Direct flight
The last-minute decision by TSA not to allow the start of direct air service between Nairobi and Atlanta this month caused me some hand-wringing over travel plans, but in the end it was only a minor inconvenience.
For the people of Kenya, however, the situation is more serious.
The country is already seeing a decline in revenue from tourism — this just isn’t the year for many Americans to take that once-in-a-lifetime safari vacation to Masai Mara. The country has cut its visa fee in half, from $50 to $25, but that’s mostly a symbolic gesture. (The cut came after I had already paid the original full price for my visa.)
No doubt, Kenyan officials hoped the new direct route would help encourage tourism. What’s more, they have publicly voiced concerns that the TSA’s decision would be interpreted by potential tourists as a general travel warning, even though that’s not exactly how it should be taken. The decision was apparently a response to a specific terrorist threat.
This article discusses the benefit the direct route would have had for Kenya exports, such as the floral industry.
Hopefully, the situation can be resolved at some point, and the direct route started.
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