Statement on the TANAPA Concession Fees Issue

Dear All,

We hugely regret the inconvenience that some of our guests have been caused since the 1st August at points of entry to Serengeti, Mahale and Katavi National Parks.

To better understand the situation, here is the background:

Following 5 years of negotiations between permanent lodge and camp owners in National Parks and Tanzania National Parks Authority, a Standardised Licence Agreement was agreed and signed by all parties on 27th October 2010.  Amongst many things, this agreement stipulated that the Concession Fees were payable by the lodge/camp owners on the basis of 10% of half board at the month-end, this is also enshrined in current law. Licence Agreements for individual lodges and permanent camps were then replicated from this standard agreement.  Nomad's three involved properties, Greystoke Mahale, Chada Katavi and Lamai Serengeti had their Licences signed on 15th March 2011.

TANAPA wrote to all lodge and permanent camp owners in July, stating that from 01st August 2011, Concession Fees were payable by tour operators in advance and the rates were unilaterally set.This was in total contravention to all previously signed agreements and was not acceptable to us or our guests.

We, through the Tourism Confederation Tanzania (TCT), the Tanzania Association of Tour Operators (TATO) and the Hotels Association of Tanzania (HAT) have made various appeals to the authorities during the past few weeks to prevent this crisis and have now initiated a dialogue with TANAPA (Tanzania National Parks) and the Ministry of Natural Resources and Tourism to resolve the matter. We sincerely hope that further inconvenience to our guests can be avoided.

We want to thank everybody for their cooperation, patience and understanding during these very unfortunate events, which we trust will not reoccur. We are committed to the continued development of Tanzania as a quality tourism destination.

Kind regards
John

John Corse
Managing Director
Nomad Tanzania

Important news re Kempinski Hotels

To Partners of Kilimanjaro Hotel Kempinski & Bilila Lodge Kempinski
 

From Daniel Ebo, Area Director of Sales and Marketing- Southern Africa
 

Date 6thJuly 2011
 

Subject Memorandum – Kilimanjaro Hotel Kempinski & Bilila Lodge Kempinski
 

Dear Partner,
This letter serves as official notification that as of 31st July 2011, Kempinski Hotels will no longer be functioning as the operator of what is now called “Kilimanjaro Hotel Kempinski” and “Bilila Lodge Kempinski”.

Effective that date, the operation of the hotel will be assumed by ASB Investments Tanzania. Kempinski Hotels will no longer have connection with the property.

Existing contracts in connection to the hotel will have to be discussed with the new operator. Should you have any questions please do not hesitate to contact me.

Sincerely yours,
(sent via email)

Daniel Ebo
Area Director of Sales and Marketing – Southern Africa

Kilimanjaro Hotel Kempinski T +255 764 704 704
Kivukoni Street, P.O.Box 9574 F +255 22 2120777
www.kempinski.comdaniel.ebo@kempinski.com

New Coastal flight times

Coastal's new flight schedule shows all their flights OUT of the Serengeti will be departing 30 minutes earlier than previously scheduled. Their afternoon flights FROM Arusha will now be departing 30 minutes later (13h00) to the Serengeti.

For more information, visit their website. www.coastal.cc

Selous Walks - Sunday Times coverage

Great new article on our Selous walks in the Sunday Times, with thanks to Expert Africa.

Read it here

Regional Air fuel surcharge from 1 June 11

Regional Air is introducing a $5 fuel surcharge per flight effective 1 June 2011.

Nomad wins Good Safari Guide Award

We're thrilled to announce that we've just won Best Mobile Safari Operator in Africa 2011 at the recent Good Safari Guide Awards. Thanks to everyone who voted for us, we really appreciate the support.

You can find out more via their website - www.goodsafariguide.com

Fuel Costs - Increases in flight costs

Dear All

The Tanzanian  air operators have briefed us on their intended rate increase on both existing and new bookings due to escalating fuel costs, which we have no alternative but to pass on. In an attempt to minimize disruption we are adopting the policy below. I hope this will help.

Confirmed safaris - if you prepay now, we can avoid passing on any rate increase.

Quoted but unconfirmed safaris - I’m afraid we will have to add prevailing surcharges to the confirmation invoice. Please ensure you warn your clients of this small increase before you accept their confirmation.

New enquiries - We will automatically add any extra supplements & surcharges that prevail at time of enquiry. This is constantly changing but currently we are aware of TFC ($7 per standard sector) with Western schedule flights to Chada & Greystoke $30 per person one way; Coastal (7% surcharge from 1 May); Regional & Air Excel (no increases as yet); Precision have imposed fuel surcharges from $36 to $73 one way (don’t we all love them?).

We will keep you updated on changes and will continue to do our utmost to minimize disruption and extra cost