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| The lack of aircraft for internal flights risks tarnishing the image of tourism. |
Last weekend alone, four tourist destinations were affected by flight cancellations. The prospect of an influx of tourists for the high season is compromised.
There is only one aircraft to operate internal flights. For ten days, Tsaradia has only used one plane to serve the country’s major cities. The destinations Toliara, Tolagnaro, Sainte-Marie and Toamasina recorded cancellations of flights on departure and return to Antananarivo.
Many passengers were caught off guard. And that’s not all, tour operators organizing tours for tourists, especially foreigners, find themselves in a difficult situation. “We have established well-defined schedules with our European, Japanese and American customers for three or even six months. The southern loop departing from the capital by coach, continues on the RN7, visits the Isalo national park and ends in Mangily, Toliara. They are supposed to return by plane from Toliara to Antananarivo. We are only informed of the cancellation of flights to Antananarivo once our clients are at Andranomena airport, Toliara,” testifies a manager of a tour operator.
Tour operators, in most cases, provide return flights to Antananarivo for their clients. “We are therefore obliged to send them back by bus but many of them miss their departure for their country. And that’s a big problem for us,” the source continues. Under pressure from customers, tour operators are forced to cover their customers’ stays until they obtain places for their return. “There is no benefit to us. Just last Saturday, a group of twenty people could not return in time,” laments the source.
Worry
Tourists are forced to redo 960 km from Toliara, among other things, with the poor condition of the RN7. Others are stuck and wait for the next flight, which is not always guaranteed, as is the case for Sainte-Marie. “I fear that the high season which is beginning will be compromised. The cancellation of domestic flights totally disrupts the plans of tourists and operators. It’s really restrictive and it gives a negative image of tourism in Madagascar,” reacts a source from the Professional Tourism Union in Madagascar, contacted by telephone.
The union is calling on the authorities and the government as a whole to quickly find solutions to the airline’s problems. “We ask authorities at all levels to take into account the consequences of canceled flights, the poor state of national roads and the excessively high cost of tickets,” underlines the union. The latter proposes the opening of regional airports internationally. Since the suspension of Reunion-Tolagnaro-Toliara flights by the company Corsair, regular passengers have no other choice but to take bush taxis to Antananarivo to reach the sister island. A situation which particularly benefits the Cotisse cooperative, which has comfortable vehicles to connect Toliara to Antananarivo. Nearly a hundred passengers per day travel back and forth between these two destinations via Cotisse. Around sixty passengers to or from Mahajanga are also transported by Cotisse daily.
Miotisoa Mare