KATA News
The Kenya Airways’s plans for direct flight to Tel-Aviv have been boosted after Israeli national carrier was given the green light to fly over Sudan airspace on Saturday.
KQ was to start nonstop flights between Kenya and Israel last year but the plans were dealt a blow after Sudan restricted the national carrier from using its airspace to Israel because of diplomatic differences between Tel-Aviv and Khartoum.
KQ chairman Michael Joseph said they are now reviewing the plan to introduce the Tel-Aviv route following the latest development.
“We have noted some news about overfly rights and we will review our plans. I don’t know when we can start but we are evaluating the possibility,” said Mr. Joseph in an interview with Shipping & Logistics.
The Spotlight Workshop in Tel Aviv on March 30th is therefore ideal timing for Kenyan resorts and safari lodges to meet all the major Israeli Tour operators and negotiate packages
Five Kenyan Operators and resorts have already confirmed attendance -Marasa Kenya, African Quest, Good Hope Travels, Reef Resort Mombasa and Temple Point Resort Watamu
Spotlight Tel Aviv is nearly fully booked -but we still have TABLES available for Kenyan resorts or Safari Lodges (sorry no tables available for tour operators)
The Israeli Market To Africa & Indian Ocean Islands Is Growing Rapidly
During 2018, 7.9 million trips by Israelis were made (by air) – a 12% increase compared to 2017. These trips were made by 4.1 million Israelis (+8%) out of which 2.2m traveled once and 1.9m twice or more. This trend also continued during the first 9 months of 2019 when approx 6.4 million trips abroad were made by Israelis – an increase of 3.4% compared to the same period in 2018.
The total population of Israel is 9 million which means that almost half of the total population traveled abroad in 2018. The average age of Israelis traveling abroad is 40 The main reasons for this high and constant increase of outbound traffic is the relative quiet military situation; the positive state of the Israeli economy; the decreased fuel costs, the strong value of the local currency and the open-sky policy which allows more airlines to fly to Israel increasing competition and lowering airfares.
Last year 26,000 Israelis visited South Africa and 6000 went to Kenya. Israel has also become a prime target market for Tanzania (in particular Zanzibar) with 20,000 arrivals in 2018. Rwandair and Air Seychelles have recently started flights to Tel Aviv while Ethiopian Airlines flies daily from Addis to Tel Aviv. There are also Israeli charter services into Zanzibar.
This increased interest in the Israeli Market has prompted Houston Travel Marketing to arrange a Spotlight workshop in Tel Aviv on 30 March. Houston has teamed up with PITA Marketing – Israel’s leading Tourism Marketing Company to organize this one day workshop.
A maximum of 20 Exhibitors from Africa/Indian Ocean will be invited and they will participate in 20 Tabletop Round-robin sessions with the leading Israeli Outbound Tour operators, wholesalers & Incentive Travel DMC’s who sell Africa. The full-day workshop will be followed by a networking cocktail party which will also be attended by Israeli travel press.
You cannot miss the opportunity of infiltrating into the booming Israeli outbound market