Charter flights raise hope for tourism
Tourists are pictured at the Sarova Whitesands Beach Resort in Mombasa on August 26, 2020.
Hoteliers in the Coast region have expressed hope of recovery in the tourism sector despite the adverse effects of the coronavirus pandemic on their businesses.
The stakeholders are holding on to hope for the recovery of international tourism after the arrival of a first international charter flight operated by TUI Poland in Mombasa on Boxing Day.
The aircraft flew in from Warsaw, Poland with 175 tourists for a 10-day holiday at the Coast.
The Enter Air, on lease to TUI Poland, touched down at the weekend to a water cannon salute by Kenya Airports Authority (KAA) Fire Brigade. The Kenya Tourism Federation chairman Mohamed Hersi (pictured) and KAA Coast regional manager Peter Wafula received the tourists.
They expressed optimism that the sector would fully recover.
“The arrival of this charter service that will be flying in every Saturday up to mid-March 2021 gives us hope that we are headed on the path to recovery, albeit the ravaging effects of Covid-19. We remain optimistic that with vaccines being found, there can be hope for at least a return to normalcy in all sectors of the economy,” said Mr Hersi.
“We are still far from the recovery as we had 25 charters and above. We were at ground zero. This is just the first. The Polish market is a very resilient one.”
