For the first time, Al Ain Region hosted the Pacific Asia Travel Association Adventure Travel and Responsible Tourism Conference and Mart 2018 (PATA ATRTCM), organised by the Department of Culture and Tourism–Abu Dhabi (DCT Abu Dhabi). A number of workshops and plenary sessions was hosted by industry experts and visionaries from across the globe. Key speakers including HE Sultan Al Mutawa Al Dhaheri, Executive Director, Tourism Sector, DCT Abu Dhabi; Dr. Mario Hardy, Chief Executive Officer, PATA, Thailand; Norie Quintos, Editor at Large, National Geographic Travel and Independent Communications Consultant, USA, explored the trends and dynamics of one of the fastest-growing tourism sectors. Themed on ‘Adventure in a New Era’, the event offered delegations from across the Asia Pacific region a unique opportunity to exchange knowledge and unlock the potential of the adventure tourism sector in the digital era. The conference was followed by a travel mart, in which participants interacted with adventure product buyers and sellers from across the world.

Smartotels Hospitality is set to open its flagship property, Form Hotel Dubai- a technology-driven upscale design concept hotel in the upcoming neighbourhood of Al Jadaf and Culture Village. Form Hotel Dubai presents a timelessly-designed environment built around brand obsessions and curated add-ons to deliver all that guests value. With a strong visual art and design narrative, and emphasis on wellbeing, Form Hotel Dubai is conceptualised as a sanctuary from the city, in the city, whilst being conveniently located near to major cultural and commercial hubs. The Dubai project has been delivered with the collaboration of Dubai Contracting Company and firm Architecture Studio. Tarek M. Daouk, Founder, Smartotels, comments, “We announced our intention to bring a technology-driven design hotel concept to the UAE precisely one year ago. Today, we’re delighted to be able to confirm that we will be delivering this landmark project to guests both on time and under budget. We believe Dubai’s maturing hotel market is now prepared to welcome a creative hotel offering like ours, and that it is the ideal time to deliver Form, a novel and design-focused boutique hotel aimed at forward-thinking travellers.”

dnata has been awarded a licence to provide flight catering services to airlines departing Vancouver International Airport. This marks dnata Catering’s entry into Canada. With this licence, dnata will now commence planning, approvals, build and fit-out of a dedicated catering facility at Vancouver, at an investment of more than CAD $7 million dnata, commencing operations in Q4 2018. This will be dnata’s 64th catering location and 130th global air services location, with its recent opening of a new catering facility at Dublin Airport, Ireland. The facility will have an initial capacity of up to 8,000 meals a day. dnata expects to employ more than 150 staff once operating at that level. Robin Padgett, Divisional Senior Vice President—Catering, dnata, “Canada has always been an exciting opportunity for us as a caterer. To turn that opportunity into reality at Vancouver International Airport is particularly exciting, given the solid passenger growth and recognition the airport has received in recent years. We are proud of our ability to deliver globally authentic and diverse cuisine across the world, and we’re more than ready to bring that to airlines and their passengers departing Vancouver.”

Etihad Airways has added a second daily direct flight from Abu Dhabi to Rome, effective March 25, 2018. The new service will take the total number of Etihad Airways’ flights on the route to 14 a week. The additional frequencies will be introduced in phases, beginning March 25, with five extra weekly flights, rising to a twice-a-day service from May 1. The new early morning departure from Abu Dhabi and midday return service from Rome will offer links to popular cities across Australia, China, Japan and Korea. With the additional service, Etihad Airways’ frequency between Abu Dhabi and its two Italian gateways of Rome and Milan will increase to three flights a day. Peter Baumgartner, Chief Executive Officer, Etihad Airways said, “Ensuring our guests have greater flexibility and more travel options is a focus for Etihad Airways. Since we launched the Abu Dhabi-Rome route in 2014, it has become one of our most popular services for business and leisure travellers. We are therefore delighted to further develop the route with additional services.” Etihad Airways’ codeshare partner Alitalia has announced that it will discontinue the operation of its daily flight between Rome and Abu Dhabi from March 25.

For the first time in Rafic Al Hariri International Airport’s history, Emirates will operate a special one-off A380 service to Beirut on March 29. The airline’s flagship double-decker will become the first-ever scheduled A380 service to Beirut. Emirates A380 will depart Dubai at 07:25hrs and arrive in Beirut at 10:30hrs. The flight will depart Beirut at 14:15hrs and arrive in Dubai at 19:05hrs on the same day. Sheikh Majid Al Mualla, Divisional Senior Vice President—Commercial Operations, Centre at Emirates, said, “We are proud to fly our A380 for a one-off test service to Beirut. Bringing this popular aircraft to Lebanon represents a significant milestone in our operations to Beirut after 27 years of serving the country. This year also marks the Emirates A380’s 10th anniversary since joining our fleet, and the iconic aircraft has brought flying to the next level for over 90 million customers. We would like to thank the Lebanese government and in particular the Ministry of Transport, Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Lebanese Civil Aviation Authorities, who have made it possible for us to bring our flagship A380 to this city.”

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.

The Dubai Maritime City Authority (DMCA) has completed its preparations to provide an integrated portfolio of maritime licensing services at the upcoming Dubai International Boat Show 2018, to be held from February 27 to March 3, 2018 at the Dubai Water Canal in Jumeirah. The services will be showcased at the DMCA pavilion to help facilitate maritime licensing procedures for applicants looking to manage their maritime operations in accordance with the highest standards in safety, best environmental practices, and local and international regulations. The DMCA team will showcase maritime licensing services in accordance with innovative tools that ensure compliance with marine technical standards, maritime safety regulations and local environmental requirements, in line with Dubai’s efforts to improve performance, safety, efficiency and competitiveness of the maritime sector in the emirate. Applicants may facilitate the completion of their maritime driving license tests and complete the licensing procedures of marine vessels of all kinds efficiently. Amer Ali, Executive Director, DMCA explained the importance of the maritime licensing services as an integrated regulatory framework which consolidates maritime safety, safe navigation and operational efficiency. “We look forward to demonstrate our advanced maritime licensing process through smart transformation initiatives, which is our top priority as we strive to enhance the components of the local maritime sector based on innovation, sustainability, inclusiveness and innovation,” concluded Ali.

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.”