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African Tourism Board President will speak at the IATA Regional Aviation Forum in Ghana

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The African Tourism Board knows the importance of connectivity for the growing travel and tourism industry to the continent.  African Tourism Board objective is to sell Africa as a shared destination. Airlines see there is money in serving routes to Africa, and more and more carriers establish routes. Africa is now also on all major airline networks in the world.

African Tourism Board announced  Alain St. Ange, president of the organization,  has been invited to speak at the IATA Regional Aviation Forum for West and Central Africa, taking place in Accra, Ghana on June 24 and 25.


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Under the theme “Aviation: Business for Regional Prosperity”, this high-caliber event will bring together distinguished aviation decision makers and influencers, representing Governments, regulatory agencies, airlines, airports, air navigation service providers, tourism organizations, international and regional organizations, aviation suppliers and aircraft manufacturers from Africa, the Middle East and globally.

Ghana Minister of Aviation, Honourable Joseph Kofi Adda and IATA’s Regional Vice President for Africa & Middle East, Muhammad Ali Albakri, together with other senior IATA executives and aviation industry are expecting to welcome key aviation leaders to the event.

Amongst many other key topics, this regional aviation forum will focus on:

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  • Aviation in National Economic Planning
  • Aviation supporting Regional Agro-Industry
  • Growing Political Will to drive the Aviation Agenda
  • Securing the Prosperity of Aviation Businesses in West and Central Africa
  • Aviation supporting Regional Tourism Growth
  • Removing Impediments to Slow Collaboration among African Airlines

Founded in 2018, the African Tourism Board an association that is internationally acclaimed for acting as a catalyst for the responsible development of travel and tourism to, from the African region. More on Africa Tourism Board and to join visit www.africantourismboard.com 

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Inaugural CONNECT Middle East, India & Africa opens tomorrow alongside ATM

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More than 300 aviation and airport professionals will be heading to the first CONNECT Middle East, India & Africa (MEIA) conference which gets underway tomorrow (Tuesday 30 April).

The two-day meet, which is co-located with Arabian Travel Market 2019, unites airline and airport executives with manufacturers and suppliers, providing a global forum for business and networking opportunities. More than 40 airlines have confirmed their attendance.

Alongside the conference programme, delegates can book one-to-one appointments in airline and airport meeting lounges and enjoy evening networking events.

Karin Butot, CEO, The Airport Agency, said: “CONNECT is a new addition to the route development calendar and co-located with ATM is a natural choice given the unprecedented growth in aviation across the region. We look forward to welcoming delegates to what promises to be a series of lively debates and discussions.”

The Middle East’s airline seat count has doubled in the last 10 years, and last year saw 264.31 million scheduled departing seats, according to anna.aero data.

Growth has been fuelled by the major expansion of scheduled carriers and more recently, low-cost airlines, which now accounts for 16 per cent of all departing seats.

Dubai International Airport, the world’s largest airport for international passenger numbers, recording 89.1 million passengers last year, accounts for 22 per cent of all departing seats in the Middle East.

Nick Pilbeam, Divisional Director, Reed Travel Exhibitions, said: “Two-thirds of the world’s population are within an eight-hour flight of the GCC and the region’s airlines are continuously adding new routes, to connect to fresh destinations.”

Kicking off the two-day event will be a training workshop entitled ‘The Simpson Paradox in Donut Crunching’ – showing how best to achieve better data accuracy when estimating a route’s potential.

John Strickland, Director, JLS Consulting, will then give a keynote presentation on ‘The State of the Airline Industry’ which will be followed by a briefing from Airbus which will provide updates on product lines, infrastructure regulation, airline technologies and airport capacity challenges.

China Southern Airline will hold a dedicated briefing highlighting its dual-hub strategy in Guangzhou and Beijing Daxing International Airport.

After lunch, the second keynote presentation will be European Union External Aviation Policy, in which Annabelle Lepiece, Partner, CMS DeBacker, will outline how ongoing negotiations for comprehensive air transport agreements between the EU and GCC are being “hampered by protectionist voices”.

Day one rounds off with a panel discussion on the regional opportunities and challenges, and a seminar on the relationship between air service development and infrastructure, followed by a networking event at Palace Downtown Dubai viewing deck.

The second day will analyse how airports and their regions can work together to attract new airline services and include a presentation on Dubai World Central Airport from Nathalie Jongma, Head – Aviation Business Management, Dubai Airports.

Panelists will also discuss the opportunities and threats for the rapidly growing African aviation market.
CONNECT MEIA forms part of Arabian Travel Week 2019, an umbrella brand that comprises three other co-located shows, including Arabian Travel Market, ATM Holiday Shopper and International Luxury Travel Market Arabia.

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Lufthansa makes dedicated staff look bad: The eTN Hero is Patricia Dzai of Swissport Johannesburg

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Lufthansa

“My personal hero today is Ms. Patricia Dzai. Patricia works for Swissport in Johannesburg, South Africa,” said eTN Publisher Juergen Steinmetz. Swissport is one of the largest aviation ground-handling agencies operating in countries around the world.

Major airlines hire Swissport to manage customer relations and logistics when it comes to baggage handling, including lost or misplaced items.

Lufthansa German Airlines’ ground handler in Johannesburg is Swissport. I recently traveled from Nice to Cape Town via Frankfurt and Johannesburg on Lufthansa German Airlines. I am a United Airlines Star Alliance Gold member and traveled on Lufthansa in Business class. Lufthansa is a member of Star Alliance.

When I arrived in Johannesburg, I heard my name called by Lufthansa’s lost baggage office handled by Swissport.

I was told my tube was still in Frankfurt, and they would put it on the next flight to Johannesburg. I explained it was of utmost importance to have the tube for an important trade show event, the World Travel Market in Cape Town, in the morning.

Patricia Dzai, the Swissport agent in Johannesburg, wanted to make sure this would be possible and sent an urgent message to Lufthansa in Frankfurt. The message said:

 

 

 

 

 

I was pleased to know my tube would go on LH 576 directly to Cape Town almost in time for the start of World Travel Market.

I went on to fly to Cape Town and received a text message in the evening saying my tube would be on the Lufthansa flight to Johannesburg, which was different from what Patricia had requested. Since it was late and the Swissport office in Johannesburg was closed, I was able to find a non-published phone number for Lufthansa baggage service in Frankfurt. Lufthansa, like most airlines, is hiding phone numbers to encourage passengers to communicate only by email.

I was told by Lufthansa Baggage Service in Frankfurt no such message to forward my tube to Cape Town was ever received by Swissport Johannesburg. The agent went on to say that passengers are often not told the truth by Swissport agents.

The Lufthansa agent in Frankfurt explained that his job was not to help me, since this was only handled in Johannesburg. I argued my tube is in Frankfurt and not Johannesburg, and the handling agent for Swissport in Johannesburg was closed.

The agent then said he was now doing a one-time exception for me and would reroute my tube on LH576 directly to Cape Town. He said there were 5 hours to get this done, still plenty of time according to him.

The next day I received another message telling me again the tube was on its way to Johannesburg instead of Cape Town.

I called Swissport in Johannesburg, and the news not could have been worse. They told me, apologizing, that my tube was still in Frankfurt for a second day, and they did not know why.

I again called the baggage-handling office in Frankfurt and was again told it’s all Swissport’s mistake for not telling them where to send it.

This time I was angry and called Swissport Johannesburg again. I asked Patricia why she was lying about this. I told her she never sent this request to Frankfurt, according to Lufthansa.

Ten minutes later, I received an email with a time-stamped screenshot from Patricia Dzai showing me exactly what was requested by her in the first place.

Patricia actually had gone out of her way originally to make sure I would be united with my tube on time and in Cape Town. I felt bad thinking she didn’t care and didn’t do anything, when in fact she did.

It shows that big companies like Lufthansa have a serious customer service issue. They hide behind a huge system and are trained to say it’s not their job and simply blame others for company shortcomings.

There was no way I could talk to anyone at Lufthansa about this, and my urgent email to them on the day I was trying to get the tube re-routed was just responded to 2 weeks after I was already back home in Hawaii. Lufthansa offered a 200 euro compensation.

No explanation was given and no apology for accusing Patricia Dzai and Swissport for not doing their job.

I finally received my tube on the last day after the trade show and took it back to the US unopened. When I changed planes in Frankfurt, I asked the agent working in the Senator Lounge to speak to a supervisor in baggage handling about this case and compensation. She told me I have to send an email, which I had already done days ago.

She gave me some chocolate and said they get customers’ complaints all the time and do their best to help and respond, but the back-up system by the airline is not there.

It’s all about a giant non-caring anonymous machine.

I extend my apologies to Patricia Dzai from Swissport, as I now understand she was also a victim of shortcomings created by Lufthansa German Airlines.

Patricia Dzai is the eTN Hero for today.

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Expression of interests launched for new carrying-capacity studies for La Digue, Mahe and Praslin

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The Seychelles Ministry for Tourism, Civil Aviation, Ports and Marine have recently launched 2 expression of interests for carrying capacity studies to be undertaken on La Digue as well as Mahe and Praslin. The aim of the studies is to determine the current status of the islands and the acceptable amount of tourism development that can occur while still remaining sustainable, and assist the government in taking informed decisions on all future tourism development projects.

The Carrying-Capacity Study for La Digue dates back to 2013 and the results have led to the policy directive of setting a moratorium on the development of tourism accommodation establishments to 5 rooms per developer. This moratorium is supposed to be valid for a period of five years and the time has come to commission a new Carrying-Capacity Study.

Moreover, in 2018 the President announced that La Digue would be a model of sustainability as part of the National Vision 2033.  An eco-tourism strategy specific to the island for the next 15 years has been developed and the Carrying-Capacity Study on La Digue will aim to align with the established vision and provide recommendations to policy makers pertaining to future development on the island in view of assuring its sustainable development.

As for Mahe and Praslin, the Carrying-Capacity Study was commissioned in 2016 and set to be reviewed in 2020.  The results of the Carrying-Capacity Study has led to a number of policy directives and a set moratorium on the number of rooms that can be developed per promoter which is 20 rooms for Northern Mahe and 24 rooms per promoter for  the rest of Mahe and Praslin.

The carrying-capacity analysis will determine the ability of the ecosystem of La Digue, Mahe and Praslin and the various segments thereof to withstand all impacts of additional tourism development activities. The studies will apply the perspectives of Physical carrying capacity, Ecological carrying capacity, Social carrying capacity and Economic carrying capacity in order to develop a balanced overall assessment.

Consultants interested to undertake the study have to submit their expression of interest to the Department of Tourism by Friday, April 26, 2019 by 1500 hours. Results of the two carrying capacity studies will determine whether or not to maintain the moratorium currently in place on La Digue, Mahe and Praslin.

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Seychelles Minister for Tourism, Civil Aviation, Ports and Marine visits Shannon College graduates

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The Minister for Tourism, Civil Aviation, Ports and Marine, Minister Didier Dogley accompanied by the Principal Secretary for Tourism, Anne Lafortune and the Director for Tourism Human Resource Development, Diana Quatre visited graduates of Shannon College at their current place of employment as part of a mentoring initiative, following a resolution at the last committee meeting held in December 2018.

The visit was conducted at four different hotels, namely the Four Seasons Resort Seychelles, Kempinski Seychelles Resort, AVANI Seychelles Barbarons Resort & Spa and the Constance Ephelia Seychelles on Monday 15th April 2019.

The purpose of the visit was to meet with graduates of Shannon College who are working in the hotels of Seychelles and establish a communication channel between the graduates and the Ministry.

The first hotel to be visited was the Four Seasons Resort Seychelles employing the largest cohort, comprising of 7 Shannon graduates. This was followed by Kempinski Seychelles Resort & Spa with two graduates, Avani Seychelles Barbarons Resort & Spa with one graduate and the Constance Ephelia Seychelles with 3 Shannon graduates.

During the visit, graduates were given the opportunity to express their views, in the presence of their hotel managers. The main point of discussion was centred on the minimum salary and career progression within the hospitality industry. Overall the graduates in the four hotels were satisfied with their working condition and the opportunity offered to develop their career further.

Minister Dogley stated that “The visits of the Shannon graduates in their workplace and the meetings held with their General Managers provided an excellent opportunity for me to learn about the progress they have made as professionals in the hospitality industry.  Most of them had clear career paths and personal development programs.

It was a real pleasure and an eye opener to discover that the majority of them are already working as managers in some of our top brand hotels.  This in itself shows that the vision government had for more well-trained and highly skilled Seychellois to take leadership roles in our hospitality industry is becoming a reality.”

 

The Ministerial delegation will also be visiting graduates from the other tourism establishments in order to provide similar opportunities for interaction. These visits are in line with the goal of the Ministry to ensure that the tourism sector is equipped with qualified individuals and shall endeavour to continue to assist graduates in achieving their dreams of progression to senior positions within the hotel industry.

 

To date, there are 74 Shannon College graduates who have gone through this programme.

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