Diani Reef partners with Ethiopian Airline

Diani Reef Beach Resort and Spa has collaborated with Ethiopian Airlines in an attempt to increase regional tourism, as Christmas nears.

Ethiopia is one of the largest markets in Africa and tapping into this market will provide Diani Reef with new streams of revenue and increased traffic to its facility in addition to that from the East African market.

The East African market provides for 15 per cent of the total domestic tourists that visit Diani Reef. The Ethiopian market is expected to have a 5 per cent increase to the total traffic into Diani Reef.

According to Bobby Kamani, Managing Director, Diani Reef Beach Resort and Spa, the Ethiopian market is a strategic market for the hotel because of the high number of tourists who have been visiting the facility for its five-star experience and the unrivalled hospitality and excursions along the beach.

“We are very excited about this partnership with one of the leading airlines in Africa. We believe it will be beneficial to Ethiopian tourists and conference delegates since they are saving up to 25 per cent from the usual rates.”

Last year World Travel Awards feted Diani Reef, as Africa’s Leading Beach Resort and the hotel was recently awarded the five star status by Kenya’s Tourism Regulatory Authority.

Meanwhile, Diani Reef is in the process of constructing 114 new rooms, which will be situated in an all-new wing of the 40-acre property. These rooms are targeted to be complete by the end of the first quarter of 2020.

The addition of these 114 rooms will bring the total room count of Diani Reef to 257 rooms.

At the same time, tourism performance reports of 2019 indicate that the International Arrivals Performance on the African Continent for the first six months increased to 3 per cent points in international arrivals to Africa.

The total number of international visitors through all points of entry for January-September, 2019 was 1,515,433. This represents a slight year on year increase of 0.017 per cent as compared to the same period in 2018 when arrivals were 1,515,182.

Mr. Kamani applauded this positive performance and attributed it to the strong leadership of Cabinet Secretary Najib Balala, the Ministry of Tourism and the Kenya Tourism Board.

“This performance could not have been realized without the strong leadership of CS Balala whose strategy has borne fruits to this extent. He has been instrumental in approving critical partnerships and policies that have now made Kenya a far more attractive hub for tourism.”

He also noted that the entry of direct international flights into Jomo Kenyatta International Airport and Moi International Airport has contributed a great deal to the positive performance.