From April to June, Hong Kong’s exhibition scene has been picking up more momentum with the return of a series of close to 20 physical exhibitions at the Hong Kong Convention and Exhibition Centre (HKCEC). Featuring a wide variety of products and services ranging from technology, and lifestyle, to arts and jewellery, the successful fairs attracted over a million visits under the pandemic, which is a promising sign for the exhibition industry. The positive response clearly indicates that the value of physical shows is high and Hong Kong has demonstrated how to safely and seamlessly resume large-scale business events gradually, and pave the way for further recovery including international conventions and trade fairs. Kenneth Wong, General Manager, MICE & Cruise of the Hong Kong Tourism Board, shares that “We are delighted to see such a strong pick-up in demand for physical fairs. These events are a good demonstration of Hong Kong’s readiness to welcome business events of any scale, and also an encouraging sign for the exhibition industry that the physical show is invaluable and we are very much looking forward to a resumption of more trade fairs in the coming months.” Inaugural physical show drives future of business “GOVirtual Business Expo is newly launched to provide a one-stop trade platform to support enterprises to unlock and capture the boundless potential of virtual business in the post-pandemic economy, and to encourage active interactions between tech industry and business sectors which will inspire frequent cooperation,” says Culsin Li, Managing Director of Baobab Tree Event, organiser of GOVirtual Business Expo, with which the GS1 HK Summit is co-located. Li adds, “we are thankful to host this new show safely and help our …

Virtual dinner was hosted by the Department of Tourism in Philippines with trade partners from the GCC. This informal gathering was a networking exercise to understand the current GCC market and the way forward. As GCC is way ahead of the rest in terms of vaccination drive, they are looking at better summer travel. SanJeet Director, Durga Das Publications, Market representative, for Middle East shared the current realities in the Middle Eastern market, followed by Daks Gonzales Head Office of Product and Market Development, Philippine Department of Tourism – Middle East. Gracing the evening ,Verna Esmeralda C. Buensuceso, CESO III Assistant Secretary for Product and Market Development Department of Tourism from the Department of Tourism in the Philippines expressed her gratitude for taking time off to attend the event and enjoy the Filipino cuisine especially for the trade partners. She reiterated the importance to understand the market at present and shared the various initiatives taken by the government of Philippines to ensure safety and rebuild the confidence of the travellers especially from the Middle East. Leading CEO’s from the Middle East attended the event with Nasir Jamal Khan – Al Naboodah Travel & Tourism Agencies LLC, Jamal Abdul Nazar – Cozmo Travels,  Asim Arshad – Orient Travel & Tourism Agency,  Arshad Munir – SATA, Tarique Katri – Seera, Deepak Rawat – Make My Trip, V. Jayaram – Sharaf Travels, Mathew D’Costa – Dnata, Sumit Archarya – BCD Travel, Manu Mehrotra – Al Tayer Travel Agency, Suresh Ahuja – Trans Arabian Air Travel, and Sai Rattan – SNTTA The CEOs presented some very interesting facts about the expectations especially from the side of the locals in UAE and KSA as key …

flydubai has announced the start of a twice-weekly service to Ankara Esenboga International Airport (ESB) from 29th July, 2021, its second destination in Turkey after Istanbul (IST) which is currently served with a daily flight. The carrier also added two destinations in Turkey to its seasonal summer schedule. It operates two weekly flights from Terminal 2, Dubai International (DXB) to Milas-Bodrum Airport (BJV) and to Trabzon Airport (TZX) between June and September. Hamad Obaidalla, Chief Commercial Officer at flydubai, said, “flydubai’s first flight to Turkey landed exactly 11 years ago in Istanbul. We have since grown our network to four unique destinations offering our passengers from the UAE and the region greater choice for the summer and around the year. We look forward to doubling the frequency of our operations to Ankara for the winter schedule as demand for travel continues to gradually grow.” flydubai will increase its operations to Ankara Esenboga International Airport (ESB) to a four-weekly service from 2nd October, 2021. Jeyhun Efendi, Senior Vice President, Commercial Operations and E-commerce at flydubai, said, “flydubai remains committed to opening up underserved markets and we have grown our network to 97 destinations. The launch of operations to Ankra will provide passengers from the UAE with direct airlinks to the Turkish capital for the first time. We look forward to seeing the demand for travel grow over the summer as more countries open up for international travel. The feedback and demand for both Bodrum and Trabzon have been very positive and we look forward to giving our passengers more options to discover Turkey with the start of flights to Ankara from the end of June.”

Travelport introduced its enhanced RESTful / JSON APIs that will provide next-generation retailing and exchange capabilities to travel retailers worldwide. As part of Travelport’s investment in its next-generation platform, Travelport+, the new APIs are being rolled out globally and will offer retailers a gateway to better content choices, the tools to tailor their retailing experience, and the power to greatly improve the efficiency of their operations. “With our new APIs, we’ve expanded our modern retailing toolkit so that agencies upgrading to Travelport+ can more easily personalize the retailing experience they provide to their customers,” said Greg Webb, Chief Executive Officer at Travelport. “The improvements we’ve made with these enhanced RESTful / JSON APIs will give travel retailers around the world simplified access to dynamic retail-ready content, from multiple sources, across all of their points of sale. And to ensure agencies can effectively operate as modern digital retailers, our APIs will also deliver the tools to optimize storefronts, better engage customers and manage trips more efficiently.” The modern, lightweight and highly functional APIs, which can also be used in conjunction with Travelport’s SOAP / XML APIs, drive up to 68% faster average transactions and a faster shopping and booking experience for travelers. The JSON API also enables greater flexibility and speed for developers, fostering quick, seamless connections and an optimized experience for both developers and travel retailers. Travelport’s new APIs include all of the details needed for public, private and tour operator specific air content and can be deeply enriched with Travelport’s branded fares. Additional API capabilities include streamed, cached content, speeding up the delivery of marketplace pricing and giving retailers the ability to inspire customers with highly relevant travel offers. …

HMH Hospitality appointed Iftikhar Hamdani as Chairman of the Green Council in addition to his current position as Area Manager for Bahi Ajman Palace and Coral beach Resort Sharjah. Michael Zager, Chief Operating Officer of Hospitality Management Holding (HMH) on Hamdani’s appointment commented, “I would like to extend my sincerest congratulations and high regard to Iftikhar Hamdani for the additional role which is not new at all to him. His impressive experiences in overall corporate social responsibility, his ingenuity and commitment to the environment will give the HMH edge in its responsibility to continuously contribute to preservation of our environment and aim to encourage many to do the same.” Hamdani has revolutionized the hospitality industry over the past ten years with his ground breaking green initiatives such as in-house compost machine project, an Urban Farm and numerous notable community-related activities and charities. Bagged various sustainable and professional accolades by the different award-giving bodies. Known as the initiator of green programmes in Ajman, Hamdani has made his mark to engage many through his endless campaign for sustainability by participating in various forums within and outside UAE.

After the announcement of Spain opening to all vaccinated international travellers on 7th June 2021, there was much excitement all across the UAE and other parts of GCC. One of the main reasons was the acceptance of not only European Union accepted vaccinations but also those accepted by the WHO. Tourism office of Spain in Gulf Countries hosted their first travel trade event in Dubai at the newly opened  luxury hotel St.Regis the Palm with all leading travel professionals attending the event. Namratha Rose- Manager Marketing and Trade Relations Spain Tourism GCC said, “It was amazing to see so many agents turn up for the event and I am extremely happy to see that the travel trade partners are so keen to promote Spain this summer. We had an attendance of 60+ partners from renowned travel companies , airlines, representatives of Spanish hotel brands and 7 destination partners from Spain present virtually. The main aim of this event was to celebrate Spain opening up and to inform the travel trade partners with all the recent updates, developments and offerings of Spain,launch our new campaign and also to thank them for their continued support in promoting Spain as a preferred destination from the UAE.” She welcomed and  introduced all the partners present at the event and handed over  the stage to the Director of Spain Tourism to present and  launch the new campaign . Daniel Rosado, Director of Spain Tourism for the Gulf countries, in his opening remarks stated that after many months of meeting agents online, it was refreshing to see them face to face. He reiterated in detail the entry requirements for travellers from the GCC, the new health certificate which …

eDreams ODIGEO expands its leading flight content platform through strategic technology agreement with Travelport – With this deal, Europe’s largest online travel company and the second largest flight retailer in the world signs a strategic agreement with Travelport, a worldwide leader in travel retail – Using the next-generation Travelport+ platform, eDreams ODIGEO will offer customers more choice in airline routes, including unique carrier content and unique ancillary services – The agreement is part of eDreams ODIGEO’s business strategy to further strengthen its leading offering in a post-COVID world Barcelona. The platform’s retailing and merchandising capabilities will offer eDreams ODIGEO customers more flexibility and choice in their bookings, allowing them to create tailored routes which meet their exacting requirements. The customer-centric approach is also poised to benefit the business’ airline partners. The agreement sees two travel-tech heavy weights join forces to drive innovation across the industry. eDreams ODIGEO is a technology-led business with one of the largest development teams in the European travel industry. The business is transforming the online travel booking experience with innovative products, it also boasts industry-leading capabilities in machine-based learning. Today, eDreams ODIGEO leverages its leading Artificial Intelligence capabilities to generate over 45 billion daily predictions to anticipate customer needs and travel demand. Travelport+, in turn, represents a multi-year investment by Travelport to accelerate industry innovation in multi-source content distribution, travel retailing and value generation. The combination of these leading technology capabilities will result in unparalleled benefits for travellers and increased competitiveness for both businesses. Javier Bellido, Air Content Strategies Director at eDreams ODIGEO said, “The addition of Travelport’s leading travel retail system into our flight content platform is yet another example of how the business is …

Etihad Airways will launch flights to Vienna this summer with fares from AED 1,995. The service will operate twice weekly using a Boeing 787 Dreamliner from 18 July 2021. The new service has been conveniently timed to arrive early morning in Vienna to provide travellers between the UAE and Austria an ideal weekend getaway. Travellers visiting Vienna will enjoy centuries old culture and breathtaking scenery. The Austrian capital has been consistently voted the world’s most livable city. For Etihad Guest Members wanting to redeem their well-earned miles, Vienna is the ideal destination. Members have access to best value seats with their miles, plus countless hotel and car partners to suit their travel needs. Austria is currently open to nationals and residents of Austria, residents of Schengen-member states and Switzerland, business travellers and students. To simplify the travel experience and provide additional peace of mind, Etihad recently launched Verified to Fly, allowing guests to validate their Covid-19 travel documents before arriving at the airport. Travellers who use Verified to Fly can enjoy fast track check-in at the airport by going to the dedicated Verified to Fly desk for a quicker and smoother experience. To use the Verified to Fly service, guests can sign-up by visiting Manage my Booking and will receive further information on how to submit their documents.

Marriott International has appointed Michel Nader as its Area Vice President for the United Arab Emirates. In his new role, Nader will oversee the company’s operations in the country which currently features 60 operating hotels and over 16,000 rooms across 20 brands. Nader will take on his role as Area Vice President for the UAE from Sandeep Walia, who will move into his role as Chief Operating Officer for the Middle East on July 1, 2021. “Michel is an experienced leader who is well-respected by his colleagues and ownership groups, and we are delighted to have him lead our operations for the UAE,” said  Sandeep Walia, the upcoming Chief Operating Officer for Marriott International in the Middle East. “With his extensive knowledge and experience, we look forward to building on the positive momentum and incredible results the team has achieved in the UAE.” Nader brings with him over 20 years of international experience in the hotel industry and most recently was the Market Vice President for Saudi Arabia, Bahrain and Egypt for Marriott International. Prior to that, he was the Area Vice President for the North Africa Region for the company. A third-generation hotelier, Nader joined Marriott in 1999 as Assistant Food & Beverage Manager at the Le Bristol, a Luxury Collection Hotel in Lebanon, before moving to the Sheraton Coral Beach as Food & Beverage Manager. In 2004, he took on a new challenge as Director of Six Sigma, Black Belt at the Sheraton Mencey and Sheraton La Caleta in the Canary Islands. Michel took on his first General Manager role in 2006, opening the Hotel Marques de Riscal, a Luxury Collection Hotel in Elciego, Spain. He was then …

Abu Dhabi National Exhibitions Company (ADNEC) has launched ‘Tourism 365’. The new company will support in creating experiential travel opportunities for tourists coming to Abu Dhabi, and enhance the emirate’s regional and global positioning in the wider tourism sector. The launch of the company is in line with ADNEC’s new broader role to support the growth of Abu Dhabi as a tourism destination, increasing leisure visitors, enhancing guest experiences, and extending their stay in the UAE’s capital. “Tourism 365” will work in concert with key stakeholders across Abu Dhabi’s tourism sector and the UAE. Humaid Matar Al Dhaheri, Managing Director and Group CEO of Abu Dhabi National Exhibitions Company, commented, “In launching Tourism 365, ADNEC continues to fulfil its strategy in developing Abu Dhabi’s tourism sector. Through strengthening and enhancing our business portfolio in tourism, and expanding to include leisure tourism, we actively amplify the economic impact of ADNEC Group. Tourism 365 will play a critical role in growing the emirate of Abu Dhabi as one of the Middle East’s leading tourism destinations. It will do so through close collaboration with partners across the government and private sectors, most notably the Department of Culture and Tourism – Abu Dhabi (DCT Abu Dhabi), alongside local and global companies specialised in this critical sector. “Tourism 365 will contribute to enhancing Abu Dhabi’s vibrant tourism ecosystem, bringing significant returns on investment to the emirate. It will do so by launching a range of companies that will promote the tourism industry and other supporting sectors, securing major partnerships with dominant international and travel companies. Finally, ‘Tourism 365’ will enable innovation across the tourism sector, increasing the emirate’s attractiveness to international visitors, and showcasing all …