The extended partnership intends to support RwandAir’s plans of expanding its network and fleet. Yvonne Manzi Makolo, RwandAir CEO, said: “As one of the fastest growing airlines in Africa, RwandAir is committed to providing an impeccable customer experience that will fuel our continued expansion in the years to come. We look forward to an extended partnership with Amadeus that will provide us with the world class passenger services solution with an upgrade of our reservations, ticketing, departure control, e-commerce, market intelligence and loyalty systems”.

The benefits of using the Amadeus’s Passenger System (Altéa) also extend to Amadeus’ global travel seller network. These travel sellers have the unique advantage of instant visibility to any changes affecting an Altéa airline booking meaning they can better service their customers. Maher Koubaa, VP META at Amadeus, said: “Customers today want to have access to the most convenient and cost-efficient services, which is exactly what Amadeus helps our clients to deliver though our cutting-edge solutions portfolio. Amadeus uses industry insight combined with smart technology to build the technology that empowers airlines, travel agents and their customers alike to streamline processes, boost convenience, build reputation and loyalty, and more. We’re proud that our partnership with RwandAir has grown so that we can continue to contribute to its growth story.”

Rwanda is growing as an economic centre in East Africa, and is becoming an increasingly important travel destination, for tourists and business travellers alike. Last year Rwanda’s capital city, Kigali was ranked the third most popular destination in Africa to host international conferences. RwandAir was recently named the 10th most-improved airline in the world by Skytrax, and has built a reputation for excellent on-time performance. Having previously provided RwandAir with distribution services, Amadeus will now roll out solutions across passenger systems, revenue management, loyalty management, payments, and data & analytics.

Passengers traveling through Addis Ababa and continuing their journey to one of the destinations on Ethiopian network can now take advantage of stopover offerings from Ethiopian Holidays, the tour operator wing of Ethiopian Airlines, enabling them to discover and experience the many historical, cultural, religious and natural treasures of Ethiopia, Land of Origins. An online e-visa service for processing stopover visa is available for all international visitors to Ethiopia at https://www.evisa.gov.et/

The packages range from sightseeing in Addis Ababa, the diplomatic capital of Africa, to visits to the pre-Christian era obelisks of Axum, the stunning medieval rock-hewn churches of Lalibela, the amazing 9th century mosques of Harar, the majestic castles of Gondar, the stunning source of the Blue Nile, the jaw-dropping Simien Mountains, the splendor of the lake side resorts of Hawassa and Arba Minch, or the unique coffee farms of Kaffa, birthplace of coffee, and much… much more.

Group CEO of Ethiopian Airlines, Tewolde Gebremariam, said: “Ethiopian is working with all stakeholders in the tourism chain to make Ethiopia a tourism destination of choice. With its many riches, the world has yet to truly discover Ethiopia and tourism has the potential to become the main foreign currency generator for the country and a mass job creator for the youth. With the stopover packages, we aim to attract a significant portion of our transit customers in Addis as tourists and to considerably enhance the flow of tourism into the country.”

The stopover packages are easily accessible on the airline’s website, www.ethiopianairlines.com , and will pop-up as an option when passengers book flights transiting thru Addis Ababa, or can directly be accessed at Ethiopian Holidays website: www.ethiopianholidays.com.

The two countries agreed to set up a joint tourism facilitation committee during the bilateral meeting held in Livingstone, Zambia last month with a view to strengthen collaboration in tourism development and promotion.

As a follow up to the meeting, members of the Livingstone and Victoria Falls Joint Tourism Facilitation Sub-Committee recently met to deliberate on issues affecting the critical sector.

The sub-committee’s co-chairperson, Ms Tsikadzashe Mberi described the meeting as a success.

“The meeting was very productive with parties agreeing on a number of issues which were under discussion. The overall goal is to ensure that tourists enjoy seamless services. However, the contentious issue of toll fees for vehicles crossing Victoria Falls was referred to the Joint Tourism Technical Committee,” she said.

Tour operators on both sides of the Zambezi River raised concern over the introduction of the toll fees for vehicles crossing the Victoria Falls Bridge which they said is likely to increase the prices of tourism packages.

The issue is set to be tabled during the forthcoming Joint Tourism Technical Committee meeting set for the 18th of June in Harare.

Haulage trucks are currently paying $30, heavy vehicles $10, buses $7 and minibuses $5.

The tolls fees are set to be channeled towards the refurbishment of the Victoria Falls Bridge in order to extend its life span.

Source: ZBC

Speaking to media during a site visit, Major General Jooste said equipping rangers with fresher skills and strengthening alliances with other law enforcement authorities forms part of the short-to-medium term interventions. There are other planned operational interventions. ‘We are making wildlife crime our core focus and we take it seriously’ said the Major General.

Although suspects in a recent incident were apprehended by the South African Police Service (SAPS), SANParks continues to roll out security plans for its Wilderness, Knysna and Tsitsikamma sections of the GRNP. The Park spans across over 155,000 hectares including water bodies, forests and fynbos areas. Paddy Gordon, Park Manager of the Garden Route National Park says ‘the open-access nature of the Park could make us vulnerable but we’re moving ahead with operational systems internally as well as externally. The Park is also fragmented with pockets of private land in between.’ In addition SANParks continues to form part of the local policing forums in each town and works very closely with SAPS and rescue teams (Mountain Rescue and Sea Rescue efforts).

With the Easter Weekend approaching, teams are preparing to co-host the third Garden Route walking festival expected to kick off on Easter Friday. South Africans are encouraged to take up the offer to explore the Garden Route National Park on foot. The Park has 14 Green flag status hiking trails, 12 in Tsitsikamma and 2 in Knysna. It continues to implement the certification programme for the rest of its trails. There are at least 4 multiple day hiking trail (not part of the Garden Route Walking Festival- the Harkerville Coastal hiking trail rerouted after the Knysna fires, the Outeniqua hiking trail, the Otter trail and the Dolphin trail in Tsitsikamma).

There are 10 day routes in Wilderness, 8 in Knysna and 12 in Tsitsikamma open for the upcoming Garden Route walking festival: http://walkingfestival.co.za/

A conservation fee is payable at reception areas prior to walking on trails (Wilderness, Ebb & Flow, Knysna and Tsitsikamma). For more information on trails, please see descriptions for each trail

Immigration Department principal Clemence Masango said government is working on measures to abolish visas to that visitors will be able to jet in from any country without any permit complications.

In an article published by the New Zimbabwe, it said that Vice President Constantino Chiwenga, speaking at a recent national tourism strategy workshop hosted by the Zimbabwe Tourism Authority (ZTA) in collaboration with the Ministry of Tourism and Hospitality Industry, elaborated by saying that Zimbabwe should take advantage of the confidence of the international community in the new administration to market the country as a “preferred destination for tourists and investors”.

“We should take advantage of the goodwill towards the new dispensation to vigorously market ‘destination Zimbabwe’ to the world,” he said.

“As part of the facilitation of smooth entry for tourists and investors, we have placed a high priority on the review and amendment of our visa regime within the first 100 days in office.”

The vice president said Zimbabwe should move away from the trend in most African countries where almost two-thirds of the world’s population must obtain visas before entry. He said the Ministry of Home Affairs was committed to having an e-government programme that would ensure visitors got instant visas at points of entry to improve efficiency.

“The National Tourism Sector Strategy should, therefore, make the entry and exiting of tourists smooth and also harness domestic tourism, which is a key component of growth,” he said.

Chiwenga said the government would also revamp Air Zimbabwe and make it play its role of being the national flag carrier to improve the movement of tourists within and outside the country.

He said current foreign currency shortages had not spared the tourism sector, adding that the Treasury would ensure strategies are put in place to ensure the sector got a fair allocation. Zimbabwe does not currently have a tourism strategy that guides the sector and helps it unlock its growth potential and development.

Currently, Zimbabwe has one of the most restrictive visa regimes in Africa after it was ranked number 21 by the Africa Development Bank on the Visa Openness Index out of the 54 countries in the continent.

The announcement was made by experts, speaking during a ceremony to mark Rwanda’s expansion of its Volcano National Park, adding that the last global survey in the Democratic Republic of Congo, Uganda and Rwanda in 2010 found just 480 individuals of the critically endangered sub-species.

Eugene Mutangana, the head of conservation at the Rwandan Development Board (RDB), said an average of 18 baby mountain gorillas had been born each year in Rwanda since 2005, when the east African nation began naming them in an annual ceremony.

“We only had seven families of gorillas seven years ago. Today we have 20,” RDB chief executive Clare Akamanzi said.

Mountain gorillas are under threat from poaching, war and habitat loss.

Rwanda is keen to encourage tourists to see them, but tour operators and hoteliers say a government decision to double the price of trekking permits from $750 to $1,500 last year slashed visitor numbers.

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