The Department of Culture and Tourism – Abu Dhabi (DCT Abu Dhabi) has announced that hotel occupancy rates in Abu Dhabi during Eid Al Adha 2018 averaged 81 per cent across the four days from August 21st to August 24th. This represented an impressive six percentage point increase compared to the average occupancy figure of 75 per cent during Eid Al Adha in 2017, further underlining the Emirate’s strong appeal as a destination of distinction for family leisure and entertainment. The highest occupancy rate (87 per cent) was recorded on the second day of Eid. This exceptional holiday period saw a surge in visitors from both the UAE and further afield, with Emiratis, Saudis, Indians, British and Americans making up 55 per cent of total visitors. Commenting on the numbers, HE Saif Saeed Ghobash, Undersecretary of DCT Abu Dhabi, said: “Once again, Abu Dhabi demonstrates its position as a leading tourism destination for visitors from the region and beyond. We are making strong progress in achieving our forecast guest arrivals growth for the year. Eid Al Adha provided further impetus as the capital welcomed a record-breaking number of visitors, with many of our leading hotels achieving near full occupancy with tourists choosing Abu Dhabi as the place to spend their holiday. Our diverse potfolio of attractions, the recently opened Warner Bros. World Abu Dhabi in particular, Abu Dhabi Summer Season and our ever-growing year-round programme of events, and our established credentials as a tourist and leisure destination provides us with persuasive reasons for travelers to choose the emirate as a ‘must-visit’ year-round location”.

Dubai will welcome The Museum of Illusions on September 12 at the emirate’s Al Seef development located near Dubai Creek. Museum of Illusions Dubai will boast the largest collection of optical illusions in the Museum of Illusions’ worldwide portfolio. Housing 80 exhibits of all shapes and sizes, the Dubai museum will tantalise visitors in a unique visual and sensory experience. Museum of Illusions Dubai opens to the public on September 12. Since opening for the first time in the Croatian capital of Zagreb in 2015, six further Museum of Illusions have quickly followed and over half a dozen more are slated for 2018 alone, including Athens, New York, Toronto and Berlin. A flagship attraction in the heritage and cultural development on Dubai Creek, the full line-up of exhibits at Museum of Illusions Dubai is a closely-guarded secret until its formal opening on September 12th, 2018. The Dubai venue will feature the Vortex Tunnel, a rotating cylinder that tricks the brain into thinking the ground under their feet is shifting, as well as the Ames Room, where guests shrink or grow depending on their position in the exhibit. Unlike more ‘classical’ museums, visitors to Museum of Illusions Dubai will be encouraged to interact with the exhibits and take as many photos as they can during their visual, sensual and educational adventure – it’s all part of the Museum’s distinctly unique ‘etiquette’ for guests.

Miral, Yas Island’s creator of destinations has joined efforts with Microsoft on an ambitious digital-transformation journey that promises to reshape the global leisure and entertainment industry. By adopting key Microsoft technologies, Miral will deliver unparalleled guest experiences to tens of millions of annual visitors, setting new benchmarks for innovation in the sector. Miral is the developer and promoter of Yas Island, a family entertainment and leisure destination including a range of world-class attractions, theme parks such as Ferrari World Abu Dhabi, Yas Waterworld and the Warner Bros. World Abu Dhabi, that was recently opened to the public on 25 July. “Our vision is to transform Yas Island into a globally recognised wall-less destination, increasing annual footfall to 48 million visitors by 2022, and this digital transformation project is part of delivering on our promise and achieving our vision,” said Eng. Mohamed Abdalla Al Zaabi, CEO of Miral. “Creating personalised seamless experiences by harmoniously bridging the gap between physical and digital was our main priority. The goal was to allow visitors to plan their journey before they arrive, tailor their experiences to their desires and continue to revisit their memories as they leave Yas Island. We selected Microsoft as our trusted technology partner because we have strong confidence in their solutions as well as their in-depth global experience in similar industries, which will help us achieve the sought results,” added Al Zaabi.

Emirates will launch its flights to Edinburgh, the airline’s second destination in Scotland after Glasgow and its eighth in the UK. The Scottish capital is the second most visited city in the UK by tourists with spectacular sites such as the city’s Old Town and New Town which are both UNESCO World Heritage Sites. The new daily service will be operated by an Emirates Boeing 777-300ER in a three class cabin configuration which offers 8 private suites in First Class, 42 lie flat seats in Business Class and 304 spacious seats in Economy Class. Flight EK023 will depart Dubai daily at 0955hrs and arrive in Edinburgh at 1450hrs, while the return flight, EK024 will depart Edinburgh at 2015hrs and arrive in Dubai at 0640hrs the next morning. Travellers can also book with Emirates Holidays and enjoy a five-star holiday experience for an additional spend starting at AED 1,173 per person, exclusive of the airfare. To celebrate the inaugural flight to Edinburgh on October 1st, Emirates is offering passengers attractive fares to the Scottish capital. Travellers in the UAE can book special fares on all Economy and Business Class travel starting today until 10th September 2018 for travel between 1st October and 31st May 2019. Economy Class passengers can enjoy fares starting from AED 2,495 and Business Class passengers can enjoy fares starting from AED 13,165.

The second edition of the Travel Tech Middle East Congress (TTME) will be held at The H Dubai from September 26-27. “TTME’s agenda is replete with relevant topics and presentations, with top industrial leaders on board to present and speak, we are very thrilled to host this congress next month. This event is set to make a tremendous impact for the travel technology in Middle East and Verve Management is set to be there to provide this platform for all interested organisations looking to invest in Middle East region and learn about the market”, says a team member of Verve Management. Verve Management is delighted to have Albert Fernando (Travelwings), Albert Dias (Musafir), Matthew Sliedrecht (Cleartrip.com), Brett Henry (Travel Daily) and Andrew Pearson (Intelligencia Ltd.) on-board to present on the evolution of metasearch for travel & tourism, leveraging data-driven insights in corporate travel, top traveller behaviour trends, Travel Marketing and Artificial Intelligence at TTME 2018, respectively. Another additional panel which has recently been added on the agenda is the “Industry challenges for travel start-ups to solve” with confirmed speakers like, Diego Lofeudo (Sr. Executive Digital Expert & Former member of Expedia Leadership Team EMEA), and Vineet Budki (Guiddoo Worldwide) joining the panel. Vineet is also taking up a presentation on bitcoin for the travel industry. TTME Speakers will also include: Geet Bhalla (HolidayME), Nabil El Shafeay (Visit &Go), Paulina Klotzbucher (Travelstart), Haitham Abdel Baki (Millennium & Copthorne Hotels), Mamoun Hmedan (Wego), Sameer Bagul (Cleartrip.com) Anna Trushkina (Wego), Philip Jones (Movenpick Hotel Jumeirah Beach) and Stephen Meredith (Steigenberger Hotels & Resorts).

Marriott International has officially unified the Marriott Rewards, Starwood Preferred Guest and The Ritz-Carlton Rewards programmes. For the first time since Marriott International acquired Starwood Hotels and Resorts in 2016, the programmes now operate under one set of unified benefits and one currency spanning the entire loyalty portfolio of 29 brands and more than 6,700 participating hotels in 130 countries and territories. Members are able to seamlessly earn and redeem across the entire loyalty portfolio and achieve Elite status faster with new Elite tiers. Members can now combine their separate program accounts into one at Marriott.com or SPG.com to take advantage of everything Marriott International’s loyalty programmes offer worldwide. Together, the unified programs are richer. Members now earn on average 20 percent more points per dollar spent and have their Elite status recognized consistently at every hotel as they indulge in the elevated benefits they’ve earned. Additionally, members now have the added convenience to book stays throughout the portfolio on Marriott.com, SPG.com, and the Marriott and SPG apps, or by contacting customer engagement centers. “This is an exciting time for our loyalty members who now have endless inspiration to travel and experience the world to create memories that will last a lifetime,” said David Flueck, Senior Vice President, Global Loyalty, Marriott International. “We merged the incredible earning and redeeming power of Marriott Rewards with the phenomenal Elite benefits of SPG to create one of the richest travel loyalty programs with the most extraordinary global portfolio of hotels – from overwater bungalows, to mountainside ski resorts, to iconic urban landmarks.”

Oman Air is reviewing its route network with a view to further expanding its destinations in Africa. The airline already flies to Cairo in Egypt, Nairobi in Kenya, Zanzibar, Dar Es Salaam in Tanzania and on July 1st the airline launched its four times weekly service to Casablanca in Morocco. With the established Sudan diaspora in Oman, Khartoum is a strong favourite to be amongst the new additions to Oman Air’s African network in 2019. Last year Oman Air launched its four times weekly service to Nairobi, the capital of Kenya and one of its most dynamic cities with a vibrant cultural life, fabulous places to eat and exciting locations to visit. The seven times weekly service to the popular archipelago of Zanzibar has been a longstanding favourite with holidaymakers with its vibrant atmosphere and culture. Oman Air also flies seven times a week to Dar Es Salaam the largest city and economic capital of Tanzania, and East Africa’s second busiest port. The most recent addition of Casablanca in Morocco demonstrates Oman Air’s commitment to expanding the network and its focus on the African market. The keen interest already shown in the route is a positive sign for its future success. As with the majority of new routes, Oman Air is appealing to both business and tourism traffic and aims to strengthen the bilateral relations with all destinations in its growing network.

Over the first quarter DWC (Dubai World Central) Airport has seen a steady growth in passenger traffic during the first half from CIS with 271,000 passengers, Eastern Europe with 98,633 passengers, Western Europe with 89,559 and the Middle East with 49,671 passengers, according to the traffic report issued by Dubai Airports. Flight movements during the first half totalled 16,069 compared to 18,373, down 12.5 per cent recorded during the corresponding period in 2017. The average passenger per flight movement during the first half was 163 compared to 121 during the first half in 2017, an increase of 34.7 per cent.During the period under review DWC was served by 8 passenger carriers, operating an average of 95 flights weekly to 14 international destinations and 26 scheduled cargo operators flying to as many as 70 destinations around the world. Cargo volumes at Dubai World Central (DWC) grew to 475,190 tonnes in the first half of the year, a year on year increase of 7.1% compared to 443,835 tonnes recorded last year. After a robust growth of nearly 9 per cent in first quarter, cargo volumes at DWC reached 245,

Emirates will boost its services to Riyadh with the addition of a fourth daily flight to the Saudi capital from September 1, 2018. The addition of the fourth daily service will take the total number of weekly Emirates flights serving Riyadh to 28. The fourth daily flight will be serviced by the Boeing 777-300ER in a three class configuration. Emirates flight EK813 will depart Dubai at 1500hrs arriving in Riyadh at 1550hrs. The return flight, EK814 will depart Riyadh at 1750hrs and will arrive in Dubai at 2040hrs. The late afternoon departure offers an additional option for travellers, complementing the existing morning and evening flights. Dubai’s attractiveness as a destination for Saudi travellers continues to be strong and in 2017 more than 1.5 million Saudis visited the city, according to data published by the Department of Tourism and Commerce Marketing (Dubai Tourism). Dubai offers an extensive array of leisure and family activities catering to every taste, in addition to hotels for all budgets. As a commercial and business hub, Dubai has become a platform for a myriad of businesses seeking exposure in emerging markets, and is also a springboard for investments coming into the region. The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia is the UAE’s largest trading partner in the region, with non-oil trade reaching an estimated AED 880 billion (USD$24 billion) in 2017, according to UAE Federal Customs Authority data. Adil Al Ghaith, Senior Vice President Commercial Operations, Gulf, Middle East & Iran said: “Emirates’ expanded schedule to Riyadh will offer more travel options and choice for business travellers and families alike who are looking to visit Dubai.

Recognising the key players in the industry, the second edition of the Arabian Travel Awards will take stage on 20th September 2018 at JW Marriott Hotel in Deira, Dubai. The much awaited successful black tie event from Durga Das Publications (fze) invites all trade partners to be part of this exciting evening. Nikhil Jeet, convener of the awards states that this year’s nomination is still available for voting online. All the information regarding nominations is on the website— www.arabiantravelawards.ae. To nominate, one can go to the nomination page, where there are categories and sub-categories. Select the right option, fill the form and send it in. There will be a confirmation email with a voting link sent across. Some of the criteria for nomination includes; All entries must be travel and tourism products that serve the public or the industry, Your business is eligible to enter if it has been operational in its recent form for at least 12 months at the time of applying, Any entrants for New Hotel or New Resort categories will be eligible to enter if, at the time of applying, they opened within the past 12 months, If your entry relates to a specific project, it must have been completed and fully implemented at the time of applying, Any internet or technology products must have been operational for at least 12 months at the time of applying. Arabian Travel Awards supports, promotes and develops the Middle East Travel and Hospitality industry by identifying and rewarding excellence and inspiring its practitioners to continuously raise the standards of their product and service offering and there by taking Middle East Tourism and hospitality industry to the next level.