New Mombasa-Zanzibar Flight Route To Boost Tourism

Visitors to Zanzibar can now fly from Mombasa directly following the introduction of the new Mombasa-Zanzibar flight route which is expected to boost tourism in the region at a time when the tourism sector is recovering from the devastating effects of the covid 19 pandemic.

The Mombasa-Zanzibar flights were introduced by the Marifly Air Service and will be operated by African Express Airlines using both CRJ-200 series with a capacity to carry 50 passengers and an MD -82 – A 150-seater aircraft.

The new route connects Mombasa to the island of Zanzibar and will play a critical role in boosting the tourism revenues for both countries given they are among the popular tourist destinations.

“Facilitating transportation between Mombasa and Zanzibar will be mutually beneficial to the two tourism destinations, strengthening tourism, cultural, and trade links,” Marifly Air Service Commercial Director Sam Omondi said.

The flights will be on Mondays and Fridays, with Wednesday flights expected to be introduced early next year. Passengers flying from Nairobi to Zanzibar will pay $250 (30, 735 shillings), while those traveling from Mombasa to Zanzibar will pay $160 (19, 670 shillings).

Return Nairobi-Zanzibar- Zanzibar -Nairobi is $450 (55,300 shillings) while return Mombasa-Zanzibar- Zanzibar -Mombasa is $300 (36,800 shillings).

The new Mombasa-Zanzibar route adds to the other flight routes to the city of Mombasa, benefiting the entire coastal region. International and domestic arrivals to the Coast are expected to double at a time when people are breaking for Christmas and New year festivities, passing the benefits to hoteliers who have so far reported high bookings.

This will positively reflect in the tourism sector’s earnings by the end of the year. In the eight months to August, the tourism sector earnings hit 167 billion shillings from the 83 billion shillings recorded in a similar period last year.  This was helped by an increase in the number of international arrivals, which also increased 91.3 percent to 924,812 from 883,246 last year despite fears of post-election violence.

The highest number of visitors toured the country for holidays, with the total number standing at 313,466. Moi International Airport (Mombasa) had the second-highest number of arrivals at 40,355 up from 26,843 in a similar period last year.

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