Tag Archives: Germany

Ras Al Khaimah Tourism Development Authority (RAKTDA) has further strengthened its position in Europe with a multi-city roadshow in the UK and Germany last month that brought together more than 370 tour operators and travel agents. In a bid to attract 1.5 million visitors by 2021, increased emphasis has been put on growing further awareness in key European markets. The European roadshow covered key cities including Hamburg, Stuttgart, Frankfurt, London, Birmingham, Liverpool, and Edinburgh to meet industry representatives and introduce Ras Al Khaimah’s diverse and spectacular beach, desert, mountain, and adventure offerings.  Held at iconic venues such as the Emirates Stadium in London and Edinburgh Castle, the roadshow allowed participants an opportunity to discover Ras Al Khaimah’s unique proposition and its tourism products via presentations, networking events, and interactive quizzes. Haitham Mattar, Chief Executive officer of Ras Al Khaimah Tourism Development Authority, said, “With a unique combination of authentic Arabian hospitality, pristine beaches and outdoor adventure pursuits, Ras Al Khaimah has a great appeal to holidaymakers from all over Europe. We have seen a significant growth in the number of visitors from Europe over the last couple of years, and therefore, our ongoing roadshow programme is a great vehicle to tell the story of the accessible Arabian hospitality. As we look towards our goal of 1.5 million visitors by 2021 and 3 million by 2025, it is essential to personally connect with travel professionals from our source markets to give them a real flavour of everything Ras Al Khaimah has to offer our visitors.”  

The Higher Organising Committee of IWAS World Games Sharjah 2019 confirmed that 1,462 participants from 50 countries are set to compete in the world’s largest wheelchair and amputee sports championship in Sharjah from February 10-16. Held under the patronage of His Highness Sheikh Dr Sultan bin Muhammad Al Qasimi, Supreme Council Member Ruler of Sharjah, the IWAS World Games has returned to the emirate for the second time after its successful debut in the city in 2011. The eighth edition of the world championship brings together seven games including archery, athletics, badminton, swimming, shooting, table tennis and wheelchair fencing. New details of the upcoming biennial sports championship were revealed at a press conference held recently at Sheraton Sharjah Beach Resort & Spa. Global athletes landing in Sharjah over the next few days are set to represent 50 competing nations confirmed by the Higher Organising Committee which include the UAE, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, Bahrain, Kuwait, Algeria, Yemen, Syria, Iraq, Egypt, India, Sweden, Ukraine, Thailand, Turkey, Brazil, Portugal, Switzerland, Japan, Australia, Kenya, Russia, China, Ireland, Kazakhstan, Italy, South Africa, South Korea, Poland, Pakistan, Norway, Kenya, Latvia, Macau, Azerbaijan, Canada, Croatia, Cyprus, Estonia, Germany, Serbia, France, Georgia, the UK, the US, Hong Kong, Greece, Czech Republic, Austria, Belarus and Comoros.

SIHOT, a customer-centered technology solution managing various aspects of hotel operations, was launched recently at Dubai HITEC 2018. Developed by GUBSE AG in Germany, the solution helps local hoteliers to adopt latest technologies in the fast development and tech progress challenges in the hospitality industry. It combines different modules, from PMS and CRM, to self check-in terminal and web app for the guests, into one manageable application for hoteliers. With Dubai’s high ambitions to attract 25 million tourists by 2025 and the growing numbers of hotel rooms available (additional 155,000 by 2020), local hoteliers are looking for new ways to attract more guests. Having noticed the challenges of hoteliers in the Middle East, SIHOT has partnered with BizGate Marketing & Consultancies to help industry professionals enhance their guest experience. David Warren, Director, International Sales, SIHOT, siad, “We understand the challenges Middle East hoteliers are facing. We want to help them to manage everyday operation using just one complex solution, as well as staying ahead by adopting the latest tech trends.” Mohamad Masri, Managing Director, BizGate Marketing & Consultancies, said, “We’ve been observing the considerable growth of rooms supply this year and it’s the crucial time for hoteliers to optimise their operations and enhance their guest experience.”

Dubai remains on track to becoming the most visited city for global travel, business and events, according to the latest visitation figures released by Dubai’s Department of Tourism & Commerce Marketing (Dubai Tourism). The emirate welcomed 11.58 million visitors in the first three quarters of 2018, with India retaining its position as Dubai’s leading source market, followed by Saudi Arabia and the UK continuing to hold second and third positions respectively, underlining the city’s sustained appeal to its traditional strongholds and a wider diversified global audience. Russia, China and Germany continued to be key drivers within the top performing markets, each recording double-digit growth compared to the same period in 2017. Tourism from Russia remained on high trajectory, growing by a massive 60 per cent year-on-year, with visitor numbers surging to 460,000 in just the first nine months of 2018. The increase in Russian overnight guests was supported by a strong 19 per cent growth in air capacity across non-stop flights, in addition to added ease of travel access following the introduction of visa-on-arrival facilities in the last two years. China also continued to highlight benefits from the visa-on-arrival scheme, complementing the ongoing ‘China Readiness’ strategy, consequently re-enforcing its upward curve resulting in China securing its position as the fourth largest feeder market with an impressive 641,000 visitors so far this year, marking a 12 per cent increase versus 573,000 for the same period last year. Germany grew even faster at 15 per cent to reach 388,000 visitors during the first nine months, landing in eighth place within the top 10 source markets for Dubai. From a regional perspective, the first nine months saw 20 per cent of overnight visitors …

The German National Tourist Office in Dubai, together with its partners Emirates, Münich Tourism and Steigenberger Hotel Business Bay, brings some of German cuisine’s delicious flavours at Steigenberger Brothaus Bakery – Bistro in Dubai to inspire guests to visit Germany. Sigrid de Mazieres, Director — Marketing and Sales Office Gulf Countries, German National Tourist Office Gulf Countries stressed the importance of the GCC as being the third-largest non-European feeder market for Germany. She reiterated that the number of travellers to GCC from 2009 has been increasing year on year and in 2017, it witnessed 4.5 per cent increase. Annually, the theme to attract international tourists changes in the sector. This year is about the culinary journey which is quite interesting for the visitors from the region as food and shopping are two main areas that they focus while travelling to Germany. Shaz Peshimam, Emirates Senior Manager for Dubai and the Northern Emirates addressed the audience and stated that the new visa-free facility to all the UAE nationals has made a great impact for their flights as earlier it was seasonal. Emirates has been serving Germany for the past 31 years and they fly to four main areas — Frankfurt, Düsseldorf , Munich and Hamburg with 70 weekly flights.

United States is the top source market for inbound travel in the UAE, followed by Saudi Arabia, Germany, India and France, according to a recent Q2 Report by Sojern. As per the report, except for India all other destinations which topped last year dropped due to various reasons. Outbound travel ranking of popular destinations for MEA travellers had changed in Q2 as well. This time Bahrain shows the highest growth percentage of 188 per cent in travel between June 30 and July 1, followed by Qatar with 164 per cent, Iraq 148 per cent, Kuwait 132 per cent and the UAE with 131 per cent in comparison to the week before. There has been a regional travel increase from 15 per cent to 25 per cent post Ramadan.

Consulate General of the United Republic of Tanzania in partnership with Holidays and Incentives and Regency Travels conducted a road show at the Hyatt Regency in Creek. Some of the leading travel agents in the UAE attended the event whilst four of the most luxurious properties in Zanzibar made their presentations. From Zanzibar the four properties  included The Residence, Melia, Park Hyatt and Elewana. The travel agents were given quite an opportunity to learn about the destination and the exclusive properties available for their clientele. Lastly was the presentation by the Tanzania tourism office where the spokesperson explained from traditional source markets Italy remains on top with over 65% traffic to the destination with other countries such as UK, France, Germany, Kenya, South Africa and North America  and the emerging countries are India, China, Russia and Middle East.