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Ethiopia’s tourism revenue has been reported to have fallen by over $7m in the wake of anti-government protests that started a year ago. The Horn of Africa country is projected to lose about 400 million dollars from tourism in the current budget year.

According to the BBC’s correspondent in the country, millions of dollars was lost in tourism revenue. He refers to the tourism ministry’s disclosure that income from the sector had fallen by more than $7m (£5.5m) over the last quarter alone.

A local media portal said the country had planned to generate 3 billion dollars from tourism this year but the current shortfall had forced the government to revise its targets.

The government declared a six-month long state of emergency in October as part of efforts to quell the protests. Most of the protests were in the Oromo and Amhara regions. The clampdown by security agencies led to international calls for the government to respect the rights of protesters.
Ethiopia is a preferred tourist destination for people from around the world. It is estimated that in 2015, over 900,000 tourists visited Ethiopia – famous for its rock-hewn churches, highlands and national parks.

But tour operators report of increase in cancellation of reservations by tourists after the US, UK and several other countries issued travel advisories, warning citizens against all but essential travel to Ethiopia.

RwandAir, the national carrier has acquired another Boeing 737-800NG that is named Kalisimbi. The plane left Seattle in the United States on Monday and landed at Kigali International Airport at around 5h:30 PM.

The Boeing aircraft is the first of two new orders from the American manufacturer. This plane is a property of the RWANDAIR and is labeled “Boeing 737-800 Next Generation”..

The new aircraft is expected to increase the airline’s fleet to ten aircraft and it is expected to facilitate the carrier’s growing routes on the continent and beyond.

The airline in September acquired brand new Airbus 330-200, -nicknamed ‘Ubumwe’ (unity).

The expansion of the fleet is at a time when the airline is preparing to start flights to Gatwick, London’s second-busiest airport next year and is also eyeing the American market in the course of 2017.

In recent months the airline has launched flights to Cotonou, Benin and Abidjan, ivory coastbring the total number of destinations to 19 destinations.

Others include including Nairobi, Entebbe, Mombasa, Bujumbura, Lusaka, Juba, Douala, Dar es Salaam, Kilimanjaro, Cotonou, Johannesburg, Dubai, Lagos, Libreville and Brazzaville.

The airline is also set to open routes to Harare in Zimbabwe and Mumbai, India in coming days.

The expansion is also based on projections that the airline’s capacity could grow from the current 500,000 passengers annually to more than 3,000,000 in the next five years.

Radisson, a known international hotel brand is to open its second Nairobi hotel next year. The Carlson Rezidor Hotel Group has set February 2017 as the opening date for its second outlet in Nairobi. The upcoming four-star Park Inn hotel deepens Carlson Rezidor’s presence in Nairobi where the firm already runs the high-end focused Radisson Blu which opened mid – last year; with another one located near the Nairobi Arboretum planned to open in 2018.

Park Inn Nairobi features five meeting rooms, gym, roof top pool bar, swimming pool, and underground parking, the hotel said. The mid-market hotel brand is banking on its locality in Westlands, regarded as a hub for expatriates, and proximity to the United Nations diplomatic district of Gigiri, to capture business travellers, meetings, conferences and exhibitions.

Other upcoming hotels in Nairobi are Best Western Premier Collection The Alba, Pullman, Hilton Garden Inn, Ramada, Mövenpick Hotel, Four Points by Sheraton, JW Marriott, Sarovar’s Lazizi Premiere airport hotel, City Lodge at the upcoming Two Rivers mall, and Wyndham Amboseli Golf Resort and Spa.

Plains and wildebeest in Ngorongoro crater and in the conservation is a great highlight to wildlife safaris in Africa. And Serengeti National park wildlife just makes Tanzania the best Africa paradise to see wildlife. However, the Tanzania government scoffed at claims by a Kenyan minister that Tanzania has withdrawn from the East African single tourist visa arrangement.

During the special meeting with the Citizen,, a senior official at the Foreign Affairs ministry said the government was “surprised” by the recent remarks because Tanzania was “never part of the deal in the first place despite it being one of the most incredible travel destination in the region for wildlife safaris.”It is absurd to suggest that Tanzania has withdrawn from the arrangement because it has never been a part to it,” said Mr Benard Haule, the ministry’s acting director of Trade, Investment and Productive Sectors. “We have not joined the three countries (Kenya, Uganda and Rwanda) in the arrangement because we are losing nothing from not being part of it,” he said.

Remember the single tourist Visa was launched in February 2014 by the heads of state from the three countries under the Northern Corridor Infrastructure Projects. The idea was to allow tourists to move freely within Uganda, Kenya and Rwanda without applying or paying for another visa on any entry of the three countries.

But Kenya’s Tourism minister Najib Balala was recently quoted in the media as saying Tanzania had decided to withdraw from the common visa plan because it was not satisfied with the ratification process. Still  Mr Haule said Tanzania was still waiting for recommendations from a committee formed by the East African Community (EAC) Secretariat before making a decision on whether to join or not. He also added that the current single tourist visa was being issued by the three countries, which formed the so-called ‘Coalition of the willing’.

Tanzania has “no legal obligation” to join the group in issuing a common tourist visa, he noted.Mr Haule said the EAC secretariat had considered some challenges and agreed that if they were not sorted out, they would hinder the implementation of the plan. “The secretariat suggested a well-organized framework and proper infrastructure to support the common visa plan.

This is yet to be sorted out to ensure the sovereignty of member states is not compromised.”Above all he concluded that, Tanzania is not refusing to join the other East Africa Community members, but wants assurance its security will not be tackled by the decision.

When valuing great tourism and Natural resource destinations in East Africa, Tanzania ranks first so better to think of reconsidering its decision because travelers to the region usually visit Uganda, Kenya, Tanzania and Rwanda. This will ease travel for tourists on long wildlife safaris across the region. Many travelers to Africa visit Tanzania so if the visa is single then it will inspire them to visit multiple destinations instead of one.

Doha-based Qatar Airways is set to begin direct flights into Mombasa from January. This will open up the Kenya’s coastal region to more tourists from the Middle East.

Speaking during the official opening of the sixth annual Magical Kenya Tourism Expo, Tourism Secretary Najib Balala revealed that the government would grant the State-owned airline a licence to fly directly to Mombasa.

Qatar Airways, which has been seeking the licence for more than three years, currently has direct flights to Addis Ababa, Djibouti, Kigali, Entebbe, Kilimanjaro, Zanzibar, Dar es Salaam as well as daily flights to Nairobi.

The State-owned airline will now join international carriers such as Ethiopian Airlines, Turkish Airlines and RwandAir which fly directly into Mombasa.

EgyptAir’s Airbus A320-200, flight MS804 went down over the Eastern Mediterranean Ocean, en route to Cairo from Paris’ Charles de Gaulle Airport. There were no survivors amongst the 56 passengers and 10 crew on board. Radar tracked the aircraft on its flight path, and everything was normal as it passed through the airspace of France, Italy and Greece.

According to the ACARS (Aircraft Communications Addressing and Reporting System) the fire started in the toilet, with smoke spreading rapidly to the front. ACARS messages indicate cockpit window temperature sensors faults and optical smoke detector activation.

The pilot spoke to air traffic control in Egypt for several minutes just before the plane crashed. He reportedly said there were smoke and fumes in the aircraft, consistent with the ACARS data. The conversation apparently lasted for several minutes. The pilot decided to make an emergency decent to attempt to clear the smoke which had engulfed the front of the plane. Contact was lost and minutes later, as the flight crashed into the sea. On May 20th 2016 Egypt Air reported that more debris has been found during the day including body parts, passengers’ belongings, aircraft seats.

Causes of the air crash are still unknown, although it is an incident that happened extremely quickly. The incident is currently under investigation.

There are many reasons why countries within the Southern African Development Community (SADC) should enjoy an incredible boom in tourism. In comparison to many other countries they offer relatively high levels of safety for travelers, with currency exchange rates that very strongly favour tourists from developed countries.

Africa is the home of adventure tourism. Most people, especially the jetsetting millennials, want experiences that let them tell great stories. Africa offers from the mildest adventure experience, like luxury glamping in a private game park, to extreme adventure like white water rafting in the shadow of the mighty Victoria falls or close encounters with wildlife on a walking safari.

Africa allows for customization and flexibility of the touring experience: Most tour operators realize they need to be flexible in creating a great customer experience. In Africa you are often dealing with small establishments that can accommodate a more personal level of service and customization.

Southern Africa is rapidly becoming the bleisure destination of choice: Bleisure, i.e. combining business and leisure has never been easier than in SADC. Spectacular sights and experiences are within easy reach of world class conferencing facilities. Countries like South Africa, Zimbabwe, Zambia, Swaziland and Malawi are most prominent, although many of the other SADC countries are catching up on the bleisure trend.
Ecotourism: People have an increasing need to view environments in their unspoilt and natural states.

The list of countries in southern Africa includes those on the continent of as well as islands in the Indian Ocean:

• ANGOLA
• BOTSWANA
• DEMOCRATIC REPUBLIC OF CONGO (DRC)
• LESOTHO
• MADAGASCAR
• MALAWI
• MAURITIUS
• MOZAMBIQUE
• NAMIBIA
• SEYCHELLES
• SOUTH AFRICA
• SWAZILAND
• UNITED REPUBLIC OF TANZANIA
• ZAMBIA
• ZIMBABWE

Tourism is one of the rapidly growing sectors in Uganda with many tourists jetting into these east African countries simply to have a look at some of their attractions. One of the contributing factors to this development is mountain gorilla tracking which is best done In Uganda and Rwanda. Currently, these countries receive the highest number of visitors in Africa and gorilla trekking is the prime reason for this because they are the only places with the Democratic Republic of Congo in the world where these world’s most endangered species are found. However, there is a way tourism has enabled car hiring a booming business in both Rwanda and Uganda and many companies have been established. According to experts, tourism has solely driven this sector to heights and it’s the only reason people now buy cars for business other than personal use.

But how does this happen? well, it starts with a tourist wanting to travel to either Uganda or Rwanda. When he/she confirms that he is coming, then there are certain things that need to be booked for him before going for a safari like the lodges he will sleep in, the permits in case its gorilla trekking safari and of course the car he will use while being transferred to the numerous destinations. This means that a tour operator has to book a car for the client meaning that he will have to approach a car hiring company and book a car according to the tourist’s request. In this case, the car agent gains from tourism and once there are many safaris, there are also many bookings for the cars and therefore the two move hand-in hand. Some tourists actually book cars for themselves without necessarily going through tour operator. Either way, both sectors gain and develop at the same time. Actually some tour companies have expanded their operations and incorporated a car hire department in their companies so that they can make double business instead of outsourcing cars whenever they get safari businesses.

Tourism also markets a country worldwide making it a good place for business. Its tourism that has put both Uganda and Rwanda on the world business map as potential investors have come to these east African countries and established companies and organizations. These organizations do a lot of things and their workers travel a lot. Some of them don’t have enough cars to move their workers to their various projects and therefore end up hiring cars from the car rental companies. This is the long-run develops the sector and it all starts with tourism attracting investors to Uganda and Rwanda.

Today as you read this, there are numerous car hire companies in Uganda and Rwanda and trust me all of them make money as they get clients everyday who want to hire their vehicles for different purposes. Here at our company, we receive very many inquiries from people from different countries who want to hire cars from us and some even want them for self drive safaris. We have different types of cars which are ready to be booked at anytime of the year at the best prices. We also arrange safaris for tourists so our services are diverse and we are the best company one can go to for all adventure needs.