Kenya faces a dilemma this year. On the one hand, the country wants to protect the national economy against all the overly fierce competition. On the other hand, the country needs flights from foreign airlines if tourism is to recover after the Covid-19 pandemic. European travellers who want to go to Kenya can use the streamlined application procedure for the Kenya visa.
Kenyan aviation
Until September 2021, Kenya Airways, the national airline of Kenya, was part of a joint venture company with the Air France KLM Group. This joint venture focused on flights between Africa and Europe. In addition to the partial sharing of equipment, the major advantage was sharing costs and revenue by accessing each other's operational areas.
The downside of the partnership between the airlines in Kenya was that Kenya Airways was not allowed to offer a number of KLM destinations as their own. The only way to offer these flights as their own was through something called ‘code sharing’. That means that two (or more) airlines offer the same flights, but that this flight is flown by one of the airlines. Another reason for ending the partnership was that Kenya Airways wanted more control. The Kenyan airline also wanted approval to close deals with other airlines not part of the partnership.
Ending the partnership
Consequently, back in 2020, Kenya took the first step in ending its 24-year partnership with Air France-KLM, by suspending the partnership for that year. This happened during the height of the Covid-19 pandemic. This created a very unpredictable situation for the Kenyan tourism sector and the aviation industry. It also seemed like the Kenyan government would choose to nationalise the airline because of the extensive loans it had provided. In the end, this did not happen, but in 2021, the 24-year airline union came to an end. Leading employees delegated by the European part of the partnership have since been replaced by local employees.
International travellers want to travel to Kenya again
In an attempt to protect the national economy, Kenya has implemented restrictions on the number of charter flights that are allowed to operate to Kenya's coastal towns. This mainly affects flights from KLM, Qatar Airways, Turkish Airlines and Emirates. In addition to these protectionist measures in comparison to foreign airlines, the Kenyan ministries of Immigration and Transport are pushing for the liberalisation of the tourism sector.
Concerns about the recovery of tourism after Covid-19
Business owners in the tourism sector, meanwhile, are very concerned with the recovery of tourism after Covid-19. The aforementioned airlines want to transport passengers to the Kenyan coast but are not allowed to do so at the moment. This is while tourists from certain countries, including Italy, depend on these charter flights for a direct flight to the Kenyan coastal towns. Visitors from other European countries also want to be able to book a direct flight to an airport in the vicinity of Mombasa. The restrictions on the number of charter flights stand in the way of the Kenyan government’s intention to welcome as many visitors in 2022 as in 2019.
Concerns about the Kenya visa
In addition to concerns about the number of international flight connections to and from Kenya, there are also concerns about the problems that visitors experience when applying for a Kenya visa. Kenya’s outgoing Cabinet Secretary of Tourism, Najib Balala, says visitors complain about this visa. Especially the long assessment time of a Kenya e-visa application causes annoyance. The processing time is often up to a month. The website of the Kenyan immigration service also frequently suffers from glitches, which prevent visa applications.
Applying for your Kenya visa is easy and quick
You can also choose to apply for your Kenya visa through a reliable visa agency, such as e-Visa.ie. With the digital application form on e-Visa.ie , you can easily submit a visa application for a trip to Kenya. Maximum delivery times can never be guaranteed, but visa applications submitted through this website are, in almost all cases, processed within 9 days. In urgent cases, the average delivery time is only 3 days.
Please note: this news article about the visa for Kenya is more than one year old. It might contain outdated information and advice, and no rights can therefore be derived from this article. Are you going on a trip soon and do you wish to do know what rules currently apply? Read all about the up-to-date information about the visa for Kenya.