Interview with EMMANUEL CHEPKONG'A Country Manager-India for Kenya Airways

Emmanuel Chepkong'a is the Country Manager-India for Kenya Airways for the past 20 months and here he shares his views as to why Kenya has always attracted several travellers from India and the growth of Kenya Airways as one of Africa's preferred carrier. Chep, as he is popularly known, also tells us the secret behind Kenyans being world class marathoners.

How has been the growth of Kenya Airways in India?
The load factor has improved by 10% and we have an average load factor of 80% and during peak periods, it is 90%. Even during the low season our load factor is around 70%. The leisure segment of the market is what we are interested in and I come from a background of tourism. Currently, leisure travel amounts to 15% of our total business. I have a passion for tours and that's what we are looking at promoting in Kenya as Kenya has lots to offer especially for lovers of wildlife. Besides leisure travellers, 30% are business travellers, 15% are the VFR (Visiting Friends and Relatives) and 10% are traders. Seamen travellers are around 10% and labour constitutes about 20%. So we have a good mix of travellers.

What are the plans of expansions?
If the bilaterals are agreed upon, we can increase our capacity and even bring a 777 into Mumbai. Last year we increased our routes and this included 6 different destinations which are Djibouti, Lubumbashi, Maputo, Dakar, Bamako, Istanbul in Turkey as well as Guangzhou in China. In the coming year too, we are looking at adding atleast 6 more destinations, definitely having more routes and connect as many cities in Africa as possible. It is Kenya Airways vision to provide that bridge of providing links to maximum cities in Africa. Even on the Cargo front, Kenya has done exceptionally well and last year we grew by 47% and even exceeded the passenger growth and in India we are short of capacity. The demand outstrips the capacity and hence we are keen on finalizing a bilateral sooner than ever.

What are the initiatives you have taken to see that the leisure segment grows in the coming years?
Kenya and Africa offers tremendous opportunities for the leisure travellers and we have seen this segment growing by 35 to 40 percent in the last couple of years. Our financial year begins in April and we plan for the entire year by starting to visit the entire country as well as Sri Lanka and Bangladesh which also comes under my purview. In all our trips our endeavor is to have product presentations for the travel agents. It is through them we can reach the consumer and we want to position Africa as one of the most preferred destinations for travellers from India and the Indian subcontinent.

Here our emphasis is to enlighten the consumers that Kenya is safe to visit as a destination. Even the Kenyan government has taken initiatives in this direction. They have set up the Tourism Police unit which travels along the tourism route and if one keeps to the itinerary-whether a hotel, a casino, a discotheque, it is important that you take a taxi from the recommended outlet rather than calling for any cab on the street.

That insures your safety to a great extent. The other factor is food especially for the Indian traveller. In Kenya, we have a very large Indian community and quite a few own restaurants, hotel chains as well as tour companies in Kenya. And most tour operators cater to the Indian palette. The third factor is whether Kenya is a value for money destination, as the general perception is that Africa or Kenya is expensive. Transportation is generally expensive, but invariably most Kenya packages are all inclusive i.e. full board.

Here, an interesting point to note is that a lot of Indians are attracted to Far East due to the low prices. However, what they should realize is that the rates offered are on bed only basis and at times bed and breakfast only basis. So if a passenger goes to Singapore, he will have to pay optional extras to visit Sentosa Island or a Night Safari and so on. So, if you add all the optional costs and compare that to the cost of a Kenya holiday which is invariably on a full board basis, you will realize that there is hardly any difference in pricing and travel to East Africa is not expensive. So we want to enlighten the consumers through travel agents that the package to Kenya may sound expensive but this figure is inclusive as you pay only once for the entire trip comprising of your meals, sightseeing, wildlife safaris and transportation as well and you don't have to pay anything else except for your drinks and personal expenses.

Kenya Airways not only caters to leisure travellers to Kenya but also to other destinations in the African continent and onwards into Europe as well. Kenya is strategically located in the Eastern part of Africa and a large number of leisure travellers prefer using Nairobi as a hub to visit destinations in South Africa as well as Egypt as there is less of back tracking and today the trend is to do a combi, do your safari in Kenya and then proceed to South Africa and visit Capetown and do the Garden route starting from Capetown and ending in George or Port Elizabeth. Then you can come to Johannesburg and do Sun City and then move on to Kenya and then fly back home. When you do this combination, your price component for the ticket is drastically reduced and you get excellent value for money.

What are the emerging areas to explore wild life in Africa?
The Kenya Tourism Board will be participating in the TTF/OTM held in February and along with the Tourism board there are tour operators who are visiting India and who have seen a great potential in the Indian market and understand the Indian market. Together with these operators we package Kenya as an attractive destination.

Besides Kenya, one can visit Tanzania which is our neighbouring country and here you can see the great migration of the wildebeests around July and August and there are bookings 6 to 7 months prior. Then one can see the Ngorongoro Crater, Lake Manyara, Serengeti and Arusha. You can also fly to Kilimanjaro using Precision Air in which we hold 49% share. The combination of Kenya and Tanzania can give you an unimaginable wild life experience that you may have never seen ever before.

We also fly into Kinshasa, Lubumbashi and Kigali. From Kigali, the eastern part of Zaire has hardly been explored and this is the area which has the last bastion of the Gorilla population, the mountain gorillas and this is a threatened species. You will find this at the Virunga National Park which is located on the border of Rwanda and Uganda and is a UNESCO World Heritage Site. This is a region close to Goma, Eastern Zaire and is an excellent place for trekking and it is too nascent for this market. A lot of charters for the European travellers leave from Nairobi into Goma. We also have flights to Harare from where you can visit the Victoria Falls, known as the Thundering Cloud because of the immense falls.

What are the general tourism trends to Kenya?
Currently, Kenya relies heavily for tourists from U.K. and Europe including continental Europe and Nordic Countries. Last year the tourism industry has grown tremendously and as a result Tourism has even surpassed Tea which was until last year our greatest foreign exchange earner amounting to almost 42 billion Kenyan Shillings.

A lot of contribution used to come from US. However, there has been a decline from US after September 11 and the bombing of the American Embassy in Kenya. In spite of travel advisories, people still venture from U.S. However, the biggest inflow is undoubtedly Europe and we see a great potential of tourism from India.

Our only limitation here is that we are limited by the bilateral agreements because it restricts our equipment to Boeing 767 operations that too only Mumbai where we fly 7 days a week. Ideally, we would like to fly from as many points as possible out of India and for that a bilateral has to be signed and we are optimistic that we can grow this leisure industry. At the same time we have to be cautious that we do not kill the infrastructure as is a situation in India where hotels are full most of the time. We foresee a growth of 30 to 35 % .

What our general observation is that people travelling to East Africa and Kenya are the mature travellers. They have gone to Far East, Europe, Australia and New Zealand and now they want altogether a different travel experience. We've also had a couple of schools who have travelled and these are students who wish to study about nature. We also see a growing trend of the off beat traveller, who knows, you may have Indians who also would like to be more adventurous and climb Mount Kilimanjaro.We would like to see Kenya Tourism Board coming to India more often and have a representation of KTB in India to introduce new avenues of travel like cultural safaris, tours to Lake Baringo-north of Rift Valley where you can find 432 species of birds.

At one time, it recorded the highest species of birds in one location anywhere in the world. Then there are farming visits, as Kenya is also having lot of agricultural areas. We also want to encourage travel of the business community from India especially to bring in farming technology to address the drought crisis which is a problem in rural areas. The only thing lacking in Kenya is water that would help flourish the agriculture. We would like to encourage expertise from India to help us to address these issues.

Are there lots of Kenyans coming to India?
From Kenya, a majority of visitors coming to India are coming for Medical tourism which is growing in India. A large number of travellers are primarily traders and VFR travellers and community travel is frequent as well.

There are lots of students who come to India to study as well. Creating awareness about India in Kenya is also important to attract more travellers to India.

What is a popular route for travellers visiting Kenya?
In Kenya, the Masai Mara is a must visit, so is Lake Nakuru where you can see flamingoes, rhinos and the sight is simply beautiful. Mount Kenya is a place which has its own beauty and the Tree Top Lodge has an interesting story. Queen Elizabeth went up the Tree Top Hotel as a princess, and her father died and she came down as a queen way back in 1952. So lot of visitors like to visit the Tree Top Hotel. Mount Kenya Safari Club is a top class quality hotel having a golf course as well.

These are the popular places worth visiting in Kenya. Mount Kenya is the second highest mountain of Africa. For those who enjoy beach, Mombasa is an ideal place to visit. So the ideal combination is Nairobi, Masai Mara, Lake Nakuru, Mount Kenya and can be covered in 5 nights with a 2 nights extension to Mombasa.

Which are the places you have visited within India?
I loved the Red Fort, the Taj Mahal in Agra. Although I would love to see the Bengal Tigers. Where ever I have travelled in India, I have met wonderful people and I am impressed with the high degree of professionalism in the trade.

What is the secret that the world best marathoners are from Kenya?
I think it's a combination of various things. Our upbringing - most of us are rural folk and that includes me as well. I remember in the good old days, school was 3 miles away and there was no mode of transport. So every morning we used to run to and back from school. If we had to go to the market later in the day, it was another run of 3 miles one way as the market was located next to the school. Secondly, the majority of the runners come from the area that I am from, which is Rift Valley and it is 6000 to 7000 feet above sea level.

That's where the majority of world record breakers come from. The elevation does seem to contribute as the air at that altitude is thin and with all the running with less of oxygen, our bodies seem to get conditioned. So there is less oxygen required to exercise the muscles. So if you come to participate at the Mumbai Marathon, which is at sea level, there is so much oxygen, it becomes much easier to run.

Thirdly, most of the people are very lean bodied due to the frequent running as well as the dietary aspect as they only feed on milk and a lot of meat and green which gives them the ideal balance. Interestingly, the school I went to, to complete my A levels, it is called St. Patrick's High School and is in the Guinness Book of World Records for having produced the highest number of record breakers in the world for cross country, marathon and any long distance racing event. So running is a habit, it's in our culture and in the olden days as a child, one used to run and not walk. It was instilled into us since childhood. And each year there are new world champions. Take for instance, the person who won this year's Mumbai Marathon was not there last year. So you have new winners every year and for several such events across the globe, you always have someone new coming out as a champion. The common thing as you rightly said is that most of them happen to be Kenyans. It requires a lot of discipline, rigorous training and conditioning of body is the key to achieve success.

What is your message to readers and why Kenya Airways should be their preferred carrier to Africa ?
Let's take the opportunity that is available for you to travel to Africa as a value for money destination. Basically, it would be great to have a lot of visitors between our two countries and let us encourage that. Kenya Airways is a fast growing airline and we have continued to experience profitability year after year. Last year we recorded 38% growth in revenue. This year our half yearly growth is 48%. We also completed our IOSA (IATA Operation Safety Audit) and we are the second African carrier after Egypt Air to have completed this audit which is undertaken by IATA itself and it has taken around 15 months to achieve this. So it is a very rigorous exercise. Having achieved IOSA accreditation which we took voluntarily, to tell the world that we are a safe carrier. Safety for us is critical in our operation.

Last year, we were voted as the most respectable company in Kenya and East Africa simultaneously in the month of November. For the years 2001, 2002 and 2004 we were voted the best airline of the year in Africa. So we would like the trade to team up with Kenya Airways and choose the airline as the choice carrier to Kenya and Africa. We reach the maximum number of cities in Africa out of this market. We have a fantastic business class product into Africa with our 767 having 180 degrees flat beds in the business class. I would say that it is a first class product sold at the business class rate.

So I invite you to team up so that we can grow together. I would like to encourage the travel trade to take the initiative and invest in their own business, familiarize themselves with African destinations because this is the only way they will be able to sell the product with confidence. This is critical as without the knowledge, exposure and personal experience, it would be very difficult to sell Africa to the Indian traveller.