VFS Global has reopened its Turkey Visa Application Centre in Abu Dhabi and Dubai enforcing strict health and safety guidelines. The centres will accept visa applications for all available categories. Customers are requested to schedule an appointment prior to visiting the centre. In order to ensure a safe, productive work environment for employees, while still protecting communities to the maximum extent possible from the spread of the COVID-19, VFS Global has established standardised protective measures to be followed across the centre including specific social distancing and sanitation mandates. All customers are subjected to body temperature checks at the entrance of the centre to assess their health conditions. Any customer exhibiting COVID-19 symptoms, including high fever, cough and difficulty in breathing will not be permitted to enter the centre and requested to return once the health condition improves. Additionally, all customers and VFS Global employees are required to wear a face mask within the centre.

The ‘Bouncing back: tourism strategies for the future’ session at ATM Virtual, which took place on June 2, discussed the long-term tourism development strategies put in place by the region’s governments to provide a catalyst to recovery when travel patterns return to relative normality. Keith Tan, CEO, Singapore Tourism Board said, “We are trying to do things at a bilateral level with countries that we feel we can move forward with. We have announced initiatives such as ‘green lanes’ and introduced the idea of ‘travel bubbles’. For example, in our negotiations with China, we have agreed common standards to permit travel and we hope to replicate this with other countries, not dissimilar to the idea of free trade agreements.” “We look at the tourism sector from a strategic perspective in Saudi Arabia, but we also realise that this sector contributed 20% of all jobs in the last five years, across the world, underscoring the importance that must be placed on the sector by governments,” said Fahd Hamidaddin, Chief of Investment, Strategy and Tourism Marketing, Ministry of Tourism Saudi Arabia. “Our job is to help the private sector survive and weather as much as we can during this pandemic. As such, Saudi Arabia launched a US$61 billion stimulus package that went into multiple tracks, including waiving licensing and tourism fees as well as deferring VAT and government fees for all SMEs, helping those most in need,” he added. “As early as February, we had announced the formation of the Tourism Recovery Action taskforce, comprising private sector individuals and key players from within the government. This was designed to layout plans, not only for recovery, but crisis communications, how we engage with …

A joint survey conducted by the Ivy Alliance Tourism Consulting, China Comfort Travel Group (CCT), and Pacific Asia Travel Association (PATA), was discussed by a panel of experts during the three-day ATM Virtual event. The Virtual ATM China Tourism Forum, took an in-depth look at the potential of the Chinese outbound leisure market post COVID-19’s closed borders and what overseas destinations and attractions can do to reassure and convince Chinese tourists, that their destination is safe to visit. Danielle Curtis, Exhibition Director Middle East, Arabian Travel Market, said, “In China we are already witnessing the green-shoots of recovery and many industry experts are looking to China to kickstart international tourism.” Dr. Taleb Rifai, Chairman, International Institute of Peace for Tourism (IIPT) and former Secretary General of the UNWTO said, “After 9/11, people had to get used to security restrictions such as removing their shoes and belts, no liquids, now that is a way of life. People are now afraid to travel, but things will change, new protocols will be introduced and the quicker that happens the more trust and confidence will be communicated, bringing travellers back.” Helen Shapovalova, Founder & Director, Pan Ukraine commented Shopping has always been a top attraction for Chinese tourists especially “luxury goods and Lisa Dinh, expected changes here as well, balancing risk management with the customer experience. “Trust is the new currency. The demand is still there, but health and safety and relationship building will be key. Training will be essential to changing mindset.” Returning to the survey, nearly half of those questioned said they preferred group tours but given the coronavirus outbreak, many Chinese would now travel, in smaller groups catering for better social …

The Middle East and Africa (MEA) is starting to see some positive developments with regards to the easing of lockdown restrictions and signs of business and travel gradually reopening as per Sojern’s insights on June 1, 2020. On May 31, Dubai allowed 50 per cent of government staff to return to their offices, which will increase to 100 per cent capacity in offices from June 14. Curfews continue to be shortened, and a second phase of easing restrictions is planned for June 21 which will see the coronavirus curfew end in all areas of Saudi Arabia except for Mecca. Looking more specifically at the travel market, Saudi Arabia announced that domestic flights have returned, as of May 31, and from July 1 bookings will reopen for flights to 12 Arab countries, including Morocco and Lebanon. Whilst volumes are still lower than 2019 levels, when looking at the months travellers plan on visiting the region, there is a long-awaited, steady incline from August onwards. Search levels for departure dates to Egypt in March 2021 are only 38% below those for March 2020, further highlighting the steady route to recovery. The relaxation of lockdown measures and the reopening of selected flight routes across MEA has initially been focussed with domestic markets in mind. This is reflected when observing hotel search and booking volumes, with domestic trips showing growth ahead of international travel. The same story when looking at searches and bookings in relation to distance from the hotel. The majority of the region has experienced an increase in searches and bookings from domestic travellers situated in a 0-160 kilometre radius when we compare May to January, suggesting an increased interest in local …

A panel of industry experts explained during the opening day of ATM Virtual as to how developing a global set of transparent hospitality standards relating to health, safety and hygiene will be key to regain the trust of travellers in a post COVID-19 landscape. The panel which was moderated by industry consultant Gemma Greenwood, also included Tim Cordon, Senior Area Vice President for Middle East & Africa, Radisson Hotel Group, Christopher Lund, Head of Hotels, Colliers International, Middle East & North Africa, Simon Casson, President of Hotel Operations, EMEA, Four Seasons and Raki Phillips, CEO, Ras Al Khaimah Tourism Development Authority. “Building confidence will be key as we look ahead to the post-COVID-19 hospitality recovery. Not only is it important that our workers have confidence that their health and wellbeing is of prime importance, but for consumers too. They will need full reassurance that our properties are safe, secure and following the highest standards when it comes to hygiene and cleanliness,” said Cordon. Phillips said, “It’s important that hotels don’t drop their room rates. Hotels need to adapt to a new normal with increased sanitisation at the forefront, while being creative with their offerings and embracing innovative technologies which can help differentiate them from their competitors.” “One way of achieving this consumer trust, and I believe the hospitality industry in the UAE is leading the way in this respect, is by partnering with accreditation agencies such as the Bureau Veritas to ensure your property is following disinfectant and sanitisation protocols implemented by government bodies and abiding by the highest levels of hygiene,” said Lund. Casson added, “While we are doing everything we can to ensure the wellbeing and safety of …

Strategies to protect the ecosystem and wildlife for the long-term sustainability of the country are at the core of Tourism Authority of Thailand’s (TAT) commitment to responsible tourism, with the tourism board introducing the Responsible Thailand Awards in 2019. “Thailand is one of the top tourist destination in the world and welcomes over 39 million visitors annually, of which over 500,000 come from the MENA region,” said Pichaya Saisaengchan, Director, Tourism Authority of Thailand for Dubai and the Middle East. “In order to preserve the natural habitat, wildlife and traditions of the Kingdom, it is our responsibility to ensure that we regulate the impact of mass tourism on the ecosystem and engage with our local partners to ensure responsible tourism that is sustainable”. Thailand benefits from a number of esteemed wildlife initiatives and conservation programmes that contribute towards the greater good of Thailand, yet have been affected by the impact of COVID-19 with regards to funding and volunteering. “The impact of the global pandemic has left a funding gap for the world’s wildlife initiatives, many of which rely on tourism for their revenue streams. We would like to support them by highlighting legitimate organisations and initiatives that are doing great work in the Kingdom, and how tourists can continue to support them whilst travel is restricted”, confirms Pichaya.

The first ever ATM virtual began its three day sessions with 11,232 pre-scheduled appointments, 16,383 registrations from 152 countries at the close of day one. The event will be on going for the next two days with very interesting and engaging sessions conducted by experts in various fields. Starting off the day was Danielle Curtis Director Exhibition Director who shared some insights about the sessions from 1st to 3rd June 2020 which included a series of webinars, roundtables and one on one networking sessions. There are 13 webinars and live conferences for the whole duration of ATM Virtual with 10 roundtable, 5 speed networking events which translates to 600 meetings, 800 one-to-one meetings each day, 4 high level sessions with range of topics. Some of the sessions that are available for watching over the next 3 days will be the webinars by Travtalk Middle East moderated by Sanjeet – Managing Director DDP Publications. The first session will focus on Middle East: The New Asian Source Market with 3 key speakers from Asian tourism boards Beverly Au Yong – Area Director (Middle East) International Group – Singapore Tourism board, Daks Gonzales is the Philippine Department of Tourism (DOT), Head, for the Middle East Market and Nandini Lahe-Thapa, Senior Director at the Nepal Tourism Board is Head of the International Marketing and Promotion Dept. Their focus will be to understand 2020 and 2021 strategy to explore UAE and Middle East as a source market. When they will expect the first wave of tourism to come from the Middle East? Would the focus on Europe change for this year? How they will change their marketing strategy for the GCC market? What makes this …

On the sidelines of ATM Virtual, Travtalk launched ‘CovidSMART’, an online training programme designed by individuals trained by WHO to help our industry rebound safely from COVID-19. The programme includes the practical guidelines for a safer office you can implement today; travel safety tips you can share with your clients; and marketing and product development you should undertake now. All participants that complete the training will receive a completion ‘Certificate’ that they can share with clients instantly.

During the opening session of ATM Virtual, aviation industry veteran Sir Tim Clark, President of Emirates Airline, outlined the impact of COVID-19 on the aviation industry and how it will return to normalcy in 2021. He also highlighted the measures implemented by the company in response to the pandemic. Sir Tim said, “We have seen a US$15 trillion torpedo hit the global economy and its crippled many, many sectors, with transportation and leisure just a few of the casualties. My own belief is there is sufficient resilience in the global economy to take this trauma as long as it doesn’t go on for too long. If we can accept there is a finite point where we will see the back of this, with adjustments to the way we go about our lives, the way we go about our business, and our travel aspirations, we will see things moving back to some kind of normality during the course of 2021.” “Planning for resumption is quite complicated, needless to say, we have a 24/7 watch on it as countries start to relax their access requirements but I see some difficulties as I don’t believe they will open at the pace we would like. I think there will be a degree of what they started to call the bubble effect, i.e. countries selecting other countries that are relatively COVID free and therefore allowing services between those countries,” he adds. Sir Tim concluded by saying, “The aviation business is in a critical and very fragile state at the moment and needs all the help it can get. Access, getting passengers and freight moving again, not necessarily to the levels pre-COVID, but at least getting …

Radisson RED Hotel unveiled their latest sculpture. Designed by Neel Shukla, the falcon marks the opening year of the hotel and strengthens ties with the local art scene. Having already worked with a collaborative of locals artists on the hotels distinctive bespoke wallpaper, Radisson RED appointed Neel and his team to continue the theme of capturing elements of the local history and culture while recognising the cities modern art, music and fashion scenes. Neel operates Four Winds Gallery in Dubai Design District and other notable works include the W sculpture at W on the palm. Of this project, he said, “Dubai is probably the most avant-garde city when it comes to art. Quirky art pieces are showcased in so many unique places and spaces all over the city and RED is such a cool space highlighting this vibe and spirit. Visitors indulge in this selfie heaven, hence every wall and every area deserved an incredibly distinct element and story. The falcon will be the first thing people see and so I wanted to create a statement. We wanted to feature the falcon in a powerful way, yet making it unpredictable. The headphones resting on the falcon’s neck signify the falcon’s connection to the new generation and follows the overall design direction of the hotel.” Stuart Birkwood, Curator at Radisson Red Dubai Silicon Oasis, said, “Art is at the core of the brand and it was important to me to make sure that our Art was truly representative of everything Dubai had to offer. The falcon is a national symbol for the UAE and we’re really excited to present a new sculpture to our community which captures both the cities great …