CS Balala opens Skal meeting, announces new charter flights

MOMBASA, KENYA: Tourism and Wildlife Cabinet Secretary Najib Balala on Thursday announced that Tui Fly, an international charter flight  will launch two new flights into Mombasa from next week leading to an increase in number of tourists visiting the Kenyan Coast.

Balala spoke while officiating at the opening of the 79th edition of the World Skal Congress at the Pride Inn Paradise Beach Resort Convention Centre &Spa.

The CS was flanked by Kilifi governor Amason Kingi who spoke on behalf of the six coastal governors that have invested in tourism. The annual Skal Congress is one of the world's largest tourism stakeholders' parleys.

The CS said that Tui Fly has confirmed that on October 26, it shall start flying from Brussels to Mombasa and then a week later, another launch of a flight from Amsterdam in Holland to Mombasa's Moi International Airport (MIA).

''We are upbeat at this gesture by Tui Fly who have been one of our major supporters and wish to assure them of our support,'' Balala said.

He said that Tui Poland has also been a significant contributor to bringing in the much needed international tourist numbers with their current three flights a week.

''I am duly informed that a fourth flight is on the cards,'' Balala who was flanked by Principal Secretary for Tourism, Joe Okudo said.

The CS added that there were better prospects for Kenyan tourism with Tui committing a direct flight from London to Mombasa by November next year.

''All this is indeed great news for our destination as the government seeks to boost the tourism sector through various intervention measures in place,'' he said.

Balala further said that more good news will come on December 6th, 2018 when Qatari Airways debuts the Doha-Mombasa route.

The CS said that Kenyan tourism was on path to full recovery and noted that progress in growth indicated that they are projecting a 2.5 million international arrival by 2022-2023.