In a move to support the ramp up of operations after boosting its passenger services to South Africa, Emirates has signed an interline agreement with Cemair that opens up connections to six more destinations in South Africa through the airline’s gateways of Johannesburg and Cape Town. The partnership also includes a couple of leisure points exclusively served by Cemair. This marks the first partnership between both airlines, and Emirates’ fourth airline partnership in South Africa. The arrangement between Emirates and Cemair includes the convenience of single ticket itineraries with onwards booking and baggage transfers from Johannesburg and Cape Town to Bloemfontein, Kimberley, Margate, Durban, Hoedspruit, Plettenberg Bay, George and Sishen. Adnan Kazim, Chief Commercial Officer, Emirates Airline said: “We are proud to partner with Cemair and commence our interline agreement. The new Cemair links provide our customers with even more possibilities to travel smoothly across many of South Africa’s most popular leisure points, in addition to the added benefit of connectivity to Cemair’s exclusively served points Margate and Plettenberg Bay. Connecting our networks solidifies our commitment to offering our customers even more travel opportunities, especially for those wanting to experience South Africa’s existing favourites, as well as travellers plotting new itineraries. We look forward to working together and strengthening our relationship.” Miles van der Molen, Chief Executive Officer of CemAir said: “We are delighted to partner with Emirates Airline, a name synonymous with quality and elegance. Our interline agreement provides our customers with convenience and savings as they can now seamlessly connect from our flights to the vast global network of this iconic airline.” As we continue our expansion during the post Covid recovery period we realise that now more …

Conrad Abu Dhabi Etihad Towers has become the first Abu Dhabi hotel to partner with Evolvin’ Women, a social enterprise dedicated to the advancement of women in developing countries by providing skill development opportunities in the hospitality sector. During the two-year partnership, Conrad Abu Dhabi Etihad Towers will support Evolvin’ Women in driving women empowerment in the hospitality industry by facilitating two year skill development placement for the women under the Evolvin’ Women Program. As a starting point, the Conrad Abu Dhabi Etihad Towers team has reviewed over 10 profiles and already hired five women in housekeeping and one in F&B who they will train and mentor throughout their work placement. In addition, working in line with both organizations’ commitment to paving gender equality in the hospitality industry, the hotel has appointed two women in the front office as door women – a historically male-dominated role. Assia Riccio, CEO, Evolvin’ Women said: “We are pleased to partner with Conrad Abu Dhabi Etihad Towers and grateful for their support to advancing our cause of gender equality, female empowerment, and diversity in the hospitality industry. I believe appointing doorwomen instead of doormen is a revolutionary step towards breaking gender stereotypes and highlighting women’s potential to excel and grow in any role when given the right opportunity and support. I look forward to working with the hotel and witnessing the positive impact of mentorship from the Conrad Abu Dhabi Etihad Towers team on their professional and personal growth.” Tarek Jarrouje, Director of Human Resources, Conrad Abu Dhabi Etihad Towers said: “We are proud to be the first Abu Dhabi hotel to partner with Evolvin’ Women. By placing women in traditionally male-dominated roles and …

Launched a year ago as part of COVID-19 response, more than 13,000 travel agents have registered and 7,000 have completed the online course. The Department of Culture and Tourism – Abu Dhabi (DCT Abu Dhabi) is marking the first anniversary of its Abu Dhabi Specialists E-learning Programme by introducing new modules and markets for the innovative training scheme. The programme, which was launched just over a year ago as part of DCT Abu Dhabi’s response to the COVID-19 crisis, saw all forms of physical promotional offers, workshops and training courses shifted onto virtual platforms. It was designed to educate travel industry professionals, including front-liners, product managers, tour operators, travel agencies and home-based agents, about ways to promote Abu Dhabi effectively. Launched in May 2020, the e-learning has been successfully rolled out across the markets in 17 different countries and in seven different languages. So far, 13,670 applicants have registered for the course and more than 7,000 have graduated as ‘Abu Dhabi Specialists’. “We are really heartened by the strong support from the global travel trade for this programme and, as such, we will be launching additional learning modules and expanding into new markets in Switzerland and Israel,” said HE Ali Hassan Al Shaiba, Executive Director of Marketing and Tourism at DCT Abu Dhabi. “Despite the last year being an extremely challenging period for the tourism sector, through this innovative programme we have still been able to connect with travel professionals around the world and help them understand why Abu Dhabi is such an extraordinary destination. As we open up to travellers from across the world once again, we are confident the Programme has increased awareness of Abu Dhabi’s amazing offerings, which in turn will lead to increased sales activity …

Dubai’s Roads and Transport Authority (RTA) has unveiled a transportation plan to serve visitors of Expo 2020 from around the United Arabi Emirates. The plan specifies 9 locations across UAE in Abu Dhabi, Sharjah, Fujairah, Ajman and Ras Al Khaimah. A total of 70 dedicated buses will be deployed to run 193 daily trips during weekdays, and 213 daily trips on Thursday and Friday. His Excellency Mattar Mohammed Al Tayer, Director-General, Chairman of the Board of Executive Directors of the Roads and Transport Authority (RTA), reiterated RTA’s commitment to facilitating the movement of visitors from various emirates to and from Expo 2020. The plan aims to make public transport the ideal mobility choice of Expo visitors. “As part of its master operational plan for transporting Expo 2020 visitors, RTA has dedicated a full fleet of public buses compatible with the low carbon emission standards of Euro 6 buses, which will be making their debut in the MENA region. The plan illustrates RTA’s keenness to reduce the carbon footprint of these buses. Each bus has a low-floor entry to make it easily accessible to people of determination. Buses are designed to deliver premium services to mass transit riders thanks to the high-class finishing works, roomy seats, dedicated seats for children, WiFi service, USB charging ports and an array of smart systems,” said Al Tayer. Abu Dhabi and Al Ain “The plan specified 4 stations in Abu Dhabi for transporting Expo 2020 visitors. The first is at Abu Dhabi International Airport. RTA will deploy 10 buses to run 31 daily trips in both directions from Saturday to Wednesday, and 33 daily trips in both directions on Thursday and Friday,” announced Al Tayer. …

Leading independent travel company Travel Counsellors has launched a brand-new internal Community Platform, “TC World”, to further unite the global community of over 2000 Travel Counsellors and support colleagues, inspired by how its people have come together to support and learn from each other during the pandemic. This comes as the business continues to focus on building and enhancing its platform of support for its business owners, with the company seeing a continual increase in enquiries and bookings, as consumer confidence builds, and travellers look for trusted travel advice more so than ever. The business has also reported more and more people taking this as an opportunity to start their own businesses as part of the proven, customer focused business model including the 20 new Travel Counsellors who joined the business here in The UAE in the last year. Throughout the pandemic, Travel Counsellors witnessed the true power of having a strong community, as its people came together to support one another, even when they couldn’t physically be together. Each day, the company’s business owners were producing huge amounts of user-generated content, to advise, help and care for each other. There was so much collaboration happening, that Travel Counsellors recognised a huge opportunity to bring this content together in a meaningful way, which inspired the launch of TC World. A blend between social and forum technologies, the platform is a virtual space where people can come together to meet, connect, and collaborate, enabling them to reach their goals, whilst at the same time creating social bonds that will last a lifetime. Karen Morris, Operations Director at Travel Counsellors said “As a business, we have built an incredibly strong culture, focusing …

The United Arab Emirates University, the flagship institution with an independent pavilion at Expo 2020 Dubai, reveals the pavilion façade design built on the theme of the ‘University of the Future’ (UoF), a new model of education which is focused on preparing the next generation in solving employability challenges, by transforming the youth from ‘job seekers’ to ‘job creators’ with the Pathfinders Program and the Institute of the Future (IoF) among its central initiatives. The façade, exterior face of the building, shows a visually distinctive image on the upper panel showcasing three adventurous pathfinders walking in the Arab desert towards the unexplored opportunities, creativity and intellectual education, in a deeper sense, to ‘Discover, Become, and Co-create’ and pointing towards the stars. Together with the UAEU Expo team, TODO designed the main artwork that expresses the symbolic narratives of Pathfinders Program of re-imagining the possibilities around humanity’s yet most daring adventure of building and sustaining a human colony on Mars. The red planet here metaphorically indicates a new beginning for humanity and a source of new ideas for addressing some of Earth’s most complex challenges. The Arab desert echoes the UAE’s valued local landscape. Eventually, the Pathfinders are inclined to address the unemployment dilemma by pointing to the stars, indicating solving the 100 million stars unemployment challenge in the Arab World and beyond, the UoF’s primary mission of fostering job creators rather than job seekers. Dr. Nihel Chabrak, Executive Director of UAEU Pavilion at Expo 2020 said, “The Façade is a reflection of the UAEU philosophy and drive: being rooted in the country natural and cultural heritage while aspiring for a better future for humankind. The UAE plan to colonize Mars …

Visitors to the Syria Pavilion at Expo 2020 Dubai will be able to see a replica of Ugaritic alphabet, widely believed to be the first alphabet in history, dating back to around 1,400 BC. The pavilion will reveal more about the development of writing and the alphabet in several areas across Syria, in addition to the alphabet’s impact and the influence of the Arabic language on many other languages around the world. The pavilion will showcase a rich civilisation that contributed towards laying the foundations that connect the world as we know it. Syria was historically home to the very first crop yield, alphabet, poem and musical notation, making Syrian culture an embodiment of Expo 2020’s theme ‘Connecting Minds, Creating the Future’. Visitors to the pavilion will learn more about words of Arabic origin that are now present in their other languages around the world, helping to highlight that what unites us is greater than what divides us. There will also be an audiovisual interactive experience in which visitors can take part in singing and playing mankind’s oldest musical notation, which was written in Ugarit more than 3,500 years ago. This experience aims to speak to visitors in the universal language of music. Other attractions at the pavilion include a group exhibition for Syrian artists entitled ‘I Am Syrian’. It will showcase artworks that each represent a portrait of a Syrian face, highlighting the similarities and connectedness that humans share and how, together, we can create a brighter future for Syria and the whole world. Each face displayed in the exhibition will tell an individual story, and all artworks will have a unified signature by the artists saying “I am …

Aleph Hospitality has announced the launch of its hotel Innovation Lab to help drive innovation in the travel, tourism and hospitality as the industry recovers post pandemic. The company is on the lookout for dynamic and innovative startups that are transforming the travel, tourism & hospitality sector, and that seek support on their journey from a dynamic, experienced, and entrepreneurial team of senior industry professionals. “At Aleph Hospitality we operate with an entrepreneurial spirit in everything we do, and we pride ourselves on our culture of innovation. As a team we have been looking at ways to help drive innovation in travel, tourism and hospitality, in a time our industry needs it the most”, said Bani Haddad, Founder and Managing Director of Aleph Hospitality. “Through the Innovation Lab we want to support and promote entrepreneurs that are changing the face of our industry and offer them a springboard to launch and grow their business by providing office space, business support and advisory, product testing facilities and investment opportunities.” Aleph Hospitality is looking to onboard the first start-ups in its Innovation Lab in the company’s headquarters in Dubai by the end of September 2021.UAE based start-ups – and international entrepreneurs willing to relocate to Dubai – with innovative products, solutions and/or technologies in the fields of Artificial intelligence (AI), hotel guest & employee guest experience, sustainability & renewable energy, food & beverage and/or community service(s) are encouraged to apply for the Innovation Lab. Candidates can register their interest on the Aleph Hospitality website and the submission deadline is 2 September 2021. Shortlisted start-ups will be invited for a face-to-face meeting at the Aleph Hospitality offices in Dubai in September, with the …

Ailsa Pollard has been appointed as Chief Executive Officer, dnata Travel Group (UK & Europe). She will start in her new role on 1st November 2021, and report in to the previous holder of the role, John Bevan, who now oversees all aspects of dnata’s global travel business as Divisional Senior Vice President for Travel. Ailsa will assume responsibility for all of dnata Travel Group’s UK-based brands (Gold Medal, Travel Republic, Travelbag, Netflights and Sunmaster) as the head of a leadership team and workforce numbering nearly 800 people. As a key member of the leadership team for dnata Travel Group, part of the Emirates Group, during the last 12 years, she’s held a variety of senior roles. These include, Vice President – Business Development and Strategy, heading the team that oversaw the acquisition of and holding board positions on many of the businesses that now form the Group’s UK portfolio; and four years as Senior Vice President – Emirates Holidays, in which she oversaw the brand’s global operations across 36 markets. Most recently, as Senior Vice President – Transformation (Global) & Consumer Businesses (ME&I), she had responsibility for the dnata Travel consumer travel brand in the UAE, and overseeing a complete strategic review and transformation of dnata Travel Group’s global portfolio of brands through COVID, driving operational efficiencies and strategic clarity to support the delivery of its post-pandemic vision of ‘reconnecting a better world’.   Commenting on her appointment, John Bevan, dnata’s Divisional Senior Vice President for Travel, said: “We’re delighted that another part of the dnata Travel family will now be able to benefit from Ailsa’s expertise and leadership. I’ve had the pleasure of working with her for a …

Emirates Aviation University (EAU) has signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with the UAE’s Ministry of Presidential Affairs, supporting the national agenda to promote higher education for UAE nationals.   Under the MoU, two scholarships will be awarded to UAE National students at the Emirates Aviation University every academic year (one post-graduate and one undergraduate), in addition to scholarships for other students sponsored by The Ministry of Presidential Affairs, covering 20% of their fees.   Dr Ahmad Al Ali, EAU Vice-Chancellor, said: “It’s an honour to partner with the Ministry of Presidential Affairs. EAU is committed to supporting the UAE in growing the knowledge economy and fostering high achievement amongst the UAE national community. By increasing the scholarships available to UAE students, we hope to encourage more nationals to pursue higher education and further academic qualifications. We look forward to welcoming our first scholarship students through this new MoU in the upcoming academic year.”   Mr Juma Al Rumaithi, Director of the Scholarships Office, Ministry of Presidential Affairs said: “Scholarships are part of our strategy to promote higher education and help local talent develop their skills and knowledge to achieve the UAE’s varied ambitions. We’ve had great success in collaborating with various higher education institutions across the nation, including with the Emirates Aviation University, and today we are pleased to formalize that collaboration under this new MoU.”