IMAGINE…British Airways, Qatar, Etihad, Emirates, Kenya Airways, FastJet, Air Botswana flying wide-bodied jetsDIRECT into our “Wonder of the World” destination. These are the airlines being whispered about among those currently evaluating (even negotiating?) services to Victoria Falls where the new US$150m international airport is set to open in October this year and dramatically change the face of the southern African region.
Glen Byrom, MICE guru at Victoria Falls for the past 25 years, said the impact on the areas of Victoria Falls (Zimbabwe), Livingstone (Zambia) and Chobe National Park (Botswana) would be massive. “The travel industry appreciates and is excited about the new airport, which was our major message at IMEX Frankfurt in May. No longer will our groups be compelled to use Johannesburg as an aggravating gateway.”
He said that simple arithmetic showed that just three direct international wide-bodied jets a week (more than 1,000 people) would be hugely positive.
“This new facility, capable of landing the world’s largest wide-bodied jets and with three skywalks, will transform Victoria Falls into the regional tourism hub and we are aware that our civil aviation authorities are in negotiations with several big-name airlines, with nothing confirmed as yet.”
Airlines currently using the airport are Air Zimbabwe, SAA, BA Comair, Air Namibia and Fly Africa. The current airport will be rehabilitated into a purely domestic facility while the new airport is designed to handle 1,7m passengers per year, more than three times the current capacity. The new 4km runway has already been completed and installation of electrical and state-of-the-art navigational systems in underway.
Concluded Byrom: “In 1989 we were the pioneers of marketing international incentive groups to Victoria Falls. By 1995 the destination was one of the hottest on the planet, especially from the UK and Europe. With the world’s fiscal and other problems the past decade has been slow, but IMEX Frankfurt demonstrated that there is a new buzz and our DMC (Twiice Victoria Falls) is perfectly placed for the rejuvenation.
Exciting times are here again and we invite serious PCOs and incentive houses to contact us about the prospect of joining dynamically creative fam trips we are planning.”
Source: www.twiice-dmc.com
