Travellers from Arab countries account for more than one third of the total tourist traffic to Egypt in 2016, and forecasts for 2017 are positive and are in continuous growth. H.E. Yehia Rashed, Minister of Tourism in Egypt, said: “Arab tourism to Egypt in 2016 represented 36.3 percent of the total tourist traffic to Egypt, which is more than one third of the total traffic. Saudi Arabia ranked first amongst incoming Arab tourists, with a total of 507 thousand tourists visiting Egypt, followed by Jordan, with 180 thousand tourists, and Kuwait with about 150 thousand tourists and Lebanon with nearly 86 thousand. The total number of travelers from Arab countries to Egypt reached 2 million tourists in 2016, compared to 1.7 million Arab tourists in 2015, which marks an increase of 13.2 percent, whereas in the first quarter of 2017, the number of Arab tourists increased by 38.8 percent when compared to the same period last year.” The Ministry of Tourism of Egypt and Egyptian Tourism Authority announced their participation at the Arabian Travel Market, taking place in Dubai from April 24-27. The participation is in line with both of their efforts to highlight Egypt’s enormous tourism potential and focuses on the various destinations that attracts tourists from all over the world, especially Arabs. “Our participation at the Arabian Travel Markets primarily aims at engaging and communicating effectively with our partners and stakeholders in the region and to enhance the efforts to attract Arab tourists to Egypt. The Arab market represents one of the most significant markets exporting tourism to Egypt. This is due to several reasons, most importantly because of the proximity to many Arab countries and similarity of …

Major tourism destinations in the GCC will increase efforts to target Indian and Chinese inbound tourists, as regional and international guests from Europe continue to feel the acute financial pressures of the challenging global economy. The findings were published on April 24 by Colliers International at Arabian Travel Market, at Dubai World Trade Centre, during a seminar session entitled ‘Capitalising on Experiential Travel: China & India Mega Source Markets’. Already key markets for the region, China counts an average of 122 million outbound tourists annually and India contributes 22 million, with overseas spending calculated to be $252 billion and $15.4 billion respectively in 2015. China’s outbound tourism market is currently growing, on average, 6.7% year-on-year, while India’s market posts average annual growth of 7 per cent. The trend is largely proliferated by increasing levels of personal wealth and a demand for experiential travel.  China is home to 1.4 million high net worth individuals (HNWI), with 146 million working class nationals, representing 19% of the working population, and 90 million urban blue collar workers. Counted together, they represent almost 29% of the population and are the most likely to travel. India, meanwhile, is home to 433,000 HNWI, with 59 million considered urban middle and educated urban and 97 million counted as urban blue collar workers. Together, they represent almost 31% of the population that is eligible and likely to travel. Making a total of 12 recommendations concerning visas, accommodation, cultural sensitivities and marketing, the report advises GCC-wide multi-entry visas with similar principles to the Schengen Area; hotel welcome kits and signage in guests’ native languages; promotion of cultural celebrations and festivals from each country; and targeted loyalty programmes. According to the …

The Tourism Authority of Thailand (TAT) and Qatar Airways, signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) on April 24 at the Arabian Travel Market (ATM) 2017 in Dubai. With this latest partnership, TAT seeks to leverage the strength of Qatar Airways’ extensive global network, particularly its presence in secondary cities in Europe, Africa and the Middle East, to increase the number of tourist arrivals to Thailand in 2017/18. Under the MoU, TAT and Qatar Airways will develop joint promotions to mutually increase tourism and visibility for Thailand to travellers in more than 150 destinations the airline flies to. Effective 1 June, Qatar Airways will have five daily flights from Doha to Bangkok. The increased frequency, along with its double-daily Phuket flights and the five-month-old Krabi operations (4 flights a week), take the number of weekly Qatar Airways departures from Thailand to Doha to 53. Besides the existing three popular Thai destinations, Qatar Airways has also set its sights on Chiang Mai, the largest city in Northern Thailand. The MoU was signed by Qatar Airways Chief Commercial Officer Ehab Amin and Tourism Authority of Thailand’s Deputy Governor for International Marketing, Europe, Africa, Middle East and Americas, Tanes Petsuwan. They were joined by Yuthasak Supasorn, Governor of the Tourism Authority of Thailand, Chalermsak Suranant, Director of the Tourism Authority of Thailand Dubai and Middle East Office and other high-ranking executives from both organisations.

Dubai witnessed the largest ATM with over 2600 exhibitors and 65 national pavilions as it was inaugurated by His Highness Sheikh Mohamed Al Maktoum Bin Rashid today at the Dubai World Trade Center. The region’s leading travel industry with insightful seminar sessions, four days of business networking opportunities expects over 30,000 visitors during the next few days with over 35 seminars.

Major tourism hotspots in the GCC are experiencing a surge in Indian visitors. In both Dubai and Abu Dhabi, India was the top performing source market in 2016. In Dubai, 1.8 million nationals arrived last year compared to 1.6 million in 2015 and in Abu Dhabi, which welcomed a record-breaking 4.4 million visitors in total in 2016, 323,388 were Indian. According to the figures from Abu Dhabi Tourism and Culture Authority, this marks an increase of 15 per cent on 2015. In Oman, three million tourists visited the Sultanate in 2016, of which 299,568 were Indian. Historically, numbers increased 17 per cent in 2015 compared to 2014 and, over the last five years, Oman has seen a 60 per cent increase in the total number of arrivals from India. Earlier this year, Sheikh Abdullah bin Nasser bin Khalifa Al Thani, Prime Minister of Qatar and Minister of Interior, met with Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi to discuss the topic of visas on arrival for Indian nationals. When the new regulations are introduced, the transit market is also set to benefit, bringing even higher numbers into Qatar and building on the 182,920 who visited in the first half of 2016. “UNWTO (United Nations World Travel Organisation) data shows that 62 million Indians have passports, yet many do not travel. However, the demographic patterns we see currently – an increasing younger population and a growing middle class – provide strong indications that the country is about to see a steep rise in the number of nationals travelling abroad, as well as the number of foreign visitors it welcomes.” India has been named the largest growing outbound tourism market in percentage terms, with …

Despite sluggish global economic growth, the UAE will lead Middle East passenger growth in 2017 with an annual increase of more than 6.3 per cent, according to estimates from the International Air Transport Association (IATA). Middle East carriers have reported the strongest annual traffic growth of any region globally for the fifth year running in 2016, according to the IATA. RPKs (revenue passenger kilometres) grew 11.8 per cent consolidating the region’s position as the third-largest market for global passengers. Capacity growth of 13.7 per cent outstripped demand however, driving down the average load factor by 1.3 percentage points to 74.7 per cent. With a number of aviation mega-projects underway across the GCC and wider Middle East, airports are expanding slightly ahead of the curve in demand, with capacity in 2016 increasing by 13.9 per cent and a forecast for 2017 of 10.1 per cent.

Emirates has reduced flights to five of the 12 US cities it currently serves. From May 1 and May 23 respectively, their Fort Lauderdale and Orlando operations will move from daily services to five a week. From June 1 & 2, respectively, their Seattle and Boston operations will move from twice-daily services, to a daily service. From July 1, our operations to Los Angeles will move from twice-daily to a daily service. This is a commercial decision in response to weakened travel demand to US. A statement by the airline said: “The recent actions taken by the US government relating to the issuance of entry visas, heightened security vetting, and restrictions on electronic devices in aircraft cabins, have had a direct impact on consumer interest and demand for air travel into the US.  Until the start of 2017, Emirates’ operations in the US have seen healthy growth and performance, driven by customer demand for our high quality product and our international flight connections. “However, over the past 3 months, we have seen a significant deterioration in the booking profiles on all our US routes, across all travel segments. Emirates has therefore responded as any profit-oriented enterprise would, and we will redeploy capacity to serve demand on other routes on our global network. “We will closely monitor the situation with the view to reinstate and grow our US flight operations as soon as viable. Emirates is committed to our US operations and will continue to serve our 12 American gateways – New York JFK, Newark, Boston, Washington DC, Chicago, Seattle, Los Angeles, San Francisco, Houston, Dallas, Fort Lauderdale, and Orlando – with 101 flight departures per week, connecting these cities to …

Falcon Aviation, the UAE-based business aviation services, charter and aircraft management company,  has inaugurated a new VIP Heliport.  The Heliport will be run and managed by Falcon Aviation personnel and will be available to all operators, corporates and private individuals arriving with their business jets at the Dubai South VIP Terminal. Demand is expected especially from customers arriving from all over the GCC, India and the Far East. The new helipad, situated adjacent to the VIP Terminal, has space for three large executive helicopters.  It will be open for use on an ‘as required basis’ with just two hours’ notice. Falcon initially envisages demand for five movements a day and will have two helicopters available for charter, complementing its established fixed wing and helicopter business at Al Bateen Executive Airport, Abu Dhabi. The Heliport, the first in the region, will facilitate quick and convenient helicopter charters between Dubai and Abu Dhabi in just 30 minutes. Other significant time savings on popular destinations include: Dubai South to Ras Al Khaimah – 45 minutes; Dubai South – Diba, 45 minutes; Dubai South- Fujairah 40 minutes and to Qasr Al Sarab Resort – 1 hour, 15 minutes. “We are very pleased with our progress as we realise our strategic three part plan to bolster our footprint in Dubai and the UAE,” commented Falcon Aviation’s Chief Pilot Onshore – VVIP Operations & Accountable Manager of Atlantis Helipad Captain George Prentzas. “Our goal is to build important infrastructure in the region, not just for our own operations, but to support others as they expand too.” “We are very proud to be opening up this important facility that will take clients directly to their destination of …

Ahead of next week’s Arabian Hotel Investment Conference 2017 (AHIC), being held at Madinat Jumeirah in Dubai from April 25 to 27, its speakers have unveiled insights into the global trends and market sentiment that are currently making an impact on the hospitality industry across the Middle East. Chairman of Bench Events and Co-founder of AHIC, Jonathan Worsley, said: “AHIC is the premium networking and knowledge platform for the hospitality investment community in the Middle East and beyond. As such, we are committed to providing our delegates with the very latest market intelligence and are thrilled to be unveiling new reports at AHIC 2017, including Global Megatrends from PwC and the AHIC BLP Market Sentiment Survey Review in partnership with Berwin Leighton Paisner LLP (BLP).” On April 26, PwC Middle East’s Partner and Deals Real Estate Leader Dr. Martin Berlin, will present, for the first time, the new PwC Report Global Megatrends and their impact on Hospitality in the Middle East. Presented by Gurdish Bassi, Economist, GRMC Advisory Consulting, this report will provide a unique insight into Dubai tourist spend patterns, activities and motives – and analyse how the tourist profile will evolve by 2021. In a sneak preview of the Dubai Tourist Profiling Report, GRMC Advisory Consulting forecasts a “conspicuous change” in the distribution of tourists coming to Dubai. Bassi explained: “Multiple primary research campaigns with hotel guests across Dubai revealed that 34 per cent of Asian visitors were first-time overseas travellers – this statistic increases to 62 per cent when only two-star and three-star hotels are considered. As affluence levels in Tier-II and III cities of Asian economies rise, an increasing number of first-time overseas travellers will seek …

Dubai developer Nakheel broke ground on a new, AED176 million hotel at Dragon City. The Premier Inn is Nakheel’s second hotel at Dragon City. The ground-breaking ceremony, led by Nakheel Chairman Ali Rashid Lootah, comes less than two weeks after the company awarded a contract worth AED136 million to Al Ghurair Contracting and Engineering Works to build the 304-room hotel. Nakheel’s first hotel, a 251-room ibis Styles hotel, opened in February 2016. Set for delivery in 2019, Premier Inn Dragon City is the latest project in Nakheel’s AED5 billion hospitality expansion. Last week, the company confirmed new hotels at Jumeirah Village Circle and Discovery Gardens, bringing its number of hospitality projects to 18. Lootah said: “Today marks another milestone in our hospitality expansion, and highlights our commitment to delivering new hotels across Dubai in line with the Government of Dubai’s 2021 vision. I am delighted to declare that work is officially under way at Premier Inn Dragon City, and to further reinforce our already highly-successful relationship with Whitbread through this latest partnership.” Premier Inn Dragon City is part of a huge new master plan that is transforming the area into a giant retail, residential and recreational complex of more than 11 million square feet.With a built-up area of 178,000 sq ft across eight floors, the hotel will have a restaurant, Costa coffee shop and gym. Nakheel’s hospitality expansion is bringing 18 new hotels and serviced apartment complexes, with over 5,800 rooms between them, to Dubai.