Mombasa expects 15 charter flights

At least 15 charter flights are expected in Mombasa from Europe including Germany and Poland ahead of the December peak season, boosting the international tourism at the Coast.

Mombasa County has partnered with cities abroad to market the coastal tourism circuit to woo international visitors and revive the sector that is reeling from the negative effects of the Covid-19 pandemic on travel.

In January, the county signed a deal with Ukraine that saw the Ukrainian government boosting Kenya’s tourism destination with direct weekly charter flights to the Moi International Airport.

“Currently, we receive one charter flight every 10 days from Kyiv bringing 200 tourists. We are working to have another charter flight from Odesa. We are expecting Qatar and Turkish airlines to resume together with Ethiopian airlines which will fly directly to Mombasa,” said chief officer in charge of Tourism, Finance and Trade Asha Abdi.

She said tour operators from Ukraine are working with the international airlines to woo tourists to the coastal region, targeting at least 100 tourists every week per airline.

Ms Abdi said the scheduled flights will boost Coast tourism.

Governor Hassan Joho said his administration adopted the Sister Cities programme to revive the tourism sector urging more countries to fly directly into the coastal city of Mombasa to boost tourism.

More than 1,000 Ukrainians have visited Kenya since the signing of the partnership.

Some 22 cities that have partnered with Mombasa through the Sister Cities programme include Seattle, Long Beach, Honolulu in the US, Guangzhou, and Fuzhou in China, Tangier in Morocco, Odesa in Ukraine and Durban in South Africa.

Last month, the county government deployed a delegation to Ukraine to woo tour operators.

“These are the results of our visits,” said Ms Abdi in an interview with Nation.

The Ukrainian honorary consul Oleksii Sierkov said more charter flights have been planned to ferry Ukrainians to Mombasa.

“The fourth charter since the partnership will arrive in Mombasa with 289 tourists on board on October 15. Kenyans will also visit Ukraine,” he said.

Sister Cities Director Salma Noor said: “International cities have shown interest in signing up with us. This will increase the number of tourists to our destination.”

Kenya Hotelkeepers and Caterers Coast executive Sam Ikwaye lauded the initiative, saying it is the best concept of attracting international tourists and marketing the destination abroad.

Hotelier Mohamed Hersi said:

“We need vigorous marketing to attract more international tourists.”

This comes as the sector counties to peak with hotels enjoying between 40 to 60 percent bed capacity.

Last month, managers of major hotels at the Coast trooped to Ukraine to market Mombasa.

“The leaders of the best hotels and safari companies presented their products to Ukrainian agents to support the charter program from Kyiv to Mombasa, which will begin on October 15 on the Ukrainian Bees Airlines wings,” the said Ms Abdi.

Royal Dutch Airlines also announced direct flights from Amsterdam to Mombasa. The maiden flight is expected on November 2, 2021.