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Etihad Airways winter 2009-10 schedule offers travelers more flights and better connections including new service to India and Hyderabad and more services to Athens, Beirut, Kathmandu, Cairo, and Istanbul. The new winter service, which starts on 25 October, will be about 15% larger than last year, with 950 flights operating each week. The Hyderabad service begins on November 2009, and along with Chicago and…
H1N1 concerns have caused many booking cancellations with Umrah and Haj travel agents as Muslims postpone or cancel their pilgrimage plans. A Sadaf Haj Umrah official said “Authorized agents are worried about the massive cancellations and business will be down considerably.” The official expects business to fall by 30% because of the swine flu. Muslims around the world visit Holy Mosques in Saudi Arabia…
UAE airports are now reporting the best traffic figures since the economic downturn began last year, indicating the global economy may be recovering. Abu Dhabi International Airport passenger traffic increased 10.3% last month, Dubai Aiports increased 12.6%. The strong passenger growth figures follow encouraging news about the US economy. The International Air Transport Association (IATA) attributed the…
The cruise line industry has been sailing through the recession while other sectors of the international travel industry have been greatly impacted. Bookings have increased and operators will introduce 36 new ships around the world by 2012, costing about $22 billion. Cruise Lines International Association will launch 14 new ships worth $4.8 billion this year, increasing their total capacity by 5%. The Dubai…
Dubai hotels are trying to attract more visitors from neighboring emirates to boost occupancy by extending summer and weekend packages through Ramadan. Naseem Darkazally with Rotana Dubai explained “Rotana normally has two different campaigns for summer and Ramadan. The advantage for us this year is that Ramadan falls during the summer, so the aggressive campaign will cover most of Ramadan.” Darkazally is the…
New data released by STR Global shows Middle East hotels are the least affected by the economic downturn, although RevPar (revenue per available room) dropped 17.5% for the year ending 30 June 2009. Deloitte said RevPar in June was $132 across the Middle East and average room and occupancy rates also fell due to the global economic crisis. Beirut hotels had the strongest RevPar growth in the world in H1,…
Passenger traffic at Abu Dhabi International Airport increased 10.3% to 923,124 in July 2009 – strong growth despite the economic downturn. 837,129 passengers passed through the airport during the same month last year. Five destinations accounted for 21.7% of all passenger traffic. London was the busiest with 50,900 passengers, followed by Bangkok with 40,465, Doha with 37,361, Cairo at 36,108, and Bahrain…
Virgin Galactic, the space travel company founded by Sir Richard Branson, is struggling to find an investor. Credit Suisse says Branson’s “greenfield” project faces big challenges in finding an investor given the current economic climate and uncertainty about the project. Credit Suisse is the investment advisor that to Virgin Galactic for its $280 million dollar with Aabar Investments in Abu Dhabi last…
Etihad Airways announced they will start a codeshare agreement with American Airlines this week, just prior to launch of their new services to Chicago on 2 September. The Chicago service will operate three times a week and increase to six times per week on 1 November, then daily in from 1 January 2010. The codeshare agreement provides easy connections between Abu Dhabi and American cities including Houston,…
More than 110,000 Egyptians will not be allowed to make the Umrah pilgrimage because of new age restrictions put in place by Egyptian authorities. Egyptian Tourism Chamber Deputy Chairman Naser Turk said the decision to ban people younger than age 25 from travelling to Umrah denied more than 110,000 Egyptians from making the pilgrimage. He said these applicants had already filled out their forms and received…
Figures released on Wednesday by the Dubai Department of Tourism and Commerce Marketing show the number of visitors to Dubai rose 4% in the second quarter of the year – compared to the same period last year. Promotional activity, government funded advertizing campaign, and reduced hotel rates helped push the number of visitors to 1,857,724 during April, May, and June. Director of UK and Ireland for DTCM said…
Dubai International Airport recorded a 12.6% increase in passenger numbers in July, the highest monthly growth rate since May 2008 (13.8%). Passenger traffic increased 10.3% in June so this is the second consecutive month of double digit increases. In July 2009 3,768,965 passengers transited through Dubai International Airport compared to 3,347,655 during the same period last year. Year to date passenger…
Algeria announced on Monday it is cutting taxes on tourism projects to entice business investors it can be a popular new holiday destination after emerging from years of violence. The country currently attracts only a trickle of foreign tourists even though it has thousands of kilometers of Mediterranean coastline and is only a short flight from Europe. Algeria has a shortage of high quality hotels, resorts…
Rak Dream Tours, a new tourism project spread over 40,000 acres on the Al Qawasim Corniche in Ras Al Khamaih, opened to the public on Friday night. Shaikh Saud bin Saqr Al Qasimi – Crown Prince and Deputy Ruler of Ras Al Khamah, inaugurated the new project. Rak Dream Tours has a beautiful view of the Rak Creek and mountains and mangroves beyond. It has two restaurants in historic buildings shaped like fort…
The Europe to Gulf rail line progresses as pieces of track come together to form a network linking the Gulf to the North Atlantic. However, organizational problems in Saudi Arabia may delay the project for a long while. Saudi Arabia is central to the revival of the railways and the government is moving forward with three huge rail plans costing US$25 billion. The Saudi Landbridge project, which will link…
Gulf Tourists to the Swiss city of Geneva have been targeted amid a growing surge in crime. Geneva has an international reputation for tranquility. A 38 year old man was assaulted on 16 July outside Geneva nightclub, and criticisms over lack of security have provoked controversy and underscored surging street crime. Geneva is known as a playground for wealthy Middle East tourists and the city is…
Dubai’s new low cost carrier (LCC) flydubai is still committed its new flight plans for India, despite delaying three of its routes this month. CEO Ghaith Al Ghaith said “India will be operational. We are committed to operating [routes] to India.” Operational issues last month forced the LCC to postpone all three of its new routes to Coimbatore, Chandigarh, and Lucknow. Those passengers affected by the…
Air Arabia will open the new three star 300 room Centro Hotel at Sharjah Airport in April 2010. The airline said that concrete for all four floors of the hotel is finished, and they expect the hotel will be completed below budget. Air Arabia Chief Executive Adel Ali said the Centro by Rotana is an important part of the airlines expansion strategy. He said “In addition to enhancing the services offered…
