Miral announced that over 40% construction completion of SeaWorld Abu Dhabi. In collaboration with SeaWorld Parks & Entertainment, this landmark project will bring the next generation of marine life theme parks to Yas Island and will be home to the UAE’s first dedicated marine research, rescue, rehabilitation and return center providing world-class facilities to support regional and global conservation efforts. His Excellency Mohamed Khalifa Al Mubarak, Chairman of Miral said: “This is yet another great new addition to Yas Island’s immersive attractions and experiences. It will help further position the island as a top global destination, and contribute to the growth of Abu Dhabi’s tourism vision. We are proud to have partnered with SeaWorld Parks & Entertainment on this incredible project, which brings more than 55 years of expertise in marine conservation and world class marine animal care to Yas Island.” Commenting on the partnership with Miral, Scott Ross, Chairman of SeaWorld Parks & Entertainment, said “It’s a privilege to partner with Miral, a best-in-class organization, to build SeaWorld Abu Dhabi, the first new SeaWorld park in over 30 years and the first outside of North America. Yas Island is a visionary and transformational project, and is already becoming a landmark destination for global travellers. We are thrilled SeaWorld will be a part of this special place, which will further expand our vitally important marine life research, rescue, conservation and education efforts in the region.” Marc Swanson, the interim chief executive officer of SeaWorld Parks & Entertainment, commented, “SeaWorld Abu Dhabi represents the first new SeaWorld park in over 30 years and the first park outside of North America. We’re looking forward to creating unforgettable experiences for our guests, educating …

Etihad Airways is offering federal government employees up to 15% off flights with the launch of its UAE Government Employee Travel Programme. Travellers who enrol into the programme for free will be able to check in at Abu Dhabi International Airport using a dedicated counter and will receive 15kg additional baggage allowance. When travelling to the USA or Canada, travellers can bring an extra bag weighing up to 23kg in Economy and up to 32kg in Business and First class. Duncan Bureau, Senior Vice President Sales and Distribution, Etihad Airways said, “We are delighted to partner with the UAE Government to offer its employees exclusive travel discounts, benefits and rewards. Whether booking for business or leisure, we hope this new travel programme will encourage more residents to start flying again.”

Emirates has launched a suite of connectivity options for its trade partners around the world to easily and directly access the airline’s rich content and other services.Developed using IATA’s New Distribution Capability (NDC) standards, the Emirates Gateway is available via the recently launched Emirates Partners Portal. Adnan Kazim, Emirates’ Chief Commercial Officer said, “The Emirates Gateway suite of connection options has been built on new technology and is designed to address the limitations of current legacy distribution systems. Our aim was to create a platform that empowers us to rapidly develop and deploy new products and services, thereby giving us and our trade partners the ability to offer even more value-added and differentiated services. It also prepares the way for Emirates to offer custom content and dynamic pricing that better responds to our changing marketplace.” Offering improved access to Emirates’ products and services with an intuitive and easy to ease interface, the Emirates Gateway offers the airline’s trade partners the ability to enhance travellers’ journeys with customised products and services. Trade partners can connect to the Emirates Gateway via three flexible access solutions: Emirates Booking Portal: a user-friendly web booking portal available in 12 languages, connected directly to Emirates’ reservation systems that simplifies the booking, ticketing and post-ticketing servicing of Emirates orders; Emirates Gateway Direct: which provides access to Emirates content through IATA NDC APIs, allowing trade partners to build applications that meet their needs with expert support from Emirates’ IT teams; Emirates Gateway Sync: a facilitated link into the Emirates reservation system provided by industry leading, IATA registered, Emirates certified technology partners.

Rotana revealed its newest five-star luxury property, Al Jaddaf Rotana, is on target to launch by November 2020. Despite the current challenging environment the world is facing, Rotana continues to strive forward with a firm development pipeline, and plans for Al Jaddaf Rotana will move ahead as scheduled. The hotel marks the group’s 35th property within the UAE. Guy Hutchinson, President and CEO of Rotana said, “It is with great pride that we announce Al Jaddaf Rotana will open its doors this November. Under Rotana’s strong leadership and its unwavering vision for the future, albeit one of the toughest years the global hospitality industry has ever faced, we remain dedicated to our expansion plans and commitment to continue offering guests comfortable and high quality spaces. Al Jaddaf Rotana, a property in the heart of Dubai, will truly encapsulate the Rotana way of living.” Haytham Omar, the newly appointed General Manager at Al Jaddaf Rotana says, “Our vision is to ensure each and every guest receives an exceptional combination of comfort and culture during their stay in Dubai. Our team’s passion, dedication and enthusiasm has enabled us to introduce a new hotel during what is truly a unique time for all, and we look forward to our impending opening, creating unique experiences for our guests.”

Lufthansa Group has announced that it will be increasing its flight operations to the Middle East in the fourth quarter of 2020. Lufthansa German Airlines will increase its capacity from four flights per week from Dubai to Frankfurt, to five flights per week as of October 2020. In addition, SWISS is set to restart its services from Dubai to Zurich with three flights per week beginning on the 29th of October 2020, further boosting connectivity between the two destinations. The new SWISS Dubai–Zurich service will depart on Mondays, Thursdays, and Saturdays, while Zurich–Dubai flights will run on Tuesdays, Thursdays, and Saturdays. Dubai–Zurich flights will depart at 01:55 hrs and arrive at 06:10 hrs, and Zurich–Dubai flights depart at 21:50 hrs and arrive at 07:00 hrs (+1). The flights have been introduced as part of Lufthansa Group’s winter schedule to cater to continuing growth in demand for intercontinental travel. Heinrich Lange, Senior Director Sales, Gulf, Afghanistan and Pakistan, Lufthansa Group, commented, “We are pleased to unveil details of our winter schedule between our hubs Frankfurt and Zurich and the Middle East. Recent steady increases in passenger numbers signal a growing confidence in the safety of air travel. In line with this encouraging rise in demand, we aim to bring our customers multiple options that offer greater choice and convenience while maintaining the highest standards of safety at all times. It’s wonderful to see travellers taking to the skies again and we look forward to connecting them to where they need to be in the months ahead.” As part of its commitment to safeguarding the health and safety of its customers and team members, Lufthansa is continuing to implement stringent hygiene and …

Millennium Airport Hotel Dubai has received another Stay Safe Certification audited by the StaySafe Hospitality. StaySafe provides a fresh approach to how hotels manage their risks. Developed and managed by hospitality professionals, the tools, audits and standards are all generated with a goal to continually improve the risk standards in the hospitality sector. Simon Moore, General Manager of Millennium Airport Hotel Dubai, said, “We are delighted to be recognised again by our trusted partner like StaySafe Hospitality. This achievement reflects the tremendous hard work and dedication that our team members have been putting in to meet always the high-quality standards of cleanliness, fire safety, food safety and security expectations of our guests. The comprehensive result enables us to benchmark and compare our procedures against the industry best practices as well as work on areas of improvement.” Moore further added, “Our guests safety and well-being is and always our utmost priority. Having a positive health and safety culture throughout the hotel helps to create a comfortable environment and we would like our guests to feel safe during their stay with us.” The Millennium Airport Hotel Dubai features 341 spacious rooms & suites, distinctive choice of restaurants and bars, meetings and event spaces such as magnificent Al Garhoud ballroom and outdoor garden area perfect for any type of large events and 7 meeting rooms with high-end meeting facilities for corporate meetings and conferences. The hotel also offers a range of leisure options including a superb large outdoor swimming pool, spa, saloon and fully-equipped fitness centre.

Dubai Association Centre (DAC) is poised to see a strong uplift in new licensed associations through the rest of 2020, having supported its registered associations through the global Covid-19 pandemic. And with the challenges faced globally putting a renewed spotlight on the need for knowledge sharing and collaboration, DAC’s ability to bolster the contribution being made by associations in key professions and sectors to the development of the city’s knowledge economy is set to be more important than ever before. Issam Kazim, Chief Executive Officer of Dubai Corporation for Tourism and Commerce Marketing, said, “We would like to take this opportunity to welcome our newly licensed associations and look forward to seeing them benefit from and contribute to the numerous opportunities Dubai has to offer as a global knowledge and business events hub. We look forward to building relationships with more associations – both from around the world and those already with a presence in Dubai – and to give them a better understanding of the benefits of registering with DAC.” Kazim added, “The ability of the Dubai Association Centre to grow its membership during difficult circumstances is a testament to Dubai’s reputation as a preferred hub for international and professional associations. We are closely watching economic developments and their impact on the emirate’s association sector and exploring new ways that we can support DAC members and help them prepare for a post-Covid-recovery.” Mahir Julfar, Executive Vice President, Venue Services Management, Dubai World Trade Centre, said, “The opening of DAC’s new headquarters in DWTC’s One Central development at the end of 2019 was another important step in fostering a strong association community in the city, providing registered associations with an …

Emirates has introduced self- check-in and bag drop kiosks for a more seamless airport experience at Terminal 3, Dubai International Airport. The service is now available to customers travelling to all destinations except to the US, Canada, China, India and Hong Kong due to additional requirements from these destinations.The 16 new self-service bag drop machines and 8 self-service kiosks complement the desks manned by Emirates check-in agents to reduce waiting time for customers during peak periods and improve the customer experience in Dubai. More self-services facilities are planned to be added in the coming months.The kiosks allow customers to check-in, receive their boarding pass, choose seats on board, and drop off their bags. While Emirates staff will be on hand for any assistance required, the facilities are fully self- service, allowing customers to breeze through the airport and proceed directly to immigration. The facilities are cleaned and disinfected regularly and hand sanitisers are also available for customers to use. The new offering is part of Emirates’ continued investment in product and service to provide an unmatched travel experience on ground and on board. The solution was developed in house at Emirates in collaboration with Dubai Aviation Engineering Projects and Dubai Airports. The self check-in kiosks will be continually upgraded to offer new features in the future including going touchless, and allowing customers to make re-bookings on their own. Flexibility and assurance: Emirates’ booking policies offer customers flexibility and confidence to plan their travel. Customers who purchase an Emirates ticket for travel on or before 31 March 2021, can enjoy generous rebooking terms and options, if they have to change their travel plans. Customers have options to change their travel dates, extend …

Taiwan is currently in discussion to gradually welcome the Heart of Asia for foreign tourists. According Ministry of Transportation and Communications (MOTC) the plan is to reopen transportation and tourism in three stages, the last of which will allow foreign tourists to visit the country hopefully by October. Taiwan as a whole, an island with a population of approximately 23 million people, there have been around 500 confirmed cases and just 7 deaths since the beginning of the pandemic. As of today, the residents of Taipei seem relaxed in the knowledge there has been only one suspected case linked to local transmission in the city since mid-April. In the months since its effective response to the outbreak of COVID-19, the world has gained a greater appreciation of Taiwan’s capacity for confronting problems. Taiwan’s response to COVID-19 without a lockdown has revealed its resilience and capacity for unity of purpose.If you happen to get a glimpse of Taiwan right now, one may easily believe to think that the pandemic never touched this country – you will see young groups of people exercising and practicing dance routines in the park, citizens enjoying the hot midday sun than social distancing; restaurants and eateries packed with people enjoying their scrumptious meals and so much more making you believe life here is somewhat surreal. Taiwan Tourism Bureau (TTB) in the Middle East is gearing up with strategic activities to promote the country in the region. In 2019, TTB completed various successful promotional activities with Emirates Airline, multi-city roadshows, 360 creative media campaigns, sales and influencer collaborations growing interest of Taiwan amongst GCC travellers.The strategy this year is to push more digital and social media initiatives …

As part of Singapore Airlines’ (SIA) efforts to deliver an enriched experience to customers, a wider range of fares and personalised content will be provided to its travel trade partners in the UAE from February 2021. This comes via an expansion of SIA’s KrisConnect Programme, which leverages new distribution technology to make available improved content and functionality through partner platforms. In launching KrisConnect in 2018, SIA was one of the first airlines in Asia-Pacific to take advantage of this new technology. From 07 February 2021, SIA-appointed agents in the UAE that participate in the KrisConnect Programme will benefit from improved speed-to-market, access to the widest range of fare products including personalised content, and the ability to offer customised products to their customers, such as bundled packages and negotiated fare deals. This, in turn, elevates the booking experience for customers through increased levels of personalisation and acknowledgement of their KrisFlyer status. To ensure maximised accessibility of the KrisConnect Programme in the UAE, travel agencies and other external partners can take advantage of multiple ways to access the new content and functionalities. SIA will make content available through traditional Global Distribution System partners such as Amadeus, Sabre and Travelport, as well as new technology partners, including but not limited to Aaron Group, Duffel, HitchHiker, PKFARE, TPConnects, Travel Boutique Online, Travelfusion, TravelNDC and Verteil Technologies. In addition, SIA’s travel agent portal, AGENT360, will be launched in the UAE to allow travel agents direct access to content via the KrisConnect Programme. Singapore Airlines General Manager Gulf and Middle East, Christian Stenkewitz said the KrisConnect Programme was part of Singapore Airlines’ commitment to becoming the world’s leading digital airline. “We are pleased to launch the …