Kate

Ethiopian Airlines is celebrating delivery of its first Airbus A350. Africa’s first A350 was delivered to Bole International Airport in Addis Ababa on 28 June and has since received water salutes in the Seychelles and South Africa. It also flew passengers to Cameroon on 20 July. Passengers on the new Airbus will experience wider seats and windows, the latest high-definition touchscreen personal...

It’s been a year since Bidvest announced that it would no longer represent Budget Car Rental in the South African market, with Avis Southern Africa granted the brand representation. So, the time seemed right to pick the brain of Avis Budget Rent a Car, South Africa CEO Rainer Gottschick on all things car rental-related. For Gottschick, the greatest success of Avis...

Pick up the phone, pop off an email or Skype up a storm. If there are so many ways to ‘do business’ over cyberspace, why on earth are you packing your bags and trekking across time zones for a business trip? The truth is, despite massive advances in technology, business travel globally is growing 6.5%, faster than the rate of...

If you’re anything like me, you can’t imagine life without your smartphone. Imagine you’re driving to the office and you realise that you have forgotten your wallet at home, would you come back? Maybe not, but, what if you’ve forgotten your smartphone? Without any doubt I would turn back, wouldn’t you? For most of us frequent business travellers, our phone...

Travel loyalty programmes have evolved beyond the traditional model of accumulating and redeeming points, and brands are having to work even harder and smarter to come up with loyalty offerings that appeal to the modern traveller. Loyalty programmes have been around for decades, with very few changes to their basic structure and premise. But as the Gen X and Baby...

Dar es Salaam, Tanzania BACKGROUND: The Southern Sun Dar es Salaam has business travellers at the heart of its operations. It's located within close proximity of the airport, in the central business district of Tanzania's capital city and hosts weekly cocktail networking sessions. WHERE IS IT? The hotel is situated 13 kilometres from Julius Nyerere International Airport. Traffic can be very...

The South African hotel industry has some challenges, with the changes to the country’s visa regulations top of that list. Tsogo Sun CEO Marcel von Aulock addresses this issue and others in this chat with Business Traveller Africa, along with a look at other Tsogo Sun-related issues. Q: How would you describe the state of the South African hotel industry,...

Emirates 777-300 Dubai-Johannesburg-Dubai BACKGROUND: Emirates operates the world’s largest fleet of A380s and the largest fleet of Boeing 777s. It flies four times a day from Johannesburg to Dubai. PRE-FLIGHT & CHECK-IN: Seamless. Emirates operates a chauffeur-drive service for first and business class passengers, and I was picked up at my hotel – albeit 10 minutes late – and whisked off to...

South Africa-based Thebe Exhibitions and Projects concluded a partnership deal with global player Reed Exhibitions in 2013. The resulting entity was Thebe Reed Exhibitions, which offers a wide range of event management solutions, including trade and consumer exhibitions, conferences and meetings, from conception through to delivery. The group has an extensive portfolio of events, with Managing Director Carol Weaving...

It’s beyond stating the obvious to say that 2016 is set to be an interesting year. Times are as tough as they’ve been for some while, and whilst business travel remains the most robust and consistent travel out there, there remain some key factors that will influence the African business travel industry in 2016. Top of that list must be the...

Three Years, Three Cheers and Three Reasons The Maslow is Your Business Hotel of Choice The Maslow celebrates its third birthday this year and, like all good things that come in threes, it should be your business hotel of choice because of its enviable location, world-class restaurant and bar, and award-winning conferencing facilities. Positioned on the thriving, streets of the richest...

First-class air links and accommodation and a wide range of venues make Frankfurt a fine choice for events, says Jenny Southan Last year, more than 4.3 million people went to Frankfurt (Germany) for a meeting, incentive, conference, trade fair or exhibition, far outnumbering the local population, which is only 700,000 (plus 300,000 commuters who travel in daily for work). Major annual...