[The Star] Tourist arrivals declined marginally for the first quarter of 2012, according to statistics released by the Ministry of Tourism and the Kenya Tourist Board. Overall tourist arrivals declined by 0.5% in the first three months of the year, due to a dip of 3.2% and 2.2% for the months of January and March respectively, and a rise of 4.3% in the month of February.

[The Star] Stakeholders in the hospitality and entertainment industry have raised concern over the negative publicity Kenya and particularly Mombasa has been getting from the international media because of the recent grenade attacks. At least three people have killed and several injured in grenade attacks in Mtwapa, Buxton and Moi Avenue in Mombasa.

[Daily News] ARUSHA City, also known as Africa's gateway to the world's famous tourist attractions like the world heritage sites of Olduvai Gorge, Ngorongoro Conservations site and the Serengeti National Park, among others in Tanzania, has added a leaf to its glory in hosting VETA Hotel and Tourism Training Institute (VHTTI), the third East Africa's biggest public institution of hospitality and tourism training.

[Capital FM] Nairobi, Kenya - Virgin Atlantic will halt operations on the Nairobi-London route on September 24 due to increasing costs and a challenging economic environment in both Kenya and Europe over the past five years.

[Daily News] THE lack of reliable and valid information has been posing threats for the government to draw strategies as well as incentives that will add value to the economic growth.

[Capital FM] Nairobi - Emirates is set to launch it 124th destination in Vietnam next month connecting Kenyans to the South East Asian country's largest city of Ho Chi Minh.

[Emirates] Nairobi - Emirates, one of the fastest growing international airlines in the world, continues its expansion into South East Asia with Ho Chi Minh City in Vietnam becoming the airline's 124th destination.

[Addis Fortune] A high-level delegation from the Ethiopian government has secured a loan for the construction of substations for the Ethiopia to Kenya power interconnection project from the World Bank (WB) last week, Fortune has learnt.

[The Star] THE country has run out of bed space and would face a serious accommodation crisis were it to host a major international conference.

[EA Business] Dar es Salaam - As one of the ways of empowering more women economically, women in the tourism sector have formed their own group -Association Of Women in Tourism in Tanzania (AWOTTA).