northern Uganda?”
John Sempebwa, the deputy executive director of the board, disagrees with Godfrey when it comes to dark tourism. He says Ugandans are not ready to revisit the Idi Amin era.
“Which Ugandan is going to put up a museum and say you guys come here? And this is Amin’s museum,” he said. “It’s not ready because society is divided. There are people who are still around who don’t have good memories of Amin. Now, not only won’t they come, they might burn this place down.”
The war museum is championed by some army generals in the ruling National Resistance Movement who fought in the Luwero Triangle guerrilla war that saw President Yoweri Museveni come to power in 1986.
Kaps Fungaroo, a legislator from Northern Uganda — a region that has borne the brunt of war in Uganda’s conflict history — says dark tourism will not help heal the wounds of people who have never obtained justice.
He says if dark tourism is encouraged, it should cover all massacres that have happened around the country, including those involving the ruling party army wing, then-known as the National Resistance Army.
“You must also make tourists go to Teso, where the NRA war resulted to massacres of people, for example in Mukura where the NRA soldiers roasted people alive in a train wagon … So, when you want to take that direction of the dark history of the past, be ready to carry the cross of the NRM.”
Uganda tourism officials say they have earmarked a two-hectare piece of land for construction of the war museum, but no launch date has been set.
Source: Voa News
AirSeychelles Relaunches Residents Fares Between Mahe and Praslin
Air Seychelles earlier today announced the re-introduction of resident fares which will offer more flexibility and choice for residents travelling between Mahé and Praslin with the introduction of different fare levels providing more choice on their desired flights.
Set to be launched on Tuesday, 12th of June 2018, the fares will be available for both Seychellois passport holders and expatriates who hold a Gainful Occupation Permit (GOP).
The new pricing level has been designed to provide residents with more choice when planning their travel, by offering a wider range of fare options starting from SCR550 up to SCR2365 for return flights between Mahe and Praslin.
For example, residents of Seychelles who book their flights in advance for travel during the non-peak hours will be able to take advantage of great-value tickets starting at just SCR 550. During peak hours the starting fare of SCR550 will be subject to seat availability, with fares changing depending on how close to departure and for what time of the day flights are being booked.
In addition to the new fares, residents of Seychelles can also now buy last-minute tickets between Mahé and Praslin for travel on the same day directly at the domestic check-in counters located inside the Seychelles International Airport and at the Iles de Palmes Airport in Praslin between 8:00am and 5:00pm.
Air Seychelles will also introduce low-price airfares for senior citizens of Seychelles, aged 63 and above, at a fix rate of SCR412.
Remco Althuis, Chief Executive Officer of Air Seychelles commented as follows: “As the national airline, we are fully committed to facilitating and providing more choice to Seychellois residents when travelling between Mahe and Praslin. The last time we amended our domestic fare structure was nearly seven years ago. Gradually the cost of doing business and travel trends have changed and in response we need to adapt to the market. Ultimately our aim is to provide more choice to residents of Seychelles and with the new fares, residents will have the ability to book their flight well in advance for travel at any time during the year and even last minute at our check-in counters for flying on the same day, pending availability of seats.”
For further ease of travel residents of Seychelles are invited to book their tickets on airseychelles.comand to also check-in online 24 hours in advance up to just 60 minutes before the domestic flight departs.
Resident fares were some years ago discontinued with the then responsible management going to some length to justify their action, much to the dismay of Seychellois who had in the past enjoyed a special deal the same way as citizens qualify for cheaper fares on the ferries between Mahe and Praslin and between Praslin and La Digue.
The move to re-introduce domestic residents fares was immediately welcomed
by a broad section of Seychellois and in particular senior citizens who have to live on their pensions, have according to a source from Victoria expressed their delight over the preferential fares they will begin to enjoy come 12th of June.
Source: Prof Dr. Wolfgang Thome
Air Seychelles Ups Johannesburg Flights To Six A Week
Air Seychelles has just announced that it will increase the frequency of its services between Seychelles and Johannesburg to six flights per week starting from Tuesday, 3 July, 2018.
The new service has been introduced to meet the strong travel demand on the Johannesburg route, with increasing number of guests visiting the Seychelles archipelago.
Remco Althuis, Chief Executive Officer of Air Seychelles, said: “We are delighted to provide more choice to our travellers especially during the upcoming peak summer months. The new service, which will be operated by Airbus A320 aircraft, will provide an additional 252 seats per week between South Africa and our beautiful islands. In addition, guests looking to travel via Seychelles to Mumbai will be provided a seamless connectivity of less than 2 hours via Seychelles. South Africa and Seychelles have very strong ties and we are confident that the additional frequency between the two regional centres will further strengthen the cooperation in terms of both tourism and trade. We will continue to explore opportunities and implement key initiatives across our regional network to further develop and strengthen our business moving forward.”
Air Seychelles currently operates five weekly flights between Seychelles and Johannesburg on Wednesdays, Thursdays, Fridays, Saturdays and Sundays. The flight schedule with the additional service to be operated on Tuesdays starting from Tuesday, 3 July, 2018 is as follows:
| Flight # | Origin | Destination | Depart | Arrive | Frequency |
| HM 060 | Johannesburg | Seychelles | 1345hrs | 2040hrs | Tues, Wed, Thurs, Fri, Sat, Sun |
| HM 061 | Seychelles | Johannesburg | 0925hrs | 1230hrs | Tues, Wed, Thurs, Fri, Sat, Sun |
