Ascott Rafal Olaya is amongst Riyadh’s prominent hotel apartments. Home to both leisure and business travellers, the property offers studios, one-, and two-bedroom apartments that boasts urban city views. Those planning a little staycation with family and friends, or are on the scout for luxurious living standards, Ascott Rafal Olaya is currently offering up to 25% off with the Escape in Style promotion. Guests can indulge in varied exclusive lifestyle amenities, separate for men, women, and children. These include swimming pools, a gymnasium, sauna, children’s playroom, prayer rooms, and locally popular restaurants that are situated on its ground floor – Don Puro and Opaline, that offer delicious Lebanese cuisine, and are an ideal choice for families wanting to celebrate iftar outdoors.

Emirates is offering travellers from the UAE the chance to book their long-awaited Eid or summer getaway to the Maldives, with fares starting from AED 3,495 in Economy Class, and AED 8,555 in Business Class. The offer is valid for bookings made starting today until 25 April 2021 for travel until 31 July 2021. Travellers can also plan their ideal Maldivian getaway with Emirates Holidays, starting from AED 4,389 per person for a three night stay package at a four star hotel. Emirates currently offers 28 convenient weekly flights to the Maldives. The Maldives has become an incredibly popular destination among for UAE travelers for a long weekend break or extended holiday with convenient, short flight timings, idyllic weather, crystal blue waters and pristine beaches. Its private island resorts offer unique experiences catering to almost every type of traveler, from world-class water sports and diving, relaxing spa experiences, and much more, helping visitors create unforgettable memories. The Maldives has remained open for tourists since July of last year, and across all of its private island resorts, has implemented COVID-19 health and safety measures to ensure the safety and wellbeing of visitors. Guests travelling to the Maldives can enjoy a stress-free journey as hotels across the islands offer convenient PCR testing within the resorts ahead of their return flight. Additionally, travelers to the Maldives can enjoy privacy and seclusion through its extensive range of villa-style accommodation options with private pools. Emirates remains focused on taking the stress out of travel, and has led the industry in protecting the health of its customers to ensure a feeling of safety and confidence when deciding to fly.  Emirates customers travel with the assurance that …

Oman Air resumed flights to Riyadh KSA, operating 4 flights per week. Flights to Dammam KSA resumed on 28 March 2021, operating 4 flights per week. The airline will maintain its comprehensive safety program throughout all elements of the travel journey to ensure that guests fly confidently. Masks are required when guests are onboard the aircraft and in Oman’s airports. Distancing is maintained while guests board and exit the aircraft, which are carefully cleaned after each flight and at the end of every day. Cabin crew all wear a full set of personal protective equipment, meal service has been modified to further ensure safety, and a number of other measures have been implemented to ensure that the airline’s guests and crew are safe at all times. Guests who are planning to travel to Muscat should visit the Civil Aviation Authority website, caa.gov.om, to ensure they are prepared to comply with requirements to enter the Sultanate. Guests travelling to KSA should ensure they are aware of official requirements to enter or transit through the country. Guests departing from Oman should also ensure that they are aware of all pre-departure requirements and requirements during their flights, which are provided at omanair.com.

Oman Air announced its expanded codeshare cooperation with Qatar Airways offers Oman Air guests the flexibility to fly to 10 destinations in the USA with the ease and convenience offered by connecting flights in Doha, Qatar. Now within easier reach from Muscat are New York (JFK), Houston (IAH), Chicago (ORD), Philadelphia (PHL), Los Angeles (LAX), Miami (MIA), Dallas (DFW), Boston (BOS), San Francisco (SFO), and Washington, D.C. (IAD). Eng. Abdulaziz Al Raisi, Chief Executive Officer, Oman Air commented on Oman Air’s growing commercial cooperation with Qatar Airways as a win-win for both carriers, offering greater flexibility and seamless connectivity for business and leisure travellers flying between Muscat and the USA, adding, “Our enhanced codeshare agreement with Qatar Airways, an airline with remarkable reach and reputation around the world, facilitates travel between Oman and some of the most celebrated cities in the US while at the same time offering travellers from North America an easy way to connect to Oman’s breathtaking beauty, rich and diverse culture, and authentic hospitality.”

Cebu Pacific reaffirms its full commitment to speed up its digital transformation, in line with its staunch resolve to make travel more convenient and accessible amidst the COVID-19 pandemic. CEB has taken great strides in continuously improving overall customer experience by enhancing its online booking, check-in, manage booking, as well as CEB’s virtual assistant named ‘Charlie the chatbot’. The carrier has begun ramping-up its customer-first initiatives through digital innovation in 2017—making CEB one of the first airlines in Asia to invest in an integrated facility and technology for social intelligence and customer engagement. “We are glad to have started our digital transformation journey even before the pandemic because we have come to rely on it in this new normal environment. We continue to prioritise the safety and convenience of our passengers, that is why we have accelerated our digital efforts to support contactless and self-service processes,” said Candice Iyog, Vice President for Marketing and Customer Experience, CEB. This has spurred CEB ahead of everyone else in the Philippine aviation sector in terms of keeping pace with necessary changes when the COVID-19 pandemic struck. The vital digital transformations and systems it had adopted early on—including bolstering its social media channels manned by the CEB Customer Care Agents—helped in addressing passengers’ needs amidst the pandemic. Iyog said, “Rest assured Charlie, along with our Customer Care team, are online 24/7 to assist everyone. We continue to enhance existing processes as we remain committed to empowering customers and ensuring access to the information they need anytime, anywhere, without having to call the hotline or go to a ticketing office.”  

Hotelbeds announced a strategic partnership with Banyan Tree Group. With this agreement, Hotelbeds has secured exclusive offers and privileges for its customers at Banyan Tree Group’s 48 hotels across 22 countries. This new partnership will provide Banyan Tree Group with access to Hotelbeds’ 60,000 travel trade buyers based in more than 140 source markets worldwide, that includes high value channels such as travel agents, tour operators, airlines and points redemption programmes. With this strategic partnership, and in anticipation of the resumption of safe travel, Banyan Tree Group will benefit from expanding its customer reach, while giving Hotelbeds’ customers access to exclusive rates designed to inspire travel and help fuel the industry’s recovery. Jorge Cortés, Global Sourcing Director at Hotelbeds said, “Banyan Tree Group is one of our key partners with amazing properties in top destinations worldwide. Thanks to an exceptional business relationship, we are looking to increase our business with them and in turn, provide our global travel trade buyers the opportunity to book and experience its amazing hotels once safe travel resumes.” Bobby Ong, Vice President, Head of Growth from Banyan Tree Group said, “Hotelbeds is well-established in the hospitality industry with its extensive network. This strategic partnership highlights the collaboration of two forward-looking industry brands. With wellbeing and sustainability at our core, our Group’s multi-brand portfolio will cater to discerning customers with different needs for travel post-Covid. With this partnership, we are pleased to strengthen our global reach to travel trade buyers and welcome more international travellers to our awe-inspiring destinations around the world.”

Emirates commenced trials of the International Air Transport Association (IATA) Travel Pass– a mobile app to help passengers easily and securely manage their travel in line with any government requirements for COVID-19 testing or vaccine information. The first passengers travelling from Dubai to Barcelona on EK 185 trialled the ‘digital passport’ to verify and share their pre-travel COVID-19 test status with Emirates. The trials are a step towards making travel more convenient, enabling travellers to manage COVID-19 related documentation digitally, safely and seamlessly throughout the travel experience. In the future, travellers will also be able to share vaccination certificates with authorities and airlines to facilitate travel. Adel Al Redha, Emirates’ Chief Operating Officer said, “The ability to process passengers’ COVID-19 relevant data for travel digitally will be the way forward. We are pleased to have been pioneers and partner with IATA in trialling this initiative in real time and soon will be launching other initiatives to further enhance our customer experience.” The trial is being done on selected Emirates flights from Dubai to Barcelona and London Heathrow to Dubai; and will soon be expanded to include other routes. Eligible passengers are being personally invited to download the app and enrol for the digital travel pass ahead of their travels. In Dubai, Emirates has partnered with select Prime Health Care labs which are authorised to securely send test results to passengers via the app. Those travelling from the UK, can get their test done at select Screen4 labs. The IATA Travel Pass app will have an integrated registry of travel requirements to enable passengers to find accurate information on travel and entry requirements for all destinations regardless of their itinerary. Eventually …

A special MoU and joint cooperation to establish a general framework for the development of the tourism sector through financing tourism projects in the Arab region, with special emphasis on least developed Arab countries was signed under the patronage of His Excellency Dr. Bandar bin Fahd Al Fahid, President of the Arab Tourism Organization (ATO) – Mr. Ayman Amin Sejiny, CEO of the Islamic Corporation for the Development of the Private Sector (ICD) (https://ICD-ps.org), member of the Islamic development Bank Group (IDBG), and His Excellency Mr. Khaled Murad Reda – Assistant Secretary General of the ATO. On this occasion, Ayman Sejiny declared that this memorandum fulfils the objectives of the ICD, aiming at enhancing and improving the structures and mechanisms of cooperation among the member countries of the Organization of Islamic Cooperation (including the Arab countries), as well as responding to their needs by extending financing for development projects and carrying out supporting activities that foster human development and institutional efficiency. The memorandum also tends to implement ICD strategy, which aims to finance investment projects with developmental impacts and to promote activities related to capacity-building, especially for the organizations in charge of promoting investment and trade in IDB member countries. Besides, the Memorandum seeks to build a strategic cooperation relationship between ICD and the ATO especially in the current circumstances, where the tourism sector has been severely affected by the repercussions of the spread of the Corona epidemic. On his part, H.E. Al Fahid expressed his pleasure to sign this memorandum through which many programs and consultations will be presented that serve and support the tourism industry in the Arab world, with emphasis on less developed countries in terms of …

Minister of Tourism Orit Farkash-Hacohen and Minister of Health Yuli Edelstein agreed on a framework for the opening of Israel to vaccinated groups of foreign tourists. Starting May 23, 2021, Israel will open its gates to foreigners after more than a year. In the first stage, groups will be allowed in under guidelines to be published by the Ministries.The agreements were reached following the work of the task force set up by the Ministries, including Head of Public Health Sharon Alroey-Price, Ph.D., and COVID Commissioner Professor Nachman Ash, as well as professionals from the Ministry of Tourism. Edelstein, “Israel is the first vaccinated country, and the citizens of Israel are the first to enjoy this result. After opening the economy, it is time to allow tourism in a careful and calculated manner. Opening the tourism is important for one of the fields most hurt during the COVID year. We will continue to look at easing regulations in accordance to the health situation.” Minister of Tourism, Orit Farkash-Hacohen, “I am pleased to give this important first step to the tourism industry. It is time that Israel’s unique advantage as a safe and healthy country start to assist it in recovering from the economic crisis, and not only serve other countries’ economies. Only opening the skies for international tourism will truly revive the tourism industry, including restaurants, hotels, sites, tour guides, busses and others looking to work and provide for their families. I will continue to work for the full opening of tourism to Israel, which will greatly assist the Israeli economy and create workplaces for many Israelis.”

Department of Culture and Tourism – Abu Dhabi (DCT Abu Dhabi) has extended exemptions of tourism and municipality fees for hotel establishments operating within the Emirate until June 30th, 2021. The exemption follows directives from Abu Dhabi Executive Council that are part of the economic stimulus package and are part of ongoing efforts to support the sector in overcoming challenges from COVID-19. In response to the COVID-19 pandemic, DCT Abu Dhabi introduced a series of initiatives and stimulus packages beginning in March 2020 to support hotel and tourism establishments in the capital. “This initiative is in line with our vision of sustaining and supporting the tourism sector, especially in the exceptional and urgent circumstances that currently face the sector,” said HE Ali Hassan Al Shaiba, Executive Director of the Tourism and Marketing Sector at DCT Abu Dhabi. “This decision supports partners and stakeholders in revitalising the tourism sector and ensuring that it recovers from the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic, providing hotel and tourism facilities with the opportunity to develop and improve their experiences and products. Close collaborations between the public and private sectors are vital, and we are committed to working hand-in-hand to pave the way towards a brighter future,” he added.