The Boys Choir of Kenya in Washington for innauguration events. Photo Boys Choir of Kenya.

Destinations connected with Obama capitalize on associations with new president

(Montreal) From Nairobi to Waikiki, to the small Irish community of Moneygall; the inauguration of Barack Obama as the 44th president of United States has generated what is termed the ‘Obama effect’ on tourism destinations that are hoping to benefit from their association with the president-elect’s journey to the White House.

« We brought The Boys Choir of Kenya to perform at several events, » says Jennifer Jacobson-Rath, North American Marketing Manager for the Kenyan Tourism Board, reached in Washington on Monday shortly after an appearance on the US broadcaster CNN.

The Boys Choir of Kenya will be presenting at several of the pre-inauguration Washington galas. They perform a range of traditional chants from Massaai and Sumburu, and contemporary African pieces. They are popular in their native Kenya, which boasts over forty-two ethnic groups; their repertoire also covers European and American choral classics from Bach, Mozart, Negro Spirituals and Caribbean folk songs.

« They are treated like rock stars; there is a feeling on the street of celebration to the Obama connection, » says Jacobson-Rath of the reception of the choir.

Barack Obama, whose late father was born in Kenya, is celebrated as a national hero and a source of pride in the East African country. Kenyan officials are counting on using the cache of Barack Obama’s presidency to attract tourists to the country that only a year ago was undergoing a period of violence and civil strife.

Kenyan Tourism minister Najib Balala is scheduled to hold talks later this week in New York, Jacobson-Rath says, to examine the different marketing opportunities available to capitalize on the ‘Obama effect’.

Local tour operators in Kenya have already incorporated visits to the village of Kogelo in their travel offerings. It is where Obama’s father grew up and where his grandmother still lives. A project to build a museum in the village dedicated to Barrack Obama is also expected to attract large numbers of American visitors keen on learning about the roots of their first non-white American president. US carrier Delta Airlines has recently opened offices in Nairobi and will launch flights from Atlanta to Nairobi via the Senegalese capital of Dakar.

« It is obvious that it has given a lot of hope to people here, and you can sense that, » says Paris-based event organizer Patrick Jucaud of Basic Lead talking from the Senegalese capital of Dakar.

« It is a very special day. Every magazine, newspaper and television show have been talking about Obama. I had a meeting with the director of the national broadcaster and all he could talk about was Obama, so there is a huge impact on the morale of the people here. »

While already leading the production of a pan-African television market called Discop Africa – set to take place at the end of next month in Dakar – Jucaud would like to capitalize on the peaked interest in Africa following the Obama interest to develop a new tourism marketplace either in Dakar or Nairobi within the next six months.

« There are many expectations of the United States, » continues Jucaud, « With all the plans people here believe that it will be a powerful help for the development of Africa. And it has given them a lot of pride. »

« While there are many opportunities, though, it is still too early. The main thing is to find the right angle to bring the right kind of tourism. »

Some tourism insiders say that finding right angle came a little bit late in the game for one of the most obvious places on Obama’s biographical map, where he grew up in the leafy Hawaiian islands – a destination that is suffering the devastating effects of a recent downswing in tourism numbers.

Kenyan Tourism Minister Najib Balala is scheduled to hold talks in New York about a strategy on capitalizing on the Obama effect.

« They don’t really do enough, » says Juergen Steinmetz, President of the newly formed Hawaii Tourism Association, and long-time publisher of the travel-trade site eturbonews.

« When Obama was here for Christmas and the New Year, CNN was basically camped out at in Waikiki. That kind of publicity cannot be bought and you cannot put a dollar value to it: it’s tremendous and had quite an impact. »

But it was almost as if these islands had neglected the potential benefits of having the president-elect spend his 12-night vacation on the island of Oahu, says Steinmetz, who has spearheaded an industry-backed tourism promotion organization in order to attempt to rejuvenate the Hawaiian tourism industry – and initiate new opportunities.

« The Obama-effect has only been happening on a small scale here so far, » he says, « A restaurant has named a burger after him, a store has a sign that says ‘Obama was here’, and there is a tour that drives by the apartment where he grew up. »

The Barack Obama effect doesn’t stop there, however. Even a small remote Irish village is laying claim to its own piece of the next US leader’s heritage. An amusing local band’s video – which has been viewed almost a million times on YouTube – sings a tune that goes, « there’s nobody as Irish as Barack Obama ».

Stephen Neill, an Anglican rector in the small village claimed to have discovered a genealogical connect between Obama’s great-great-great-grandfather, Fulmuth Kearney, and claims that he was raised in Moneygall before leaving, at the age of 19, for America in 1850.

While the Obama team has reportedly not confirmed or denied his connection to the town of less than 300, it has not stopped the celebrations there; nor has it stopped the international media attention that the community has received in recent days.

It just goes to show that even a remote connection of over a century and a half ago can launch Obama-mania, the Obama effect.

Legends of Flight by Stephen Low explores the history of air travel. Photo © Andrew Princz, ontheglobe.com

Imax 3D film tells tale of Boeing’s Dreamliner, history of flight

(Everett) Imax film director Mr. Stephen Low is like a kid when it comes to his excitement for complex toys. This adventurous director has taken his passions to the giant screen and is set for this week’s launch of his latest Imax 3D film, Legends of Flight, a large-format film chronicling man’s fixation with flying machines. A veteran director of the large-format and from a pioneering family of filmmakers, Mr. Low makes sure that his toys are the biggest, the fastest, or even go the deepest.

In production for over four years, Legends of Flight is set to take off on June 8 at the Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum in Washington, D.C. The film will bring viewers face to face with the most high-tech commercial aircraft in a dramatic tale of flight told through the development of US aircraft manufacturer Boeing’s 787 Dreamliner.

Mr. Low is no stranger challenges. In his career Mr. Low has hitched large-format cameras onto high-speed Indy cars for his film Super Speedway, while he has captured vintage steam-locomotives from the air for his forthcoming film Rocky Mountain Express. He even ventured to the depths of the Atlantic Ocean with Russian submersibles to the site of the wreckage of the RMS Titanic for his film Titanica well before Hollywood director James Cameron filmed his epic Oscar-winning flick about the ill-fated luxury cruise liner.

Directing his cameras skywards this week Mr. Low will see the launch of Legends of Flight, a film that documents the dramatic story of the lead-up to last year’s inaugural flight of Boeing’s newest aircraft; the high-tech, innovative light-weight composite designed 787 Dreamliner.

“We wanted to follow the development of the construction of the first aircraft,” says Mr. Low, “This is a story is told with the help of chief test pilot Mike Carriker, who has flown two-hundred types of airplanes.”

The film, produced by Pietro L. Serapiglia, The Stephen Low Company and executive produced by K2 Communications, promises flights through breathtaking mountain passes on a variety of planes including a Stearman bi-plane, a Harrier Jump Jet followed by the dramatic tale of last year’s maiden Dreamliner flight.

“This is not just the history of airliners and jetliners, but the development of a kind of aircraft which encompasses all of the knowledge of aviation that proceeds it.”

Legends of Flight ties together the story of the development of the Boeing 787 Dreamliner and its European competitor, the Airbus A380; in the context of lessons learned in the past one hundred years of flight.

In the film viewers witness test pilot Mike Carriker as he sits through the tense development process of the Dreamliner leading up to last year’s dramatic inaugural flight at Boeing’s sprawling home base here in Everett, Washington. It is here that the US-based firm did final assembly of the aircraft and its pioneering composite-based, lightweight material.

“This is the first large commercial carbon-fibre aircraft,” says Mr. Low, “It has long been known that this material is potentially better than aluminium, which is really overbuilding. Using carbon fibre ultimately means making an aircraft with less material, no corrosion and a drier cabin.”

At Boeing’s giant construction hangar in Everett, Washington – where scenes of Mr. Low’s film was shot – the impression is that of an awe-inspiring endless science laboratory. Peering down from the uppermost viewing dock of the Boeing 787 Dreamliner assembly plant at Everett is the modern-day equivalent of a bird’s eye view of Egyptian laborers millennia ago building the great pyramids at Giza.

Like the ancient Egyptians in their time, the Boeing plant is today’s technological cutting edge. Countless workers – from designers to engineers – buzz around their cubicles surrounding in this grandiose aircraft assembly line.

Late last year – after a series of pesky delays – Boeing’s 787 Dreamliner finally took to flight with Mr. Carriker and his crew at the helm. Using a high percentage of composite materials, the Dreamliner was developed by an international team of aerospace companies led by Boeing at this high-security site.

The aircraft assembled here promises to use twenty percent less fuel than similarly sized aircraft, carry 250-290 passengers up to 15,750 kilometres and a higher humidity environment and increased comfort. Legends of Flight is set to give viewers the rarely seen tale of the challenges, occasional setbacks and exhilaration in the building and launch of a modern commercial aircraft.

“In the development of an aircraft there are lots of hurdles and delays, you have got to be patient,” says Mr. Low of the arduous process of developing an aircraft.

“You’ve got to love airplanes and just going to Boeing is fun. It’s like the Vatican if you’re religious. Being friends of the chief test pilot of Boeing is exciting stuff if you’re a guy like me.”

* Text and photo by Andrew Princz, ontheglobe.com
* Copyright 2010, All Rights Reserved [June 3, 2010]