Philip Mwakio
6 December 2003
Nairobi — Despite the downturn in tourist arrivals and adverse terror warnings against Kenya, Coast tourism on Thursday got a major boost with the arrival of a new charter flight into Mombasa.
Holland Air, making a comeback after 15 years, touched down at the Moi International Airport yesterday morning with 206 tourists on board.
The airport Manager, Mr John Mugo, said they were receiving an average of nine charters a week.
Air Europe (Italy), LTU and Condor (Germany), African Safari Air (Europe), Sobel Air, East African Safari, and Oman Air, which is a scheduled flight, are some of the airlines whose planes land at the airport.
Holland Air service had been made possible by a deal brokered between leading tourist operators, Tui Holland, several Coast hotels and local ground handling agents, Pollmans Tours and Safaris.
"There is now light at the end of the tunnel with the arrival of these charters from Kenya's traditional source market, that is Europe," said Mugo.
Separately, Plaza Beach Hotel General Manager Alfayo Onyango, welcomed the resumption of Holland Air services into Mombasa and termed it a good gesture.
He said since Dutch tourists were good spenders, hoteliers would benefit a lot from such visits.
And the African Safari Club (ASC) hotel chain, whose four top hotels were recently gutted down, yesterday received the first payment of Sh35 million from its insurers -Corporate Insurance Ltd.
A mysterious fire burnt the prestigious hotels situated in Shanzu, Mombasa North, last September leaving 600 guests with no place to stay.
The four hotels that were extensively damaged by the fire included Coral Beach, Palm Beach, Shanzu Beach and Paradise Beach as well as the ASC head offices.
While receiving the payment, Managing Director Kai Wolf said they had already completed repair work on the 200-bed Paradise Beach hotel.
He said the hotel chain had replaced the traditional makuti (palm frond) thatch with a fire-proof thatch that is referred to as SPS, a synthetic fibre made of bitumen imported from Italy.
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