AFRICA: Africa Has The Potential, Predicts Serena Hotels Boss

Serena Hotels operator TPS Eastern Africa is optimistic about prospects for this year after an 8 percent rise in bookings for safaris in Kenya for second half, its chief executive said on Friday.

Bookings are up even though Kenya goes to the polls on August 8, a decade after a disputed presidential election led to violence, which left more than a thousand dead and the vital tourism sector on its knees.

A series of attacks by al Shabaab militants from 2013 has also hit Kenya's tourism industry.

TPS CEO Mahmud Janmohamed said there were hopes that the election would pass off fairly peacefully, after a peaceful vote in 2013.

The increase in bookings was also a reflection of stronger demand from Chinese, American and Indian visitors.

At the moment, the Kenya safari circuit is looking better during the second half of this year despite the elections, he said.

But Janmohamed said Kenya's traditional European source markets had not yet recovered fully after the al Shabaab militant attacks in 2013.

Tourism, which is a top hard currency earner for Kenya, had an improvement in arrivals and revenue last year, but the performance was still way below 2011, when visitors jumped to a record high, a year considered as a benchmark.

The country earned 99.7 billion shillings ($965.15 million) from tourism last year, up from 84.6 billion shillings in the previous year, according to government statistics.

TPS Eastern Africa operates a chain of luxury hotels, lodges and tented camps in Kenya, Uganda, Tanzania and Rwanda, using its Serena brand.

Janmohamed said they had also won a contract to manage a new hotel in Goma, Democratic Republic of Congo, which will start operations next year.

The group returned to profit last year, after a loss in 2015, thanks to good earnings from the Tanzanian and Ugandan businesses.

This year, the group will still have to rely on the performance from those markets to shore up earnings, as it renovates and expands its main hotel in Nairobi, a 200-room five star property, which is currently operating at half its capacity due to the renovations.

Janmohamed said TPS was investing $24 million in the project, which was likely to be fully completed by June next year.

Nairobi will give us a healthy return on our investments so that is one area which we are working on, which in short term is obviously costing us money and losing of a lot of revenue,he said.

Similar renovations at the group's hotel in Kampala had been completed, the chief executive said.

Janmohamed called on the Kenyan government to boost its marketing budget for the tourism sector, and to keep developing new source markets for tourists, to avoid an over-reliance on traditional European markets.

Africa has the potential,he said.

KENYA: Nairobi Serena Hotel For Refurbishment And Expansion From 1st December 2016

Tourism Promotion Services (TPS) trading as Serena Hotels has earlier today announced that the Nairobi Serena Hotel – a member of the Leading Hotels of the World and consistently voted Nairobi’s leading business hotel and receiver of a number of National and International awards and accolades – is set to undergo a extensive expansion and refurbishment program in two phases over an 18 month period, commencing 1st December 2016. Acknowledged for exceptional quality, efficiency, service and five-star hospitality, the Nairobi Serena Hotel has been operational for over 40 years.

The expansion and refurbishment program will make Nairobi Serena Hotel the premier city hotel in Nairobi for accommodation, fine dining, conferencing and wellness (through the Maisha Health Club and Spa).

The renovations will significantly improve the quality of the hotel's décor and facilities including additional guest spaces. It will reflect a pan-African flair featuring art and inspiration from Ethiopia, the Maghreb, West Africa and East Africa. The scope of works includes: better function and meeting rooms including a new ballroom; a parking silo for approximately 100 cars; reconfigured and upgraded guest rooms; a new top floor of guest rooms; a new dedicated executive lounge; a new specialty restaurant; a revamped hair saloon and guest shop; a completely refitted back of house area with improved infrastructure, security as well as arrival experience (entrance, lobby, porte cochere).
The first phase, to be completed in September 2017, will comprise new front of house areas – the entrance, porte cochere, and reception; a refurbished North Wing with remodeled guest rooms and a new top floor of guest rooms and executive floor. The new parking silo will also be ready at that time.

During construction, work will only take place from 0800H to 1700H on weekdays and 0900H to 1300H on Saturdays, with no activity scheduled for Sundays.

To guarantee the regular superior Serena guest experience and uninterrupted operations, will all affected services be relocated. Guests can still enjoy the five star accommodation, the Mandhari – our fine dining restaurant, the Café Maghreb – the hotel's all day dining restaurant, the Ethiopian inspired Aksum bar, the well-manicured gardens for functions, three meeting rooms, swimming pool and pool bar and the Maisha Gym and Spa.

Serena Hotels, ahead of the work commencing, has carried out additional staff training and reinforced the front office and guest relations’ teams. The Management team will continue to be on call 24 hours a day at the numbers provided.

Meanwhile is work continuing at the Kampala Serena Hotel with main construction of the additional 36 suites and guest rooms nearly complete, then only awaiting the interior finish which should be completed by mid 2017. At that stage will a new executive lounge be created on the present 6th floor for guests with access privileges.

At the Dar es Salaam Serena is work also continuing on schedule with a completely remodeled hotel entrance, lobby and ground floor lounge with added work then continuing in the restaurants and other public areas before attending to the rooms for a full refurbishment. Also new is the expanded Maisha Spa which for many guests today is a regular highlight of their visits.

The ongoing works is testament to Serena's intent to see their city hotels, in the face of upcoming added competition in the five star market segment, remain firmly entrenched on top of the big league and not just retain but gain market share in the three cities of Nairobi, Kampala and Dar es Salaam, when the construction and refurbishment exercises are completed.

Serena Hotels Declare Losses In First Half Of 2016

Hospitality firm TPS East Africa narrowed her losses by 41 per cent in the six months through June 2016 compared to the same period last year, but sales remained subdued.

The company which owns and operates hotel and lodge facilities in Eastern Africa saw its net loss drop from Sh97m in the first six months of 2015 to Sh57 million in the same period this year.

Sales dropped slightly to Sh2.65 billion from Sh2.67 billion the previous period on what the company attributed to slow recovery after travel advisories were lifted in 2015 adding that the second half of the year looks encouraging.

“Given the seasonal nature of tourism in East Africa, the results for the first half cannot be used as basis for forecasting full-year earnings,” TPS said in a statement to the bourse.

Interest costs dropped sharply from Sh108 million to Sh54.7 million in the period under review.

MOZAMBIQUE: Aviation Industry To Improve

Fly Blue Crane recently announced plans to service Mozambique and is currently awaiting its foreign operator permits. The airline has been granted 14 frequencies a week between Johannesburg and Maputo and is expected to announce a launch date shortly.

“This is very good news for hotels and operators/travel agents who book Mozambique, provided the rates are good,” said Karin Sieberhagen from Serena Hotels.

Natalie Tenzer-Silva from Dana Tours said a low-cost carrier was needed to fly into Maputo. “We would welcome the arrival of any carrier that would offer competitive rates to boost the tourism market to Mozambique.”

However, Fly Blue Crane CEO, Siza Mzimela, said the Maputo route would require careful planning because the airline had been restricted to 400 seats a week on the route.

Restrictions in air access and high-priced flights have led to a decline in tourism to Mozambique, but tourism suppliers hope that the recent announcement by Fly Blue Crane will provide cheaper flight options to the destination.

Another factor cited by members of the trade as one of the things holding back tourism growth is protectionism.

South African airline operators have faced cabotage enforcement in Mozambique that has led to a decline in tourism business in the destination. “Any foreign airline or foreign carrier can only fly into one destination,” explained Brian Holmes, MD of Solenta Aviation Mozambique. The cabotage restriction prevents any commercial operators from flying to multiple destinations, for example to Vilanculos via Maputo.

“One of the effects from the enforcement of cabotage that we’ve seen, is that there’s a decline in business overall from a tourism perspective because it does make Mozambique an expensive destination,” said Holmes.

Federal Airlines used to operate scheduled flights from both Johannesburg and Kruger to Vilanculos. “We stopped that about three-and-a-half years ago and now our flights to Mozambique are on a private charter basis, which we provide as and when required,” said Nik Lloyd-Roberts, the airline’s Commercial Manager.

He said an increase in competition also contributed to the termination of scheduled flights.

“The route became unprofitable for us.” On future plans to service Mozambique, he said: “Unless they lift their foot off the cabotage there are no immediate plans from our side.”

Holmes said: “We’re not asking for anything more than what South African operators would be up in arms about if we did the same in South Africa.”

While local South African charters do have the disadvantage of cabotage, they do have some advantages. Holmes said South African operators did not pay the 14% VAT on charter flights nor a 10% withholding tax that Mozambique operators had to pay. Local operators in Mozambique are at a 24% disadvantage on local charters compared with South African operators, who come out cheaper.

Tenzer-Silva added that another challenge was the international ban on Mozambique-registered aircraft.

“This means that international travellers from certain European countries are not permitted to fly on any carrier registered in Mozambique because their insurance will not cover them. SA Airlink, being South African registered, offers an alternative to these travellers, however they do not service the domestic routes in Mozambique.”

According to Tenzer-Silva, Mozambique needs to be marketed as a stand-alone destination.

“Affordable and reliable air travel is a vital component, otherwise we are pricing ourselves out of the market.”

Currently Airlink operates flights from Johannesburg to both Pemba and Vilanculos on Mondays, Tuesdays, Wednesdays, Fridays and Saturdays.

Airlink also operates flights from Johannesburg to Beira, Nampula and Tete and from Durban to Maputo.

SAA offers flights to from Durban and Johannesburg to Maputo.