NEWS
Olympic effort “The success of the [2012] Olympics was almost entirely predicated on the resilience we
created in the eco-system,” former chair of the London Organising Committee of
Olympic and Paralympic Games Sebastian Coe told travel industry leaders at WTM London. “Resilience both as individuals and as a collective concept,” he added. Coe was the keynote speaker during a WTM Leaders’ Lunch, which explored success.
ETHIOPIAN AIRLINES PREDICTS GROWTH FROM NEW ROUTES
Edward Robertson
Ethiopian Airlines (AF645) carried a record 12.1 million passengers in the 2018/19 fiscal year ending June 2019 despite ongoing issues with the Boeing 737 Max. Group CEO Tewolde Gebremariam said passenger numbers grew by 14% during the period, which saw the introduction of 18 new aircraft and six new international destinations: Asmara, Istanbul, Manchester, Mogadishu, Moscow and Jakarta. However, he added the airline was still
TUNISIA FEELING THOMAS COOK EFFECT BUT STILL AIMING TO MAXIMISE TOURIST ARRIVALS
James Chapple, deputy news editor
Thomas Cook’s “sudden and shocking” collapse left Tunisia’s (AF259) tourism sector wondering how and why the iconic operator was let down in its hour of need, tourism minister Rene Trabelsi has said. While Cook accounted for only about 3% of Tunisia’s overall tourist traffic, its collapse was felt disproportionately across the country’s various destinations and resorts, leaving some hoteliers reliant on Cook high and dry. However, Trabelsi told TTG at WTM
London Cook’s collapse in September was a big opportunity for the country, particularly in the UK and Europe, where he said Tui was ready to expand its operations in Tunisia, while the likes of Jet2holidays and newcomer easyJet Holidays were potentially in line to pick up some of Cook’s capacity. Trabelsi also stressed Tunisia was eminently capable of pivoting around emerging markets to capture new tourist capacity, with the country “very much near” its nine million arrivals target for 2019. He cited Russia as a particularly
8 WTM OFFICIAL EVENT DAILY 05.11.2019
dealing with the ongoing loss of the 737 Maxs, which were grounded following two fatal crashes of the aircraft, one of which was Ethiopian’s. The airline currently has four of the aircraft grounded, with a further 30 on order. Gebremariam said: “It is affecting our
growth for the time being; strategically we believe we should be fine because we will fly the Max when it is ready, but in a worst-case scenario we’ll have to replace it with similar capacity aircraft.” He added the airline is expecting
growth to emerge from new routes such as Addis Ababa to Athens and Houston, both of which launch in December. He also revealed Ethiopian is considering
strong example, with Tunisia expecting to welcome in excess of 725,000 Russian visitors this year. Trabelsi added that while Tunisia
wasn’t yet setting its sights far beyond nine million tourist arrivals annually, it would seek to increase the quality of these holidays and broaden its appeal to a “higher standard” of holidaymaker. These efforts will include developing new quality markers across its hotel and restaurant sectors and reducing its reliance on single-use plastics, among other environmental ambitions. Marriott, Four Seasons, Radisson,
Accor and The Ritz are also among the hotel brands “coming back” to Tunisia.
a new route to Chennai following the recent success of its Bengaluru route, which it introduced October. Gebremariam said: “[Bengaluru] is an
interesting route, as it is known as the Silicon Valley of India.”
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