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Popular business incentives such as overseas trips for high octane salesman are currently falling dramatically due to the global financial crisis. UAE travel agents are reporting a severe dip in 2009 bookings for incentive packages to and from the UAE. The bookings for these trips are falling due to a spending freeze on non-essential trips being implemented by banks and property companies.
The five star Jaz Royal Taba is scheduled to open in mid-2009. The property is located on its own sandy beach 27 km from the Taba international airport. The hotel has 306 guest rooms which consist of Superior rooms and Family Rooms and Suites. The hotel offers a variety of features including a host of restaurants, shopping arcade, Kids Club, and tennis court.
Morocco and two Gulf firms signed an agreement to build a huge 1.8 bn dollar tourism project in the town of Essaouira on the Atlantic coast. The project will include a health tourism complex covering 270 hectares. Map reported that on Friday at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Rabat signed a letter of intent with Abu Dhabi’s Ithmaar Development Company and Gulf Finance House
Cases of Legionnaires disease are being investigated at The Westin Hotel following the recent death of one of its recent guests – BBC radio cricket scorer Bill Randall. The Dubai Municipality and Dubai Health Authority are carrying out the investigation at the hotel, where Bill Randall stayed two weeks ago. The investigation was initiated following the disclosure that two additional Westin Hotel guests were…
The United Arab Emirates (UAE) signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with the Philippines that will increase flights between the two countries. Emirates Airlines, Etihad Airways, Air Arabia, Rak Airways, and Fly Dubai were designated by the two countries as the national carriers for the UAE. Passenger flights between the two countries will gradually increase to 89 per week. The 89 new flights will…
A group of tourists stranded on the Ras Al Khamai Mountain overnight were rescued by the Air Wing police. Three tourists spent an entire night on the mountain after a rescue mission failed because of extreme darkness. The three people rescued were a 32 year old tourist from New Zealand and a 29 year old man from South Africa.
A new system designed to help hotel managers manage energy effectively is being tested by IHG. Early trials of the new online system, called Green Engage, have demonstrated energy savings of up to 25%. IHG is the world’s largest hotel company based on number of rooms – they have 4000 hotels world wide. If the Green Engage system is adapted, savings realized by hotel owners could be as high as $200 million.…
The Sri Lankan Tourism Promotion Bureau opened an office in Dubai bringing to six the number of offices in its international network. The others are Britain, India, Germany, France, and Russia. The Middle East has been identified as by the Sri Lankan government as one of the key source markets and so they are reviewing strategies to attract more Arab tourists. The Deputy Prime Minister of Tourism for Sri…
Dubai Retail will add two floors consisting of 177,000 feet of retail space at Business Bay, the Dh 110 billion master development of Dubai properties. Dubai retail, which is a subsidiary of Dubai properties currently has 777,000 square feet of retail space. The new Bay Avenue edition will come online for the next edition of the Dubai Shopping Festival (DSF) according to a top company official
Explorer Publishing announced that it has released the latest edition of Dubai Explorer (Live Work Explore – The complete residents guide). Dubai is written by residents, for residents and is a practical guide to daily life, work, exploring and an inspirational travel specific guide. For more information log on to www.liveworkexplore.com
British Airways has announced that it will resume flights from Riyadh and Jeddah to London Heathrow from March 29, 2009. The airline will fly five times a week from Riyadh and Jeddah to Heathrow Terminal 5. The airline had suspended services to Riyadh and Jeddah in March 2005 due to poor commercial performance on the route.
Abu Dhabi based Etihad is flying special relief flights from Thailand to Abu Dhabi to carry stranded passengers, the first of which was due to arrive on November 29 . Etihad's Boeing 777 flight with a capacity of 378 passengers will be taking off from U-Tapao International Airport, about 150km east of Bangkok. Source: www.ameinfo.com
Represented by the General Civil Aviation Authority, UAE has signed a memorandum of understanding with Qatar to increase the number of flights between the two countries. FlyDubai was appointed as a UAE national carrier in addition to Etihad, Emirates, Air Arabia and RAK Air, while Qatar Airways was appointed as Qatar's national carrier. Source: www.ameinfo.com
Sharjah based low cost carrier Air Arabia has won the AVEX aviation show award for Best Regional Airline. The award ceremony, which was part of one of the largest air show and aviation exhibitions in the region, took place in Sharm El Sheikh, Egypt Source: www.ameinfo.com
Emirates Airlines has once again denied rumours of a possible merger with Abu Dhabi-based national carrier Etihad. 'There are no merger talks taking place between Emirates and Etihad. We have no knowledge of the federal government or Abu Dhabi, or another airline taking a stake in Emirates', the airline told a Dubai newspaper. Source: www.ameinfo.com
UAE national carrier Etihad has launched its maiden voyage to Moscow from Abu Dhabi. The airline will run five flights per week. Etihad will also launch a new service to Kazakhstan's capital, Almaty, on December 2. Source: www.ameinfo.com
Abu Dhabi-based airline and UAE’s national carrier has signed a $102m aircraft financing facility with a consortium of regional and international banks to finance the airline's acquisition of an Airbus A340-600 aircraft. The 12-year finance lease was provided in equal shares by three separate banks, led by co-arrangers and lenders Abu Dhabi Commercial Bank, Standard Chartered Bank and Sumitomo Mitsui Banking…
Abu Dhabi International Airport has reported that passenger numbers are up 32.8% through the month of October compared to last year. If the trend continues, the aviation hub is hopeful of achieving its target of nine million passengers a year by the end of 2008. The airport has already served 7.5 million passengers in the first 10 months of this year. Source: www.ameinfo.com
