Smartwings Airlines, a Polish charter airline has launched weekly flights to Mombasa as the festive season approaches. Its first flight to Mombasa was on Saturday with 189 tourists from Poland.

Smartwings Airlines will be coming to Mombasa once a week until early next year and then increase to two flights a week from mid-January to March and the frequency may further increase towards the end of next year.

Hoteliers in Mombasa have said that the airline will boost the tourism sector during the three months.

“This is the first charter we are welcoming this year of the Polish market. It is very exciting because the whole of these three months this year, they will be bringing in a charter per week, that’s about 200, visitors coming in from Poland,” said Kenya Coast Tourism Association chairman Victor Shitakha.