travel trade weekly issue 142
DESCRIPTION
Travel Trade Weekly is a leading news provider for travel industry professionals in the Middle East and North Africa, delivered every Saturday electronically and monthly as a hard copy.TRANSCRIPT
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The Ras Al Khaimah Tourism Development Authority has announced that the total number of visitors to
the emirate from January to May was 523,568.
28 JULY 2012 ISSUE 142
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10
Emirates Serves Portugal Daily
dnata and Costa Cruises Collaborate
Emirates has further extended its European reach by starting its first daily non-stop flight to Lisbon.
dnata has been appointed as a passenger sales agent for Costa Cruises, providing dnata customers even more leisure options to choose from.choose from
IN THIS ISSUEMARKET UPDATE
WEEKLY NEWS
ACCOMMODATION
AIR NEWS
WHO’S MOVED
TRAVEL TALK
AGENT’S CORNER
TRAVEL CHANNELS
RENDEZVOUS
NEWS & EVENTS
02
03
06
08
11
12
13
14
15
16
Positive Visitor Numbers for Ras Al Khaimah
Contact us at [email protected]
BOOK THIS SPACE to Promote
your Eid Offers
2 MARKET UPDATE
28 JULY 2012
UAE (AED)
Egypt (EGP)
Saudi Arabia (SAR)
Lebanon (LBP)
Bahrain (BHD)
Jordan (JOD)
Syria (SYP)
Kuwait (KWD)
Qatar (QAR)
Oman (OMR)
Tunisia (TND)
Morocco (MAD)
Iran (IRR)
Yemen (YER)
Algeria (DZD)
Libya (LYD)
Dirham
Pound
Riyal
Pound
Dinar
Dinar
Pound
Dinar
Riyal
Rial
Dinar
Dirham
Riyal
Rial
Dinar
Dinar
3.67
6.07
3.75
1,505.50
0.37
0.71
64.40
0.28
3.64
0.38
1.62
8.97
12,283.00
214.76
81.41
1.26
Accurate as of
26/07/2012Currencies shown in red are fixed against the US Dollar
MENA EXCHANGE RATES
Carnival Corporation: Better Than Expected
Rizon Jet: Robust Increase in LondonRizon Jet, the Qatar-based private aviation company, has experienced threefold traffic growth at its one-year-old VIP Terminal at London’s Big-gin Hill airport.
Despite the economic setbacks, demand for private jet charters into the capital city surges on the back of high profile events, noted Allan McGreal, director, fixed-base operations, UK, Rizon Jet. “Six months into our second year, movements and passenger numbers at our London base are up by almost 300 percent compared to 2011,” McGreal said. “Despite the backdrop of a gloomy economy, and a general flat trend
in the business aviation market, Rizon Jet UK re-ally is bucking the trend and delivering month on month growth.
“Feedback shows we are consistently rated ex-cellent across all segments of the business drawing comments particularly for client service and value for money, and whilst confident, we will be able to convert many new customers into loyal ones; we are not complacent and work hard to meet and ex-ceed their expectations, and always seek long-last-ing and rewarding relationships with our clients.”
T he company’s net income totalled USD14 million, or USD0.02 diluted earnings per share, as opposed to USD206 million, or USD0.26 a share in 2011, due to losses on
fuel price contracts.“Cruise ticket prices, excluding Costa,
held a firm close to sailing which, combined with stronger than expected onboard rev-enues, drove yields above prior year levels,” explained Micky Arison, chairman, Carnival Corporation.
Arison further praised the company’s North American brands for performing well, achieving a three percent revenue yield im-provement compared to 2011, which more
Carnival Corporation closed the second quarter (Q2) of the year with lower net income than in 2011, however expects higher earn-ings for the full year.
TRAVEL TRADE WEEKLY
MANAGING EDITOR
Mary Kammitsi [email protected]
JOURNALISTS
Stefanie Saghbini Rita Kasziba
Dominique Christou
SALES & MARKETING
Maria Demetriadou Brighite Ess
Katerina Dalal
DESIGN & LAYOUT
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DIRECTORS
Andreas Constantinides Mary Kammitsi
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than offset slightly lower yields for the Europe, Australia, and Asia brands, exclud-ing Costa.
Summarising the company’s expecta-tions for the full-year, Arison added, “The increase in booking volumes indicates that a progressive recovery is well underway and we are catching up following the slowdown in bookings during wave season, our peak booking period. The attractive pricing we have in the marketplace is clearly stimulat-ing demand, especially for the Costa brand. We are pleased to see the resurgence in consumer demand for Costa, which is a tes-tament to the brand’s long-standing reputa-tion for quality built over many decades.”
Rizon Jet
3WEEKLY NEWS
28 JULY 2012
Al Jazeera Park Undergoes Makeover
Qatari Diar to Develop Projects in Oman
Al Jazeera Park is temporarily closed as one of Shar-jah’s premier tourist destinations is set to undergo major improvements.
Sharjah Investment and Development Authority (Shurooq), the supervisory body of the development, is currently following up the final procedures of the project, which forms part of the organisation’s strat-egy to develop Sharjah and its tourist establishments.
According to H.E. Sheikha Bodour Bint Sultan Al Qasimi, chair-person, Shurooq, the project will significant-ly add to the already extensive list of the emirate’s attractions.
Qatari Diar Real Estate Investment Company has signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with the Omani Ministry of Tourism to develop three world-class leisure destinations in the Sultanate.
The deal also established a partnership of 70/30 be-tween the Qatari entity and the ministry on the three mixed-use projects.
“Qatari Diar developments worldwide are recognised for spurring economies, lowering unemployment, defining new sector standards, and contributing to sustainability,” highlighted Mohammed bin Ali Al-Hedfa, CEO, Qatari Diar Group, who described this deal as one which signifies the company’s commitment to investing in the tourism sector of Oman, having signed a preliminary agreement with the ministry to finance and construct a mixed-use property at Ras Al Hadd in the Sur district of the Sultanate.
Sharjah
4 WEEKLY NEWS
28 JULY 2012
Sharjah to Welcome 130,000 Cruise Passengers
TDIC to Add Medical Centre to Saadiyat Island
dnata and Costa Cruises Collaborate
SCTA Graduates More Tourist Guides
Sharjah is set to experience a 50 per-cent increase in the arrivals of interna-tional luxury cruise passengers during the upcoming 2012-13 season.
According to Mohamed Ali Al Noman, chairman, Sharjah Commerce and Tourism Development Authority, the emirate’s Khor Fakkan Port is expected to host more than 40 luxury cruise liners with some 130,000 travellers on board, up 63,000 from the 2011-2012 season.
Abu Dhabi’s Tourism Development & Investment Company (TDIC), the master developer of Saadiyat Island and US-based DNA Health Corp., has signed a leasing agreement to estab-lish a medicine and wellness centre within The Collection retail complex at the St. Regis Saadiyat Island Resort, Abu Dhabi.
The Saudi Commission for Tourism and Antiquities’ (SCTA) Makkah Branch branch recently concluded its second intensive training course with 13 new tourist guides having graduated from the programme.
After obtaining the proper licenses in the three prescribed cat-egories of tourist guides prevalent in the Kingdom, including na-tional, provincial and site’s guides, the graduates can immediately engage in the profession.
Highlighting the great importance of such initiatives, Abdul-
lah Al Sawat, director, SCTA Makkah Branch, said, “SCTA has pre-pared the tourist guide licensing programme in the Kingdom in line with its policy to promote the role of tourist guides, by making the role more professional and providing [the trainee] with the op-portunity to reflect the bright image of the Kingdom in terms of its deep-rooted culture and history. Besides, this programme aims to prepare tourist guides to provide proper information on tourist sites to domestic tourists in a professional manner.”
dnata has been appointed as a pas-senger sales agent (PSA) for Costa Cruises; a leading cruise company in Europe and said to be the first cruise operator to have established regular itineraries out of Dubai.
The new PSA agreement with Cos-ta Cruises now provides dnata cus-tomers even more leisure options to choose from when booking their next holiday, as Nathan Adams, head of non-air travel, dnata, explained. “As a travel management company we are dedicated to ensuring only the fin-est travel products are available for our customers. We expect the rapid growth of the UAE as a cruise desti-nation to continue. Costa’s packages are amongst the best in the industry, so this will be a welcome extension to our existing cruise business.”
According to Dario Rustico, di-rector of sales and marketing, cen-tral Europe, Africa, Middle East, and India, Costa Cruises, dnata’s exten-sive network and renowned brand within the Middle East markets certainly represent a golden oppor-tunity to help communicate, to all local travellers, the advantages and the uniqueness of Costa Cruises’ service on all itineraries around the world.
Cruise liner calling at Khor Fakkan Port
Saadiyat Island
“During the upcoming season, the Khor Fakkan Port, will receive two cruise ships a week as against just one weekly call in the last season,” Al Noman added.
Costa Atlantica, Costa Classica, Costa neoRomantica, Seabourne Pride, and Sea-bourne Odyssey have already confirmed their arrival, and TUI and Royal Caribbean are currently in negotiations with the Khor Fakkan Port Authority.
Due to open in the first quarter of 2013, Saadiyat Island’s DNA Center for Integrative Medicine & Wellness will offer a new model of family health care based on a holistic approach combining West-ern medicine, advanced diagnostics and cellular therapies, and the Eastern alter-native modalities.
According to Nasim Ashraf, chairman, DNA Health Corp., the state-of-the-art centre will bring the highest level of US healthcare protocols to the UAE.
6 WEEKLY NEWS
28 JULY 2012
Accommodation
Al Ain Resort Gets Upgraded
Oetker Collection to Open Guerlain Spas
Elaf Kinda Hotel Re-opens
The historic One to One Resort – Ain Al Fayadha, which, following extensive im-provements, opened its doors in June, continues its extensive renovation pro-ject with three more phases.
The resort now welcomes guests with 20 villas, while phase two, which is slated for completion in August, will see the unveiling of the reception area and the re-opening of the 26-room boutique hotel, among others.
By the end of the year, the final phase is also set to be unveiled and will include the introduction of river sports and a large number of recreational facilities including a family and kids’ club and camel track.
Oetker Collection and Guerlain have en-tered into an exclusive partnership in a bid to launch Guerlain spas at the selec-tion’s masterpiece hotels worldwide with Palais Namaskar, Marrakech, being the first property to benefit from the initiative.
Guerlain, which maintains a very selec-tive global network of beauty spas in prime cities as well as in a few resort areas, uses nat-ural materials to create beauty potions at the five-star property’s Le Spa Namaskar, which revolves around the three fundamentals of purity, energy, and balance.
The prestigious French brand’s debut in the Moroccan city opens a new per-spective for future joint developments.
The Elaf Group of Companies has re-opened its Elaf Kinda Hotel following SAR58 million (USD15.5 million) renovations.
Located in the heart of Mecca, the newly renovated 240-key hotel aims to target religious travellers visiting the Holy City during the peak season of Hajj and Umrah, according to Ziyad Bin Mahfouz, president, Elaf Group of Companies.
“We have invested a significant amount for the hotel’s renovation, which has been redesigned with new sections and facilities aimed at addressing all of our clients’ ex-pectations and provide them with the best services while they perform their rituals and complete their pilgrimage,” he said.
8 WEEKLY NEWS
28 JULY 2012
Air News
RJ Suspends Services to Syria
Royal Jordanian Airlines (RJ) sus-pended its operations between Am-man and Damascus and Aleppo, in light of the regression in demand on travel to both routes due to the current situation prevailing in Syria.
RJ has also put out various op-tions to the passengers who already issued their tickets to the airline’s des-tinations in Syria. Without any penal-ties, travellers may either refund the tickets of the cancelled flights or re-validate them to a later date after RJ resumes the service.
In addition, passengers may use the ticket value to travel on any other route on RJ's network.
Emirates to Serve London with A380sEmirates’ five daily flights to London Heathrow will all be served by Airbus A380s as of February 1, 2013, firmly establishing the airline as the principal double-decker operator into the British capital.
Combined with the daily Manchester A380 service, this will mean that Emirates will be sending 42 A380 flights to the UK each week, by far the company's biggest A380 market.
Known for its quietness and fuel efficiency, Emirates’ A380s boast 14 flat-bed first class private suites with electrically oper-ated doors while business class features 76 fully-flat mini-pods, all onboard the aircraft’s upper deck.
Downstairs, depending on the configuration, there are 399 or 427 comfortably contoured seats in economy class, spread across four separate cabins.
“Our customers will also have a greater chance of an all-A380 ex-perience when travelling across our network between London, Dubai and places such as Bangkok, Beijing, Tokyo, Sydney, and from October 1, Melbourne,” commented Salem Obaidalla, senior vice president, commercial operations, Europe and Russian Federation, Emirates.
Qatar Airways has expressed interest in launch-ing an airline registered in Saudi Arabia.According to Akbar Al Baker, CEO, Qatar Airways, the Kingdom represents a key growth area. How-ever, he recently expressed particular concern over excessive fuel charges in Saudi Arabia de-scribing these factors as detrimental to airlines, alongside the government’s policy of controlling domestic air fares.
Capping airfares, Al Baker said, will never al-low any airline to operate commercially in the Kingdom, citing the demise of domestic carrier Sama Airlines due to such measures. He further stressed that other airlines operating domestic flights within Saudi Arabia were facing the same problem of rising costs, pointing out that these needed to be seriously addressed.
Al Baker indicated that Qatar Airways was keen to invest in the Saudi domestic aviation mar-ket but this was dependent on a fundamental re-think by the government of certain factors which needed to be tackled.
Qatar Airways Pursues in Saudi Market
10 WEEKLY NEWS International
28 JULY 2012
Emirates Serving Portugal Daily
Etihad Airways Acquires Higher Stake in Virgin Australia
Virgin Atlantic Airways Launches London Guide App
flydubai Unveils Mobile Website
Emirates has further extended its European reach by starting its first daily non-stop flight to Lisbon.
“Emirates has become the only carrier in the Middle East operating into Portugal with a daily non-stop service, doing more than just transporting passengers from one point to another, but also opening trade opportunities that did not exist before,” said Thierry Antinori, ex-ecutive vice president, passen-ger sales worldwide, Emirates.
Etihad Airways has welcomed the decision by the Australian government to allow the airline to increase its equity stake in Virgin Australia Holdings to a maximum of 10 percent.
Etihad Airways currently has a 4.99 percent stake in Virgin Australia, acquired earlier this year, and had applied to the Foreign Investment Review Board to raise the level of its investment. The purchase was made following the development of a highly suc-cessful multi-tiered partnership between the two airlines that includes code-sharing on flights, joint marketing initiatives, and reciprocal earn-and-burn on their respective frequent flier programmes.
The strategic partnership has already delivered significant revenues to each airline with the equity stake expected to lead to further revenue generating opportunities.
Together, Etihad Airways and Virgin Australia currently operate 24 flights per week between Australia and Abu Dhabi offering travellers greater choice and access to a combined network of more than 285 global destinations.
Virgin Atlantic Airways has launched a free iPhone application that brings London to life with a new city guide, featuring itineraries from well-known Londoners and the best places to eat, drink, and sleep, for global sports fans arriving into the UK capital.
‘Virgin Atlantic’s London City Guide’, features exclusive interviews with famous Lon-doners, little-known facts and lists, fashion tips, information on the best out-of-Lon-don destinations for weekends away, along with a calendar to help users keep track of sporting activities across the city. Furthermore, the app offers augmented reality on-the-ground views, whereby the consumer points the phone at an iconic site and a com-puter-generated overlay provides information on more about the surrounding area.
Brad West, country manager, UAE, Virgin Atlantic Airways, commented, “Rather than just offering a traditional guide book’s top picks, we have curated our own, and allow users to pick places and events they would like to add to their wish list.”
Travellers can now access a host of on-line functions and important travel in-formation in the palm of their hand with the launch of a new mobile website from flydubai.
Designed to work with any device that has Internet connection and a web brows-er, the new mobile feature allows custom-ers to book and pay for flights from almost anywhere in the world. With all the func-tionality of the normal flydubai booking process, travellers can choose their seats,
purchase checked baggage, and select insurance, as well as access to-the-minute flights status information, including ar-rival and departure times and the journey duration.
“flydubai recognises that mobile technology is playing an increasingly im-portant part of our customers’ everyday lives,” commented Ghaith Al Ghaith, CEO, flydubai, who added that this is just the start of the airline’s plans for mobile tech-nology.
“Our broad network of 20 points in the Far East and Australasia, 17 across the Mid-dle East, and over 180 flights to India every week, will of-fer travellers from Lisbon and beyond easier access to a vast range of worldwide destina-tions,” he continued. “This is coupled with an unparalleled experience in the air with on-board features like ice, our award-winning in-flight entertainment system, world-class service, and gourmet cuisine,” Antinori concluded.
Welcoming Reception
11WHO'S MOVED
28 JULY 2012
Azar Saliba
Floria Wun
Lee Stephens
Azar Saliba has become the new hotel manager of Madi-nat Jumeirah in Dubai. Saliba, who comes from a 17-year hospitality background, is the youngest hotel manager within the Jumeirah Group. Previously working as resident manager at Jumeirah Beach Hotel, he has built up a suc-cessful track record with the
group since joining it in 2006. His talent for dealing with both guests and staff, coupled up with his bilingual skills, has led to his progression up the managerial ladder.
Floria Wun has been ap-pointed director of public relations, international, at Langham Hospitality Group. Wun will be in charge of overseeing public relations for the group in the US, UK, Australia, and New Zealand, where she will play a piv-otal role in developing and driving the group’s strategy
and enhance the profiles of the company’s portfolio of brands. Prior to joining Langham Hospitality Group, she served as director of public relations with a luxury hotel brand in Beijing and held a regional position with another inter-national luxury hotel brand as well.
Lee Stephens has been named general manager of MSpa International, the spa division of Minor Hotel Group. With 19 years of experience under his belt, Stephens will lead the spa management company’s continued growth in the region and beyond. Having been based in Asia for nine years, he has held various key positions within the industry, working most recently as managing direc-tor of Sol Spa Services, his own spa consultancy in Hong
Kong. Prior to that, he was in charge of the operations and busi-ness development of some of the most recognised spas and skin care centres in Hong Kong and was also instru-mental in the growth of the spa division of Paua Group. His previous work experi-ence also includes leading luxury and cruise lines across the globe, such as Celebrity Cruises, Crystal Cruises, and the spa at Atlantis on Paradise Island in The Bahamas.
Saliba is the youngest hotel
manager within the Jumeirah Group
12 TRAVEL TALK
28 JULY 2012
Alfred Pisani
Leon Salinel
Executive assistant manager, sales and marketing, Dusit Thani Dubai.
“Corinthia celebrates 50 years in business this year and we wanted to mark this milestone with a se-ries of philanthropic gestures including communi-ty driven projects in Africa. The [Water for Life pro-ject promoted by water aid charity Just a Drop and sponsored by Corinthia Hotels] in Tabata-Bima [in Tanzania] will provide long term sustainable ben-efits to the community and directly help to give children the gift of life and good health.”
“This is the first year we are doing the Evening Shisha Lounge. It completes the whole Iftar ex-perience. We have found in the past that our Iftar guests, more often than not, wanted to stay longer into the evening. The new addition has created a relaxing oasis around our rooftop pool. The calm-ing water and amazing views of both Sheikh Zayed Road and the Burj Khalifa under Arabic tented ar-eas offer a great location for Ramadan evenings.”
Chairman, Corinthia Hotels.
Chairman, EGYPTAIR HOLDING.
“The arrival of our 80th aircraft comes concurrent with EGYPTAIR’s 80th anniversary, which confirms that EGYPTAIR is an important part of the Egyptian modern history as we dedicate all our capabilities for serving the society and to participating in the chari-table initiatives done by the expatriate Egyptians. In spite of the [recent] hardships, EGYPTAIR continued its fleet modernisation plan in addition to perform-ing its national role in serving the national economy.”
Pep Lozano
General manager, The Ritz-Carlton Abu Dhabi, Grand Canal.
“The experience Ritz-Carlton provides is more than just personalised service. We create unique memo-ries for our guests; ones that have an emotional con-nection for them which they will remember for a very long time. This happens by anticipating our guests’ needs and empowering our ladies and gentlemen to then create a ’wow’ experience for the guest. The level of employee engagement and desire to create truly memorable experiences for our guests is tangible.”
TRAVEL TALK is your space – this is a casual forum for travel industry professionals to discuss current issues and share stories. We want to hear from you, so send your comments, questions, and observations to
trav
el t
alk
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r sp
ace
Hossam Kamal
13AGENT'S CORNER
28 JULY 2012
Travelport Launches New ApplicationTravelport has announced the launch of a new travel applica-tion, ViewTrip Mobile, for users of smartphones in the UAE and Saudi Arabia.
Following a successful launch in the UK earlier this year, this is now one of the first, fully inte-grated global distribution systems powered travel itinerary applica-tions available in these countries.
ViewTrip Mobile delivers time-critical information and oth-er valuable tools to enable travel-lers to be fully aware and in con-trol of their travel arrangements at any time. Among the useful features are simple, one-time registration with future trips au-tomatically synced to the mobile; flight status with live flight alerts; detailed airport and city guides;
location aware services; weather forecasts; currency conversion; and itinerary management.
Travelport, through its de-velopment partner ManticPoint, are also offering a white-label version of ViewTrip Mobile, ena-bling travel agents to brand the application and itineraries us-ing their own logo and colours, take control of content including agency-specific help and advice, decide which affiliate content ap-pears, and proactively manage and target communications with the traveller via the app when disruption or the travel environ-ment changes.
According to Rabih Saab, president, Middle East and Africa, Travelport, ViewTrip Mobile is al-ready making a positive impact.
AGENT’S INSIGHT
NAME: Mahmud Ahmad
POSITION: President
COMPANY: Bonds Travel Bureau
LOCATION: Pakistan
WEB: www.bondstravel.com
Who are you?My name is Mahmud Ahmad and I am a veteran of the travel in-dustry in Pakistan.
I have held many coveted posts such as serving twice as chair-man of the Travel Agents Association of Pakistan, twice as Pakistan chapter president of American Society of Travel Agents, director of United Federation of Travel Agents’ Associations, and several ad-visory level roles for the betterment of the travel trade locally and internationally.
Bonds Travel Bureau is primarily a travel management com-pany handling corporate customers.
What is your favourite thing about working in the travel industry?Everyday is a new day and the travel industry keeps re-innovating itself. It seldom gets boring!
When is the best time to visit Pakistan?Pakistan is a destination that can be visited year round. The en-tire country is rich with culture and heritage, and the hospitality of the Pakistani people is known for its warmth and over-the-top graciousness. Any visitor would be lucky to experience first hand the mystical and magical tours that Pakistan has to offer.
Where would you like to travel to for your next holiday?Europe and/or the Middle East.
Why should people come to you for travel advice?Having the knowledge and experience of the travel trade, I can proudly say that we are thorough in our approach to handling customers. We provide a complete solution with a very proactive thought process; giving the customer choices, accommodating their needs, and building a trustworthy relationship is our main objective. Therefore, we thrive on relationships as we know the value of each, and we know that in order to have a future we must keep learning from the past and build on our present.
Pep Lozano
Hossam Kamal
Maximising Jet Fuel Production
14 TRAVEL CHANNELS
28 JULY 2012
Keeping the Middle Eastern Traveller in Mind
UK tourism is set to get a boost from Middle Eastern travellers following the end of the London 2012 Olympic and Paralympic Games.
W ith the country an-ticipated to receive some six million visi-tors throughout the sports event, officials
expect a total of approximately 30.7 million visitors for the full year.
A vast array of late summer deals are attracting UAE families after the games time, noted Carol Maddison, UAE man-ager, VisitBritain, adding that especially
with Eid which falls on August 19 and with schools across the UAE not set to resume until September 9, visitors will be offered ample time to enjoy a cooler summer holiday in the UK.
Should Gulf visitors travel to Lon-don during the holy month of Rama-dan, they can plan on enjoying Iftar breakfast options at hotels across the city, created with the Middle Eastern traveller in mind.
Monroe Energy, a wholly-owned subsidiary of Delta Air Lines, has reached an agreement with Phillips 66 to ac-quire the trainer refinery complex south of Philadelphia. As part of the transaction, Monroe Energy will enter into strategic sourcing and marketing agreements with BP and Phillips 66.
The acquisition includes pipelines and transporta-tion assets that will provide access to the delivery net-work for jet fuel reaching Delta Air Lines’ operations throughout the Northeast, including its hubs at LaGuar-dia Airport and John F. Kennedy International Airport.
After receipt of USD30 million in state government as-sistance for job creation and infrastructure improvement from the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, Monroe En-ergy’s investment to acquire the refinery will be USD150 million and the company will spend USD100 million to convert the existing infrastructure to maximise jet fuel pro-duction. Production at the refinery combined with multi-year agreements to exchange gasoline, diesel, and other refined products from the refinery for jet fuel, will provide 80 percent of Delta Air Lines’ jet fuel needs in the US.
Mövenpick: Focus on Energy and Water
Savings
Mövenpick Hotels & Resorts achieved major reduction in emission of greenhouse gases as well as significant savings in water consumption at its prop-erties across the Middle East.
During the last 12 months, following the Green Globe cer-tification of hotels in the UAE, Qatar, Lebanon, Jordan, Saudi Arabia, Kuwait and Bahrain, the company accomplished the reduction of 11,765 tonnes of CO2 and savings of 129,345m3 of potable water.
RENDEZVOUS
28 JULY 2012
Q & A with Neil PalombaNeil Palomba, corporate operating officer, MSC Cruises, speaks to Travel Trade Weekly about the cruise line’s re-entry into Tunisia after its seized operations to La Goulette, Tunis, following the political situation in 2010, and how the company is doing its part in promoting the country as safe, secure, and stable.
Travel Trade Weekly: How has MSC Cruises’ return to La Goulette, Tunis, been over the past 12 months and how was the feedback you received from the passengers regard-ing the re-introduction of this route?
Neil Palomba: MSC Cruises was, in fact, the first cruise line to redirect its ships back to Tunisia, with MSC Fantasia and MSC Lirica re-turning to La Goulette on July 5, 2011, and MSC Splendida and MSC Sinfonia both calling at the port the day after.
During the approximate four-month pe-riod in which events prevented MSC Cruises from calling into Tunis, the company decided not to replace La Goulette with another port of call, choosing instead to spend a day at sea so as to be ready to reinstate the original call schedule as soon as conditions were restored.
The feedback from guests was over-whelmingly positive. Tunis has always been a popular destination with our guests and they were happy to be able to experience the re-nowned North African hospitality.
Travel Trade Weekly: How many MSC Cruis-es passengers have visited Tunis so far since the cruise company’s return to the city and what are your end-of-year predictions?
Neil Palomba: In 2011, MSC Cruises called in Tunisia a total of 105 times, bringing 480,000 international tourists to visit Tunis. This year, four ships from MSC Cruises’ state-of-the-art fleet are calling regulary in Tunis, and guests on board MSC Fantasia, MSC Orchestra, MSC Sinfonia, and MSC Splendida are enjoying the delights of the area.
By the end of the year, MSC Cruises will
Neil Palomba: MSC Cruises’ number one pri-ority is the safety and security of its guests, and so the swift return of MSC Cruises’ ships to the region was a great way of showing the world that the area was once again safe, se-cure, and tourist friendly.
From being the first cruise line to redirect ships back to the region, to our press state-ments, and guest communications, MSC Cruises has made concerted efforts to pro-mote Tunisia as a safe country to visit. MSC Cruises has in fact become a true ambassador of the country, making a significant contribu-tion to consolidating its image and profile.
Tourism represents one of the biggest re-sources for this country’s economic revival and we are proud to be making our contribution.
Travel Trade Weekly: What makes Tunis dif-ferent to the rest of the cities on MSC Cruis-es' destination network?
Neil Palomba: As one of only two ports of call in North Africa, Tunis offers guests on MSC Cruises’ Mediterranean itineraries a complete-ly unique experience, boasting African and Arabic hospitality, architecture, history, and culture, all of which are a great contrast and complement the rest of the destinations on the Mediterranean itineraries.
Tunis actually consists of three cities: the modern capital city of Tunisia, with its wide streets and busy sidewalk cafés; the Arabic Medina (Old Town) from the Middle Ages, an exciting labryinth laden with secrets; and the ancient Phoenician/Roman city of Carthage, which lies 18km from Tunis.
There is something special in Tunis for every MSC guest to discover.
Neil Palomba Corporate operating officer, MSC Cruises
15
have made a total of 131 calls to Tunis, bringing about 790,000 international tour-ists. This represents a 25 percent increase in calls and a 34 percent increase in passenger visits from 2011.
Travel Trade Weekly: What does 2013 hold regarding the popularity of Tunis as a destination onboard MSC Cruises?
Neil Palomba: While MSC Cruises is always looking into new destinations to meet our guests’ expectations, Tunisia will certainly continue to be an important destination on MSC Cruises’ itineraries in 2013. Proof of this is that our newest ship, MSC Preziosa, which will set sail for the first time in March, will be calling regularly at Tunis. Travel Trade Weekly: How are you promot-ing Tunisia as a safe country to visit?
16 NEWS & EVENTS
28 JULY 2012
EVENTSChina Incentive, Business Travel & Meetings Exhibition (CIBTM)Beijing, China, September 12 – 14, 2012 (www.cibtm.com)A leading meetings, incentives, and business travel show providing the ultimate platform for suppliers to the MICE industry.
International French Travel Market (IFTM Top Resa)Paris, France, September 18 – 21, 2012(www.iftm.fr)An international fair for networking, doing business, innovating, and keeping abreast of market developments, offering a 360° panorama of the travel industry. Africa Hotel Investment ForumNairobi, Kenya, September 25 – 26, 2012(www.africa-conference.com)An event showcasing the potential Kenya and other high-growth destinations across the continent have to offer.
PATA Travel Mart Manila, Philippines, September 25 – 28, 2012(www.pata.org/events/pata-travel-mart-2012)Asia Pacific’s premier travel trade show offering networking and con-tracting opportunities for hundreds of international buyers and sellers.
The 18th World Route Development ForumAbu Dhabi, UAE, September 29 – October 2, 2012www.routesonline.com/eventsThe largest global event of its kind, attracting over 2,750 delegates from more than 80 countries, and determining the future of air services.
ITB ASIASingapore, October 3 - 5, 2012(www.itb-asia.com)Where exhibitors across all sectors of the travel-value chain, meet with top international buyers from the MICE, leisure, and corporate travel markets.
Asia Pacific Tourism Destination Investment ConferenceSingapore, October 15 – 17 , 2012(www.tdiasia.questexevents.net)Consisting of an array of networking opportunities, business meetings, and a conference programme, the event will focus on hotel investments and tourism infrastructure developments.
The Hotel Show – Saudi ArabiaJeddah, Saudi Arabia, November 17 - 19, 2012(www.thehotelshowsaudiarabia.com)A full spectrum hospitality and supplies event for the region, bringing leading manufacturers together with qualified buyers.
Positive Visitor Numbers for Ras Al KhaimahThe Ras Al Khaimah Tourism Development Authority (Ras Al Khaimah TDA) has announced that the total number of visitors to the emirate from January to May was recorded at 523,568, generating a revenue boost reaching some AED277 million (USD75.5 million).
The main visitor source markets to Ras Al Khaimah were Germany, the UAE, Russia, Austria, Czech Republic, Ukraine, Italy, Sweden, and the UK, with Germany bringing in more than 172,700 tourists followed by the UAE with 114,000.
Compared to 2011, Ras Al Khaimah’s hotels have per-formed consistently well for the first five months of the year with occupancy and daily rates increasing across both beach and city properties resulting in total hotel revenue of almost AED277 million (USD75.5 million).
The beach hotels and resorts recorded an average occu-pancy of 82.4 percent with an increase of 5.9 percent as well as an approximate 23.2 percent rise in average daily rate, where RevPAR improved by roughly 32.7 percent. The city hotels showed a growth in the average daily rate by 20.6 percent and in RevPAR by 32.8 percent as well as the occupancy, which rose nearly seven percent reaching an average of 73.7 percent.
Commenting on the recent visitor figures, Victor Louis, chief operating officer, Ras Al Khaimah TDA, said, “Ras Al Khaimah’s popularity among domestic, regional, and interna-tional visitors continues to rise. This is an extremely encourag-ing result that both supports and bolsters Ras Al Khaimah’s success as a global affordable luxury destination offering leisure and adventure experiences as well as a viable destina-tion ripe for further tourism investment.”
In light of the visitor volume and with new developments due to open, Ras Al Khaimah TDA is confident of achieving its goal of welcoming 1.2 million visitors by 2013 and reaching a hotel room inventory of 10,000 rooms by 2016.
Speaking about future plans, Louis said, “In the coming months we are working on a series of new tourism projects with a budget of USD500 million that was assigned by the government of Ras Al Khaimah until the end of 2013. We are also tapping into new source markets and looking into expanding and developing charter flights direct to Ras Al Khaimah from European cities after the success of the charter flights from Germany, Austria, and Sweden, which we intro-duced in 2011.”