Airline, airport, hotel, destination, visa, and Muslim travel updates from Irhal.
The airline marks Philadelphia as its 14th destination in North America NEW YORK, NY, USA – Qatar Airways has reconnected Doha and Philadelphia with the launch of a daily non-stop flight between Hamad International Airport (DOH) and Philadelphia International Airport (PHL), its 14th destination in North America, which resumed on 1 August 2026.
Read full storyThis summer, Central Shopping Centers invites international visitors to experience the best of shopping, dining, and leisure with Summer Holiday 2026, running from 20 July – 30 September 2026. Created exclusively for international tourists, the campaign offers shopping privileges across Thailand’s five world-class shopping malls: centralwOrld, Central Park…
Read full storyThe Ministry of Tourism and Antiquities and the Jordan Tourism Board, in cooperation with tourism associations, have launched the integrated digital platform "Ahlan Jordan" as part of measures to support the tourism sector and address the impact of regional circumstances on travel activity.
Read full storyflydubai, the Dubai-based carrier, has increased its daily operations between Dubai and Naples and is set to boost its flights to Milan-Bergamo to a double-daily operation from 31 July, enhancing passenger connectivity to Italy.
Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates – July 28, 2026: The Department of Culture and Tourism – Abu Dhabi has announced that Guggenheim Abu Dhabi, a museum of modern and contemporary art, will open its doors on 11 December 2026 at Saadiyat Island, Abu Dhabi.
Warner Bros. World™ Yas Island, Abu Dhabi, the region's largest indoor theme park, is inviting guests to place themselves in the hands of one of DC's most iconic Super-Villains, as Kryptonite Collider officially opens.
Malaysia Retains No. 1 Position in Global Muslim Travel Index 2025, Offering GCC Travellers a Summer of Festivals, Culture and Discovery.
The Dubai-based carrier announces the start of daily flights to Aleppo from 20 July, reaffirming its connectivity to opening underserved markets Aleppo becomes the carrier’s second destination in Syria alongside Damascus
What if the most valuable thing you brought home from a trip wasn’t an object, but a story? Northern Thailand is home to dozens of ethnic communities who have carried their identities across mountains and borders for centuries – and many of them welcome curious, respectful visitors.
The World Travel & Tourism Council (WTTC) today launched the search for the 7 Contemporary Wonders of the World, a global initiative designed to identify and celebrate the landmarks and buildings created since 1801 that have had the greatest impact on Travel & Tourism, local communities and economic development, and continue to redefine the future of destin…
Luxury travel today is no longer measured by how much you can see in a few days, but by how deeply you can experience a destination. At Le Méridien Phuket Mai Khao Beach Resort, guests are invited to embrace this philosophy through Long Stay Beach Escape, an exclusive package designed for travelers who wish to enjoy more of Phuket's culture, wellness, and f…
Read full storyTwo hotels, three ways to stay, and one summer campaign inviting guests to choose their own scene across Paramount Hotel Midtown and Paramount Hotel Dubai
Read full storySharjah Museums Offer an Integrated Summer Experience Blending Culture, Science, and Discovery for All Community Members
Read full storyNew five-day programme empowers young people to build confidence, resilience and lifelong skills while embracing active lifestyles
Read full storyAcross Five Museums with Interactive Museum Programmes Enriching Children’s Knowledge
Read full storyOceans of Lights Festival returns to SeaWorld Yas Island, Abu Dhabi in its third edition to offer a summer program full of activities and new experiences
Read full storyJuly 2026, Yerevan, Armenia: Armenia has extended its temporary visa-free entry arrangement, keeping the country within easy reach for eligible travellers from across the Gulf for a further year. The arrangement now runs until 1 July 2027.
Read full storyJuly 2026, Yerevan, Armenia: The competent Armenian authorities announced the extension of the temporary decision exempting eligible travelers from GCC countries from prior visa entry for an additional year, making the decision effective until July 1, 2027. This decision aims to facilitate travel procedures and tourism movement and exchange between Armenia and the Arab Gulf region, allowing travelers…
Read full storySet within Khalid Lagoon, the island shows how Sharjah brings art, nature and design into everyday public life.
Read full storyBlending cultural discovery with elevated wellness and leisure experiences, World of Hyatt summer destinations offer GCC travelers seasonal getaways across the GCC, Africa and Europe.
Read full storyAbu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates – June 30, 2026: Yas Waterworld Yas Island, Abu Dhabi has officially been awarded the Guinness World Records™ title for the most waterslides in a waterpark, featuring a record-breaking collection of 55 slides.
Read full storyExperience the Colours of Malaysia at Citrawarna 2026 This Summer
Read full storyGermany is an ideal destination for friends traveling together, thanks to its creative neighborhoods, vibrant markets, street food culture, and stunning natural retreats
Read full storyFollowing the launch of its first collaboration in 2025, the Jacquemus brand returns this summer to the Monte Carlo Beach Club with a new design that reimagines the coastal atmosphere with a contemporary spirit. The design evokes the spirit of 1950s beach clubs, where elegance meets the calm Mediterranean lifestyle.
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May 4 - The InterContinental Hotel Group (IHG) is looking into bringing its boutique hotel brand, Hotel Indigo, to the Middle East market, said Kirk Kinsell, IHG President of EMEA (Europe, Middle East and Africa). "For the time being, we have looked at a few opportunities in the Middle East. We would not rule out bringing Hotel Indigo to the Middle East,” he added talking about launching new brands in the…
May 4 - Accor Hospitality Group is planning to open 17 more hotels in the Middle East by 2012, thus bringing the total number of hotels owned by the group to 50, said Chief Operating Officer, MEA, Indian Ocean and Caribbean Islands, Charlie Langlais. "We have 17 hotels in active pipeline, a dozen of which will be developed in the UAE. Over the next few years, we estimate nearly 15 per cent of Accor's global…
May 4 - Millennium and Copthorne Middle East Holdings will open six new hotels this year out of which three will be in the UAE and the rest will be in Oman, Makkah and Aden, said Ali Hamad Lakhraim, President and Chief Executive of the company. This is despite the fact that occupancy rates in the hotels of his group went down to 70 per cent in Abu Dhabi and 65 per cent in the rest of UAE. "The feature of the…
May 4- The Egyptian Tourist Authority (ETA) on Monday announced the launch of its Dh18.3 million ($5 million) promotional campaign called "Egypt: The Beginning of the Tale" to bring in more Arab tourists to the region. This is largely because the number of visitors to Egypt went down by 2.4 per cent in 2009 given the recession, said Amr El Ezabi, Chairman of ETA."We went from 12.8 million visitors in 2008 to 12.5…
May 4 - As the Next Move was launched last week, Al Futtaim Group unveiled two new phases of the Cairo Festival City -- Festival Living and the Business District. Spanning over three million square meters in New Cairo, the Festival City will be a mixture of residential and commercial districts. Festival Living will occupy 130,000 square meters of land with several apartment buildings, four to seven floors and…
May 4- Syria and Georgia signed an agreement on Sunday for tourism exchange and cooperation. The agreement includes tourist data, experiences, systems and legislations exchange in addition to encouraging tourism investments and easing of travel between the two countries. The agreement was signed by Minister of Tourism Saadallah Agha al-Qalaa and Georgian Foreign Minister Grigol Vashadze. Al-Qalaa said that the…
May 4 - The worldwide recession that led to the global financial meltdown last year slowly seems to be dissipating and the travel industry is on the road to recovery, particularly the GCC market, said Mark Walsh, Group Exhibition Director, Reed Travel Exhibitions, organiser of Arabian Travel Market (ATM) 2010, slated to open today. The exhibition is taking place at Dubai International Convention and Exhibition…
May 4 - The Arabian Travel Market starts today at the Dubai International Convention and Exhibition Centre (DICEC). Speaking at a press conference yesterday, the Director of Reed Travel Exhibitions, Mark Walsh, said that the tourism sector is on the road to recovery given the interest from industry buyers and suppliers. Even though the exhibitor numbers and space remains unchanged this year -- about 2,100…
May 3 - The Abu Dhabi Tourism Authority (ADTA) and Abu Dhabi National Exhibitions Company (ADNEC) have joined hands to launch a number of events in the UAE capital. "There is an insatiable demand for a multi-purpose events arena of this calibre to meet the interest previously shown by event organisers," said Ahmed Hussein, Deputy Director General, ADTA. "Abu Dhabi Hall gives us the leverage we need to attract…
May 3 - Tourist traffic to Petra went up in the first quarter of 2010, said official figures released on Saturday. According to the Petra Development and Tourism Region Authority (PDTRA), 321,000 tourists visited the ancient Nabataean city in the January-April period as compared to the same period last year, thus going up by 44 per cent. Tourist traffic was highest in April when 111,834 tourists visited Petra,…
May 3 - Tourism in Sharjah is expected to grow by five per cent this year after 9 percent growth in the second half of 2009, said Sheikh Sultan bin Ahmad Al Qassimi, Chairman of the Sharjah Commerce and Tourism Development Authority (SCTDA). Al Qassimi, addressing the gathering at the Sharjah Tourism Excellence Awards 2009, stated "Contrary to statistics issued by the World Tourism Organisation which estimated a…
May 2- A judge on Friday ordered the chief executive of Iraqi Airways to remain in London till Wednesday in the aftermath of the disastrous first Baghdad-London commercial flight. Kifah Hassan Jabbar, the chief executive, appeared in London's High Court on Friday after he had his passport seized and the plane he arrived on was impounded at Gatwick Airport on Sunday in a two-decade-long legal dispute with Kuwait…
May 2- There are more than $140 billion worth of hotel projects under construction in Gulf Arab countries and only 19 percent of these projects have been suspended or cancelled because of the global slowdown, a recent survey said. Hotel development projects in Dubai have slowed and become more grounded, a topic likely to be discussed at this year’s Arabian Hotel Investment Conference (Ahic) which started…
May 2 - Dubai’s Department of Tourism and Commerce Marketing (DTCM) stand at the 17th edition of the Arabian Travel Market will be bigger this year, measuring 1225 square meters with 87 booths and 114 co-participants. Last year’s the DTCM stand measured 1125 square meters and there were 105 co-participants. The ATM is taking place at the Dubai International Convention and Exhibition Center (DICEC) from May…
May 2 - The Ritz Carlton hotel in Dubai, which is scheduled to open at Dubai International Financial Center this month, has attracted at least seven bids. The hotel’s developer, Union Properties, is trying to unload hospitality assets in order to raise cash, as it recovers from losses caused by declining property values and lower sales, which last year reached Dh498 million (US $135.5m). Khalid bin Kalban,…
May 2- Omar Ahmed Al Bitar, UAE ambassador to China, opened the UAE pavilion at Expo Shanghai 2010 yesterday. Attending the opening ceremony were Deputy Commissioner General Abdulla Aidaroos, Deputy Director General of MNC and Commissioner General of the UAE pavilion Salim Saeed Al Ameri, and a number of other senior officials. The UAE pavilion, which took several years to plan and development, occupies 6,000…
May 2 - More hotel owners are trying to increase capital through an outright or partial sale of property or through joint ventures and combination of additional supply, according to a study by Jones Lang LaSalle released yesterday. The study said that there has been construction of a large number of hotel and hospitality related developments despite the fact that the global economic downturn caused may projects…
May 1- Abu Dhabi-based Etihad Airways has announced that it will open a premium lounge in Manchester, the third of its kind outside Abu Dhabii. The lounge will open later this year in Manchester Airport’s terminal 1. "Manchester has always been an important part of Etihad's growth plans, and the ties between Manchester and Abu Dhabi have never been stronger. We recently announced a capacity increase of…
May 1- Jordan’s tourism sector registered an increase in the first quarter of 2010, said the Ministry of Tourism and Antiquities this week. Overnight tourist numbers have gone up by 33.4 per cent during the first quarter to 883,450 people from a total of 662,075 in the same period of 2009. Same day visitors were up 17.6 per cent to 651,325 people from 553,929 in 2009. The Ministry said overall numbers in the…
May 1- Russelior, Tunisia’s first eco-friendly hotel was launched on Tuesday at the Yasmine Hammamet. The hotel has beene specially designed for those tourists who prefer eco-friendly destinations. All items within the hotel room such as blankets and carpets are made out of biological materials and the hotel promises to deliver high-quality services to its clients. The Minister of Tourism, Slim Tlati, spoke…
April 30- Emirates Airlines’ online spend totals one third of its media buying, said Boutros Boutros, Divisional Senior Vice-President of Corporate Communications, Emirates at the SportAccord Convention in Dubai yesterday. He said that the airline’s spend on sponsorships has gone up by 10 per cent this year while participating in the round-table discussion at the SportAccord titled “Making the sponsorship…
April 30 - Budget carrier Air Arabia said on Thursday that traffic on its Sharjah-Beirut route (with 10 weekly flights) is growing steadily. According to the details, the airline reported serving over 28,050 passengers on this route in the first quarter of 2010, thus registering an increase of 7.2 per cent as compared to the same period last year. Figures show that in 2009, more than 115,675 passengers…
April 30 - The first commercial flight between Baghdad and London that was operated after 20 years ended in disaster when Iraqi Airways’ chief had his passport seized while the chartered planed was impounded. According to the details,the transport ministry in Baghdad said that Iraqi Airways chief Kifah Hassan's travel document was taken after papers were served by lawyers acting for Kuwait Airways, which says…
April 30 - Samaya Hotels and Resorts is participating in the Arabian Travel Market (ATM) slated to take place from May 4 to May 7 at the Dubai International Convention and Exhibition Centre. This will be the third consecutive year that Samaya is participating in the show. The group has a five-star hotel located in Deira and hotel apartments along the Dubai-Sharjah highway. "ATM is a very important event for us…
