flydubai has announced that passengers booking with flydubai for travel between 01 September and 30 November 2020 will automatically receive free global cover for COVID-19.The new service covers passengers’ health expenses and quarantine costs if diagnosed with COVID-19 during their trip and is valid for 31 days from the time they take their first flight on their itinerary. The service enables passengers to benefit from coverage for their medical expenses up to EUR 150,000 and quarantine costs up to EUR 100 per day for 14 days. Hamad Obaidalla, Chief Commercial Officer at flydubai said, “The safety of our passengers and crew remains our highest priority. The new COVID-19 cover we are offering to our passengers will encourage more people to travel with ease of mind knowing that they will be looked after at every step of their journey. We see the demand for travel starting to increase as more countries gradually lift restrictions on international travel. Safeguarding the passenger journey with added precautions and enhanced procedures will help to stimulate the flow of trade and tourism globally.”

Marmul Travel and Tours has renewed its agreement with Sabre Corporation (NASDAQ: SABR), to support its strategic plans and help overcome the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic. This agreement provides Marmul Travel and Tours with continued access to Sabre’s portfolio of innovative technology. Its intelligent platform, Sabre Red 360 will allow the travel agency to effectively harness travel supplier’s data and deliver superior content to its travellers. This unique technology will help enable Marmul Travel and Tours to differentiate its offering and provide relevant personalised travel experiences, while regaining travellers’ trust in the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic. “More than ever, travellers today are expecting a high level of customer service and tailor-made travel itineraries, which include sufficient safety and health measures,” said Mebal Pinto, General Manager, Marmul Travel and Tours. “Our renewed partnership with Sabre will help us leverage its rich market place, gain insights into global travel demand and provide tailored travel insight and itineraries to help people start travelling again.” “Travel agents contribute significantly to helping people regain the confidence to travel again, which is crucial for our industry’s recovery,” said Abdul-Razzaq Iyer, Vice President, Sabre Travel Network Middle East. “Personalisation will become even more essential for travellers, who are expecting and relying upon a new level of expertise from their travel agents. Our Sabre Red 360 helps travel agents become true consultants, providing access to real-time travel data, information and trends. Our technology will help Marmul Travel and Tours respond to new market conditions and demands, reduce the costs of its operations and help generate revenue in the midst of a global crisis.”

Tajawal has entered a strategic partnership with Mediclinic to offer UAE based travellers planning their international trips a 20% discount on their pre-travel PCR tests, which are considered a mandatory requirement at a number of destinations across the world. Upon making a flight or hotel booking through tajawal, travellers will receive their booking confirmation emails which they can present at select Mediclinic establishments in Dubai, Abu Dhabi and Al Ain to avail the discount on their PCR tests. Muzzammil Ahussain – EVP, tajawal commented, “With International travel slowly returning, our customers will expect more from us when booking their flights and accommodation, prioritising the need to know crucial information such as the safety guidelines for airports, hotels and in destination procedures. We understand that obtaining the latest travel safety and destination updates when planning an International trip can be confusing during these times, therefore have created a dedicated online portal comprising all the necessary safety information travellers would need to come to a travel decision. Our team of experts aggregate and maintain data from over 100 sources, through which the safety guidelines content is carefully vetted and updated to ensure accuracy, offering travellers access to the latest developments on travel guidelines from key destinations across the globe”. “We have also partnered with Mediclinic to ensure that our travellers have access to highest-quality testing facilities when undergoing pre-travel PCR tests. Through this partnership, we hope to offer our customers more flexibility and confidence to travel all the while armed with a valid PCR test health assurance that will encourage them to revive their delayed travel plans and explore the world” Ahussain added.

Seven Tides has appointed UAE-based Airolink as the main building contractor, to complete the construction of its Seven City JLT development in Jumeirah Lake Towers, in Dubai. The project is valued at over AED 1 billion and due for completion in Q2 2023, Seven City JLT with a total built up area of up to 3.5 million square feet and situated within Cluster Z in DMCC, opposite the Montgomery and Emirates’ golf courses and the Emirates Hills community. Commenting on the appointment, Abdulla Bin Sulayem, CEO, Seven Tides said, “Airolink is well established, has a solid reputation along with a wealth of experience across numerous sectors, which is ideal for this development. Work is well underway on site and we are already working with Airolink at our Seven Palm development on Palm Jumeirah, so this should be a smooth transition.” “We are offering excellent value at a competitive price point. In addition, we offer a very attractive easy payment option consisting of a 5% deposit, followed by payments equal to 6% of the cost price to be paid every subsequent quarter. We estimate that studios should yield 12% per annum,” said Bin Sulayem. Bin Sulayem added, “Seven City JLT is designed to provide everything a resident might possibly want, with various retail options, entertainment, food and beverage outlets, gym and a health club. However, when residents do venture outside, they’ll still be able to enjoy the urban vibe, with the excitement and fast-paced, hustle and bustle of city life, right on their doorstep.”

FCM Travel Solutions has been officially recognised as one of Middle East’s Best Workplaces for 2020, by leading global workplace culture authority Great Place to Work Middle East. Taking place for the first time in the region, Great Place to Work recognised 50 organisations in the Middle East. “Our staff work extremely hard and more so recently during COVID-19, to provide exceptional service to our clients and in return we must ensure they have a positive workplace culture, even when that means also working from home, that makes for happier employees. Our Leadership team and I are grateful to everyone that has made it possible together to create a working environment where trust, pride and fun play an important role and we are over the moon to say the least to make the Top 50 list in the Middle East region and ranking No.41 amongst these companies.” Ciarán Kelly, Managing Director, FCM Travel Solutions, Middle East & Africa Network. “Rebuilding mutual trust and creating an innovative, positive and happy workplace in these challenging times should be at the top of the agenda for organisations; being a great workplace helps GCC entities quantify their culture and produce better business results.” said Sunil Gauniyal, General Manager, Operations & Finance, FCM Travel Solutions, UAE. Ibrahim Mougharbel, Managing Director, Great Place To Work UAE said, “We are very proud to be launching for the first time in the region the top 50 Middle East Best Workplaces, and in line with our 2020 strategy of recognising organisations across the region that sustain a high trust, high performing culture for employees; our objective remains to evolve the work culture in the Middle East countries and the …

Dubai College of Tourism (DCT) has received accreditation for eight of its core certificate and diploma programmes from the Institute of Hospitality, the world-renowned entity dedicated to the career development of tourism professionals worldwide. DCT submitted eight programmes for accreditation, namely, Certificate in Culinary Arts; Certificate in Events; Certificate in Hospitality; Certificate in Tourism; Diploma in Culinary Arts; Diploma in Events Management; Diploma in Hospitality Management; and Diploma in Tourism Management. These programmes were developed by DCT with the twin goals of meeting the demands of the industry for skilled young professionals and to prepare Emiratis for careers across tourism touchpoints, in line with Dubai’s tourism growth strategy. Commenting on the accreditation, Essa Bin Hadher, General Manager of DCT, said, “Dubai College of Tourism is proud to receive this globally recognised accreditation from the Institute of Hospitality. It is testament to the integrity of our international standards across curriculum and faculty and allows us to provide students with the highest quality and relevant training that helps them achieve their academic goals, as well as enabling us to meet the needs of the industry. Gaining accreditation by such a prestigious professional body is also a recognition of DCT’s commitment to continuously strive for excellence to ensure that our graduates are even more readily welcomed by employers in the tourism sector.” Peter Ducker FIH, Chief Executive, Institute of Hospitality said, “The Dubai College of Tourism is an excellent college offering exceptional vocational training and we are delighted to welcome them to our global network. We believe that their certificate and diploma programmes meet the highest quality standards and will provide learners with the skills and knowledge required to progress an exciting career …

As we begin the countdown to the first ‘Amazing Thailand Virtual Roadshow’ to take place on September 9, 2020 from 10am to 6pm UAE time.The Amazing Thailand Virtual Roadshow 2020 will host 48 tourism stakeholders from Thailand, including hotels & resorts, health & wellness, shopping establishments & attractions and tour operators & DMCs. Thai sellers with GCC buyers will do one-on-one meetings via VDO call. The first session will comprise GCC Buyers Group A, while the second session will have participants from GCC Buyers Group B. For both groups, 10 minutes will be allotted per appointment. The tourism stakeholders from Thailand will represent a variety of regions and major city across the Kingdom including Bangkok, Pattaya, Krabi, Koh Samui, Phuket and more. We will highlight our new products & services in all major cities in Thailand including nearby cities such as Bangkok & Beyond, Phuket & Beyond, Chiang Mai & Beyond, Pattaya & Beyond, etc… as well as to highlight our SHA Certificate that has been given to all qualified Thai private sectors.

The maiden virtual roadshow by Singapore Tourism Board (STB) concluded last evening with a record number of participants. It was a very interactive platform with one to one meetings with 15 key Singapore exhibitors and over 500 buyers from the GCC region. In his opening remarks, GB Srithar, Regional Director – India, Middle East & South Asia (IMESA) Singapore Tourism welcomed everyone to the first ever virtual roadshow 2020 for Middle East under exceptional circumstances stated, “In 2019, Singapore welcomed 131,000 visitors from GCC states, which was a growth of 7.7% growth of over 2018, UAE and Saudi Arabia continued to be the top two outbound markets to Singapore. This was not possible without your support we thank you and look forward to continue working with you in promote destination Singapore and welcome visitors from the region when the timing is right. For Singapore tourism, this is the biggest challenge we have faced in our 56 year history and we are doing our very best to navigate the storms and emerge strong. For the Middle East we continue with our growing connections achieving together trade engagement theme and given the COVID-19 circumstances we have also embarked on an initiative to show solidarity and unity with the travel trade fraternity in these trying times #UnitedWeStand.” Beverly Au Yong, Area Director, Singapore Tourism Board, Middle East shared, “The roadshow is part of STB’s regional B2B engagement effort, under the theme #UnitedWeStand with focus on the GCC countries. It aims to provide one-to-one networking and foster business opportunities for the local travel trade stakeholders with Singapore service providers. This platform will also allow the Singapore service providers to share the key initiatives taken …

Ajman Saray announced the appointment of Ahmed Kamal as the Hotel Manager, in his new role he will be in charge of the hotel. Ahmed has been at Ajman Saray since 2013 as the Director of Sales and Marketing. During this time, Ahmed has diversified the business mix and managed to hold rate in a challenging market. With just over 22 years of service with the company, Ahmed started his Marriott Career in 1998 with the Sheraton Cruises in Cairo followed by several Sales and Marketing leadership roles at Sheraton Royal Gardens in Cairo Sheraton Luxor. Ahmed’s sound commercial acumen saw him promoted and assigned to Le Meridien,Fisherman’s Cove Le Meridien, Barbarons Seychelles in 2010. He did an excellent job and improved the hotel’s revenues, increasing ADR by 22%. Ahmed is a Hotel Management Graduate from the University of George Washington post which he followed his education journey with Degrees in Hospitality Marketing Revenue Management. Since joining the company in 2013, Ahmed has spearheaded major strategies to introduce Luxury Collection brand in the Northern Emirates, while establishing Ajman in the international market with the support of Ajman Department of Tourism Development. During his tenure overseeing Sales & Marketing, the division outperformed the market and took share from competitors. With the intensive experience of shouldering pre-opening and launch of multiple luxury hotels across various continents from Africa to Asia and now in Middle East, Ahmed said “My efforts as the Hotel Manager will be focused on introducing luxury to the new generation. Luxury that is conscious of the impact on the environment and society.”

As we count the hours for the first ever Virtual Road Show conducted by Singapore Tourism Board, if you are yet to register for the event, you just have a few hours more to do so. You can pre-book your appointment on the spot or walk in to meet any exhibitors. Register on www.stbvirtualroadshow2020.com. The event begins by 10am (UAE time) today and conclude at 3pm (UAE time). This road show will provide you an opportunity to engage with the trade partners from Singapore and find out more about their tailor made opportunities for the Middle Eastern travellers, the safety standards and protocols in the new normal and so many new areas that will be added on to the memorable journey your guests will be looking at, as soon as the destination opens. In between the meeting appointments registered travel trade partners can also watch the special STB Panel Discussion during the event. Beverly Au Yong, Area Director, Singapore Tourism Board, Middle East, “The roadshow is part of STB’s regional B2B engagement effort, under the theme #UnitedWeStand with focus on the GCC countries. It aims to provide one-to-one networking and foster business opportunities for the local travel trade stakeholders with Singapore service providers. This platform will also allow the Singapore service providers to share the key initiatives taken by their organizations, under the government’s directive, once the borders are open for international visitors.”