Tag Archives: Dubai

Cebu Pacific (CEB) offers 25 kilograms of additional free baggage allowance to UAE residents travelling from Dubai to Manila. Starting March 1 until November 30, 2018, all passengers originating from Dubai travelling to Manila with pre-purchased baggage allowance of 40 kilograms will receive additional 25 kilograms baggage allowance, free-of-charge. The offer will be given upon check-in of the guest at the airport. A 40-kilogram baggage allowance on Cebu Pacific costs between AED 320 and AED 340. Passengers, even those with connecting flights to other Philippine domestic destinations operated by Cebu Pacific, will get the advantage of the additional 25 kilograms being carried over up to their next flight, as long as their flight itinerary is booked under one reference number only. This promotion is not valid on return flights from the Philippines to the Middle East, and on bookings with Cebgo connecting flights.

According to Dubai tourism, Dubai will be the first city to embark on the journey of democratising travel through the use of emerging technologies as it adds an additional distribution channel for hotels in its first phase, as its recently announced 10X initiative. Launched at the World Government Summit by His Highness Sheikh Hamdan bin Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Crown Prince of Dubai and Chairman of the Executive Council of Dubai Government as one of the ‘Dubai 10X’ projects, Dubai Tourism (DTCM) is set to implement this ground-breaking programme within the next 24 months, enabling Dubai to enhance distribution of its tourism inventory through a future-proofed virtual B2B marketplace for the travel industry. Explaining the objective of 10X, Al Maktoum said, “Success of governments is determined by their ability and flexibility to re-invent themselves, and upgrade their services to cater to the evolving needs of the community.” Dubai Tourism aims to give global guests direct choice across the breadth and depth of the local tourism inventory within a highly safe, transparent and real-time environment. As the first mover in the facilitation of this type of technologically advanced, secure and scalable digital solution for the travel industry, it positions Dubai as a think-thank and innovation leader seeking to truly democratise travel.

Tourists can now expect to experience a one-of-a-kind shopping destination on their visit to Dubai during the latter part of the year as the emirate is building one of the most exclusive malls in the world with a 365 day miracle garden in the centre. According to Fahimuddin Sharfuddin, Chief Executive Officer and Board Member, Cityland Group, “With consistent progress on both the construction and leasing side, we look forward to launching Cityland Mall during the fourth quarter of this year and add a unique dimension in terms of retail to the UAE market. We are working to conclude the leasing activities by adding an additional 30 per cent of leased retail space by year-end.” In terms of construction, 60 per cent of the project has been completed as of February 2018. By the end of Q2, 2018 the site will be open for most of the mall tenants to come in and commence their fit-out works. The landscaping contract for Central Park has been awarded to Miracle Garden Landscaping, the company behind the world-class landscaped projects such as Dubai Miracle Garden and Dubai Butterfly Garden. The 200,000 sq.ft. Central Park will provide a unique experience for shoppers and has been designed to accommodate 7,000 shoppers at a time in its vast expanse.

SaudiGulf Airlines will launch its maiden international operations to Dubai as a double daily flight catering to the corporate and leisure travellers between the two nations from March 1, 2018. The flight will departure Riyadh at 07:50 and arrive Dubai at 10:55, and commence departure from Dubai at 12:10 with arrival at 13:05 in Riyadh. The other flight timings will be 16:00 departing Riyadh and reaching Dubai by 18:55, and departing Dubai at 20:55 and reaching Riyadh by 21:50 with a starting all inclusive fare of AED 999. It will be a two configuration A320 with 16 Business First class seats and 120 seats in economy, an in-flight entertainment system, Wi-Fi service onboard along with a dedicated chauffeur service in Riyadh. Samer Majali, President and Chief Executive Officer, SaudiGulf Airlines stated that after just one year and two months of domestic operations in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, they found the niche in Dubai in the international market to serve a destination with the most amount of traffic. This strategic decision was taken by SaudiGulf Airlines considering the strong affairs between the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates, supported by Dubai Tourism to provide greater varieties to travellers from both countries.

Emirates will once again begin operations with its flagship A380 service between Houston (IAH) and Dubai (DXB) from June 1, 2018. Houston will join more than 40 destinations on Emirates’ extensive global network served by its popular A380 aircraft, including Mumbai, Kuala Lumpur, Singapore and Kuwait. Emirates will deploy its three-class A380 on the Houston route, offering a total of  516 seats with 14 private suites in First Class, 76 flatbed seats in Business Class seats and 426 spacious seats in Economy Class, increasing capacity per flight by more than 160 passengers compared to the current Boeing 777-300ER. Services to Houston were upgraded to an A380 in December 2014, but as part of Emirates’ fleet optimisation, the decision was made in July 2016 to operate the route with a Boeing 777-300ER. Flight EK211 will depart Dubai at 09:35 and arrive in Houston at 16:50 daily. Return flight EK212 will depart Houston at 20:00 and arrive in Dubai at 20:00 the next day. Passengers from Houston can enjoy convenient connections in Dubai when travelling to destinations in India, Pakistan, Saudi Arabia, Bahrain, Kuwait, Thailand, Malaysia, Singapore or South Africa.

The Dubai Health Authority (DHA) has launched the Dubai International Health Tourism Forum in association with Global Healthcare Travel Forum and World Health Travel Congress at the Madinat Jumeirah, Dubai. The two-day conference from February 20-21 is in line with the vision and the strategic goal of transforming Dubai into a global destination for health tourism. It comprises interactive conference, exhibition and hosted buyer programme for hospital groups, medical travel organisations and health services companies to increase their international presence and patient network, while gaining market share in this ever-growing industry. The hosted buyer programme is organised by the World Health Tourism Congress (WHTC), an exclusive congress targeted at top level senior executives from corporate buyers and government institutions from all over the world. The event attracted 80 best qualified corporate buyers mainly from the GCC area, Africa, Europe, Asia, Russian speaking countries, and North America. The hosted buyer sessions will be dedicated to pre-arranged one-on-one meeting between global corporate buyers and solution providers.

In partnership with Meraas and Dubai Police, H.E. Li Lingbing, Consul General of the People’s Republic of China in Dubai kick-started the 2018 Dubai Spring Festival Grand Parade celebrations. Lingbing said, “The Spring Festival is of great significance to the Chinese and is the most important traditional festival in our calendar, akin to the importance of Eid al-Fitr and Eid al-Adha in the region. The city witnessed celebrations at various locations including Dubai Parks and Resorts, Al Seef, La Mer, Dubai Airport, Boxpark, The Outlet Village, Dubai Design District, The Beach and Dubai Mall.” The Spring Festival Grand Parade witnessed around 30 parading groups, consisting of over 1,000 visiting Chinese, expatriates and international friends, along with the Dubai Police band. Showcasing the arts, traditions and culture of 56 ethnic groups from 34 provinces in China, the grand parade included ethnic costumes and traditional art forms, such as Tai Chi, Peking opera, acrobatics and fairy tales. “The tremendous business potential offered by these activities has drawn worldwide attention, with a large number of Chinese people travelling abroad during the festival, bringing significant economic benefits to host cities. Last year, China witnessed 130 million people travelling abroad, an increase of 7 per cent over the previous year, of which several million travelled in the seven-day Spring Festival holiday,” said Lingbing.

Emirates has launched its new service to Auckland via Bali from June 14, 2018. The new operations will offer global travellers a total of three daily services to New Zealand, complementing Emirates’ existing non-stop daily service between Dubai and Auckland. Emirates’ new Dubai-Bali-Auckland flight will provide the only year-round non-stop daily service between Auckland and Bali, giving passengers an opportunity to visit or stop over in one of the most popular islands in Indonesia. The airline will operate a 777-300ER on the route, offering eight seats in First, 42 seats in Business and 304 seats in Economy class, as well as 20 tonnes of belly-hold cargo capacity. Tim Clark, President, Emirates Airline, said, “We are confident that our year-round service between Auckland and Bali will be well received by our customers, not only in New Zealand and Indonesia, but also from our global network particularly from markets like the UK, Europe and the Middle East.” The southbound flight, EK 450, will depart Dubai at 06:55, arriving at Denpasar (Bali) at 20:20 local time, before flying on to Auckland at 22:00, arriving in New Zealand’s biggest city at 10:00, the following day. Northbound, the new service will depart Auckland as flight EK 451 at the convenient time of 12:40, arriving in Denpasar at 17:55 local time. It will depart Denpasar at 19:50, arriving in Dubai just after midnight at 00:45.

Dubai’s Department of Tourism and Commerce Marketing (Dubai Tourism) is cementing the emirate’s position as one of the top destinations to celebrate Chinese New Year with 10 days of Chinese festivities happening across the city. Running from February 15-24, there will be a host of activities celebrating Chinese New Year for residents and visitors to enjoy, from traditional Chinese dining offerings to breathtaking shows including contortionist dancers, acrobat wheel and a two-time Guinness World record breaking show, as well as shopping promotions in major retail outlets. Ahmed Al Khaja, CEO, Dubai Festivals and Retail Establishment (DFRE), an agency of Dubai Tourism, said: “China is a key source market for us and Dubai welcomes an increasing number of Chinese visitors each year. Along with our strategic partners, we’re excited to announce that this year’s celebration of Chinese New Year will be bigger and better than ever before, with an expanded line up of activities set to spread the festive cheer across the city.”

Set to transform the virtual reality entertainment landscape, Emaar Entertainment has announced a first-of-its-kind VR Park in Dubai due to open in the first half of 2018 at The Dubai Mall. The attraction will provide an unprecedented breadth of games, rides and experiences to suit all ages. Combining Augmented Reality, Virtual Reality and experiential attractions, VR Park is designed to blur the lines between perception and reality through game changing experiences, spanning wholly immersive rides, educational journeys and interactive games. Focusing on the concept of ‘Shared Escapism’, many of the attractions offer a multi-player experience – allowing visitors to interact with one another and live the experience with family and friends. VR Park has been specifically designed with attractions appealing to all interests, across adrenaline, horror, leisure and more.