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The tourism board of India will showcase incredible India at the world’s largest travel exhibition, Arabian Travel Market (ATM) 2009, being held in Dubai this week. There will be 31 companies from the tourism and hospitality sector featured at ATM 2009. Regional Director for India Tourism, Manmohan Saldanhah said they see the economic recession as an opportunity because India’s location in the region makes…
The Sharjah Commerce and Tourism Development Authority (SCTDA) will participate in the Arabian Travel Market for the 12th consecutive year. The Arabian Travel Market (ATM) is the regions premier travel and tourism event which takes place annually. This year the ATM takes place at the Dubai World Trade Center from 5 May through 8 May. SCTDA chairman Shaikh Sultan bin Ahmed Al Qasimi, said there will be a…
UAE hospitality firms bagged to awards at the World Travel Awards (WTA) ceremony held in Dubai Tuesday night. Abu Dhabi won ten awards, the highest number of awards won by a new travel and tourism destination. Rotana, Etihad Airways, DTCM, Jumeirah, and Al Futtaim Group Real Estate were among the many other firms recognized with awards at the ceremony. WTA founder said he was excited to see the tourism offering…
A senior official at Dnata said hotel and airline prices are 20 per cent lower compared to last summer season. Dnata is the travel management company of Emirates Group and the General Sales Agent (GSA) for 30 airlines. They also sell tickets for other airlines. Prices continue to be slashed in order to boost demand because travel has declined. Hotels in popular destinations in the UAE are also cutting their…
Park Hyatt is planning a major expansion in the Gulf and Indian sub continent region. The American Hotel brand will triple the number of hotels in this region, adding 30 new hotels by 2015. Managing Director for Hyatt, Peter Fulton, said their revenue per available room is down 20 per cent, but they are still doing well in the Middle East. He explained they are going through cyclical changes because of…
Pope Benedict XVI, who is German born and 82 years old, began an eight day pilgrimage to the Holy Land. The Pope, who is leader of the world’s 1.1 billion Catholics, said he will be a “pilgrim of peace”. He departed from Rome on a special flight to Amman and will then begin his trip to Jordan, Israel and the Palestinian territories. He will face a variety of difficult religious and political challenges during…
Sharjah Commerce and Tourism Development Authority SCTDA figures show the number of European tourist visiting Sharjah increase 14% compared to 2007. About 49% of Sharjah’s 1.5 million visitors in 2009 were from Europe. STCDA chairman stressed the importance of Sharjah’s good ties with Europe at the Arabian Travel Market 2009 in Dubai. Shaikh Sultan bin Ahmed Al Qasimi said the SCTDA figures reaffirm “the…
Leaders in the hospitality industry say the governments proposed ban on alcohol would cause severe job losses. The government proposal would ban the sale of alchohol at hotels, restaurants, clubs, and off-licenses, and was unanimously approved by MP’s on Tuesday. Next the Cabinet considers the proposal and they have the power to reject it. Managing Director for the Bahrain Institute of Hospitality Management…
Kenya’s Minister of Tourism is promoting the counties business and tourism potential at the Arabian Travel Market (ATM) 2009 currently under way in Dubai. Najib Bala, accompanied by a delegation from the Kenya Tourist Board (KTB) said their primary focus at ATM 2009 is to promote tourism, investment, and trade. Tourism is the counties second biggest foreign exchange earner, after agriculture. Bala said an…
Dubai Department of Tourism and Commerce Marketing launched its DefinitelyDubai.com portal at the Arabian Travel Market on Wednesday. The new website is part a plan to use social networking sites such as Twitter and Facebook to promote tourism in Dubai. DefinitelyDubai.com caters to business travelers, tourists, and residents. Within three hours of its launch on Tuesday it received 6,000 hits, before it was…
Prime Minister of the UAE visited the Arabian Travel Market 2009 on Wednesday. His Highness Shaikh Mohammad Bin Rashid Al Maktoum was accompanied by Shaikh Ahmad Bin Saeed Al Maktoum - President of Dubai Civil Aviation Authority and also Chairman and Chief Executive of Emirates Airline and Group. Chief Executive of Dubailand, Mohammad Al Habbai briefed Shiakh Mohammad.
Work on the Dubai Monorail system continues despite delays in other transportation projects caused by the economic slowdown. The monorail will house 40,000 residents. Residents in the City of Arabia neighborhood will be connected when the project is complete. Ilyas and Mustafa Galadari Group are the developers for City of Arabia. Their executive director said system is still in the early stages of design and…
The Palm Monorail is the latest attraction to open to the public on Nakheel’s Palm Jumeirah. It costs Dh1.4 billion to build and opens a few months prior to the opening of Dubai Metro in September. The railway is the first of its kind in the Middle East. Altantis Hotel is the only destination and a round trip takes only ten minutes. Passengers pay Dh25 per ticket to depart from Gateway Towers at the entrance…
The number of UK visitors to Dubai fell 9% in the first quarter of the year. Figures from the Dubai Department of Tourism and Commerce Marketing (DTCM) show the number of visitors from the UK and Ireland in the first months of the year fell to 195,000 from 210,000 for the same period last year. The market in the UK and Ireland increased to 13% to 900,000 in last year. The director of the DTCM office in the…
Jumeirah Group employees saved the company close to $2.7 million by taking voluntary unpaid leave during the first quarter of the current fiscal year. The company’s HR director Mathew Mee said “It’s amazing the take-up when you go to colleagues and ask them ‘are you interested in taking time off to help the company” He said many have done just that and they will be coming back to the business. Mee added he…
Emmar Properties chief executive said on Wednesday they will open two new hotels in Dubai, add 1,000 new employees to their staff, and have also agreed to manage their first European property. Marc Dardenne said “We will add 1,000 associates to our family.” The new hotels will open in Dubai in August and September. He said they signed their first management agreement to operate a hotel in the South of France
An official with the Abu Dhabi Tourism Authority (ADTA) said the number of visitors from developed markets has declined but they will meet their longer target of 2.7 million visitors by 2012. Dayne Lin Kok Chun, the products development division director for ADTA said “Abu Dhabi has had cutbacks from Europe and developed markets, but its’ not something that would cause major alarm bells to cause us to review…
Afghanistan took a step towards reviving its tourism industry with the opening of its first national park, Band-e-Amir in Bamyam province last week. The park was opened with the assistance of the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) which spent about $1 million (Dh 3.67 million) to develop it. Band-e-Amir consists of six deep blue lakes and a beautiful landscape dotted with snow…
