dnata has acquired Tropo, a Germany-based tour operator, from ProSiebenSat.1 Group. The acquisition marks dnata’s entry into the German market and extends its global network of travel businesses in Europe, the Middle East, Asia and Australasia. The purchase agreement also includes TV media volume worth several million euros for 2018 and 2019. The contract parties agreed not to disclose the details of the acquisition, which is subject to approval by the antitrust authorities. Tropo is a dynamic tour operator for low-cost and high-quality travel packages, last-minute holidays and hotel reservations offering up to 200 million vacation options every day. ProSiebenSat.1 has held a majority stake in Tropo GmbH since 2012. In the roughly six years it has belonged to the media group, the tour operator has increased its brand awareness significantly through the use of TV advertising. The company has successfully defended its position against the challenging market environment in its highly-competitive travel segment over the past years. Iain Andrew, Divisional Senior Vice President, Travel Services, dnata, said, “We are delighted with this opportunity to have Tropo become part of dnata travel. This acquisition enables us to enter the important and valuable German travel market, and enhances our portfolio of travel services in Europe. We see potential for significant synergies between Tropo and our other travel businesses around the world to provide very attractive and unique offerings to inbound and outbound travellers to and from Germany.

As corporate travel behaviour continues to evolve in the Middle East, Amadeus has launched a new corporate self-booking tool to support business travellers in the Middle East and North Africa in managing busy schedules while reducing travel costs. The engine was designed taking into account feedback from travel management companies and business travel trends in the region, recognising that today’s business travellers require the latest technologies to keep them connected, productive and on the move. Amadeus Online Corporate Traveller uses automated processes to integrate all phases of travel management, thereby uniting the business traveller, travel management companies, travel managers, and financial officers with one ultimate shared destination – business success. It is being launched in partnership with BirdRes, a leading B2B application developer including automation tools, which is also a reseller of Amadeus products in India. Antoine Medawar, Vice President, Amadeus MENA, said, “Corporate travellers in the region require quick and convenient tools that meet their business needs—and often demanding schedules. The Amadeus Online Corporate Traveller fulfils these requirements by connecting the traveller with every person involved in the booking process, from the finance team through to the travel management company. This will deliver a seamless experience to the end user while enabling all involved to benefit from more streamlined processes.” Ankur Bhatia, Director, BirdRes, said, “One-stop solutions are in demand in the MENA region as travel management companies seek the most convenient way of meeting the varied needs of their customers. The Amadeus Online Corporate Traveller is suited to the region’s latest travel policies, demonstrating a deep understanding of consumer preferences and needs.”

The team of Golden Sands Hotel Apartments, part of AA Al Moosa Enterprises, recently participated at the Dubai tourism roadshow in India. The team joined the delegation headed by the Dubai Department of Tourism and Commerce Marketing (DTCM) that visited the cities of Kolkata, Pune, Ahmedabad and Mumbai and met with potential partners and buyers, in a move to further boost the overall number of Indian travellers to Dubai. According to DTCM, visitors from India have increased by 7 per cent in the first quarter of 2018. Mohammed Khoori, General Manager, Golden Sands Hotel Apartments said, “We are very keen to get a share of this growing market so we met with several partners who can promote Golden Sands Hotel Apartments to travellers from these four cities. We received great feedback from tour operators and travel agencies who informed us that Indian travellers coming to the UAE are choosing Golden Sands as their preferred accommodation.” The team focused on meeting travel agents and tour operators who are selling the destination to family and individuals as well as niche segments such as small family group, golf, wedding and luxury. Representatives from hotels, airline heads, opinion leaders and heads of key travel trade associations along with travel operators were invited to attend the four-day roadshow.

Radisson Hospitality is set to announce the signing of its first Radisson hotel in the Middle East at Dubai’s Damac Hills. Under construction already, and due to open in Q4 2019, Radisson Hotel, Dubai DAMAC Hills will feature 481 rooms, including one and two-bedroom suites. Two restaurants will cater to guests’ dining needs, while leisure facilities such as a gym, spa, kids club and an outdoor swimming pool will also be available. The hotel’s extensive meeting space will be built over an area of 600m². The property will be within a rapidly growing area of Dubai and surrounded by new residential and business districts such as Dubai Motor City and Dubai Investment Park, while the site of Expo 2020 will be just 11 km away. Elie Younes, Executive Vice President & Chief Development Officer, Radisson Hotel Group, said, “We’re delighted to enter into partnership with DAMAC Properties and we appreciate their commitment and vision to develop such an exciting project. We’re further delighted to introduce our new upscale Radisson brand that delivers its own Scandinavian-inspired hospitality to the region.” “DAMAC Hills is one of Dubai’s newest communities and is already home to more than 1,000 families,” said Hussain Sajwani, Chairman, DAMAC. “Our partnership with Radisson Hotel Group for this unique hospitality product will cater to the ever-growing number of tourists and business travellers who visit the emirate.”

The Department of Culture and Tourism – Abu Dhabi (DCT Abu Dhabi) has launched a new manual to streamline the process of organising and implementing consumer fairs and exhibitions in the UAE capital. The new manual, which is available on DCT Abu Dhabi’s corporate website and Events Licensing System, covers such events as consumer exhibitions and events open to the public where products are sold and outlines best practices for ensuring each event offers an enhanced overall experience for visitors. The manual includes an explanation of the standards and procedures required to either maintain or improve facilities and services each event offers, as well as working in coordination with the DCT Abu Dhabi Events Licensing System, which provides a fast effective solution for registering and licensing all events held in Abu Dhabi. It incorporates a database for event type and information, category, speakers and activities, as well as containing indicators of tourism performance, growth orientations and of an event’s success and fulfillment of its set objectives. “This new manual lays out DCT Abu Dhabi’s recommended procedures for organising and presenting consumer fairs and exhibitions. This reflects our commitment to streamlining the process of hosting events here in Abu Dhabi, and we hope the manual will act as a catalyst for entrepreneurs and small-to-medium sized businesses with an interest in putting on events in the UAE capital,” said Nasser Al Rayami, Licence & Regulatory Compliance Department Director, DCT Abu Dhabi.

Al Ghazal Travel, a leading travel agency in KSA, has appointed Sabre Corporation as its technology partner to support its expansion strategy, provide more personalised travel services and improve customer satisfaction. Under this agreement, Al Ghazal Travel will have access to Sabre’s marketplace of more than 420 airlines, 750,000 hotel properties and hundreds of tour operators, rail, car and cruise providers, enabling it to sell personalised travel packages from suppliers all over the world. The agency accesses the marketplace through the new Sabre Red Workspace (nSRW), which makes it simple to shop, book and manage travel content. “We started in KSA in the seventies and are known for our uncompromised level of service and passion for technology,” said Ahmed Taleb Al Ghazal, General Manager, Al Ghazal Travel Agency. “Today, we are eyeing regional expansion and wanted a reliable partner to help us thrive and grow; Sabre has the right innovative technology, global expertise and dedicated team to help us achieve our ambitious plan.” “Al Ghazal Travel is a dynamic agency with the potential to tap into the region’s huge increase in travel demand,” said Ramzi Al Qassab, Regional Commercial Director and Global Partners, STNME. “Sabre’s worldwide network of travel suppliers will help Al Ghazal to offer a wealth of choice to its travellers, spearheading it towards competing with the industry’s global players.”

The latest figures released by the Department of Culture and Tourism – Abu Dhabi (DCT Abu Dhabi) for the emirate’s hospitality sector show the number of hotel guests staying in Abu Dhabi during June rose by 6 per cent compared to the same month a year ago, with Saudi Arabian and American guests underpinning the uplift. Completing a record-breaking first half of the year, June’s results reveal the Department’s plans to exceed 2017’s record-breaking numbers of guest arrivals, when close to five million people stayed in the emirate, are on track. In total 339,592 visitors were guests of Abu Dhabi’s 162 hotels and hotel apartments during June, an increase of more than 19,000 over the previous year. For the first six months of 2018, the figures show Abu Dhabi upping the total number of hotel guests to the emirate by 5 per cent on the year, with 2,413,230 guests in total arriving. HE Sultan Al Dhaheri, Executive Director, Tourism Sector – DCT Abu Dhabi, added, “We are delighted to see hotel guest numbers and occupancy rates in positive territory for all three of Abu Dhabi’s distinct regions. As pleasing as it is to see visitors from both Saudi Arabia and the US arriving in such numbers, we will continue to strongly focus on all of our key markets for the second half of the year, promoting our latest tourism and cultural assets alongside the diverse range of offerings we already showcase.”

RwandAir has recently appointed Cozmo Travel as its Passenger General Sales Agent (GSA) for the GCC countries (Oman, Bahrain, Kuwait and Saudi Arabia (Offline). “These strategic partnerships play a very important role especially for airlines entering new markets and the practice is that airlines look competitively for established and well known GSA’s when entering particular markets which saves airlines associated costs for new market entry and, or development such as infrastructure, human resource etc while focusing on results. We are already established in the UAE, flying into and out of Dubai and we do cover the entire UAE market from a passenger and cargo sales perspective. This partnership is part of a growth strategy, though offline and it gives us an opportunity to assess the GCC markets for any other decisions in the future,” stated  Timothy Njihia, Country Manager—UAE | GCC | Pakistan, RwandAir.” Jamal Abdulnazar, CEO, Cozmo Travel stated, “With Cozmo Travel’s extensive retail presence in all the GCC countries, RwandAir will be able to capitalise on Cozmo’s  network in the region ensuring a wider market reach. Likewise Cozmo will be able to represent and sell the various RwandAir destinations within the African continent as well their expanding network into Asia and Europe. With a significant population of African nationals working and residing in the GCC region, the focus will be to capitalize on the large network of destinations within the African continent served by RwandAir.”

Ramada Hotel & Suites Ajman has trained and hired employees with speaking and hearing disabilities as part of its continuous commitment to reach out to the community and provide equal opportunity for different members of the society. Under Ajman Tourism Development Department’s Zayed Day for Humanitarian Initiative, in cooperation with the Ministry of Community Development, Ramada Ajman provided training and internship to Musab Abdul Raheem Jaber Saleh. A deaf and mute Jordanian national, he worked with the front office department as bell boy cum valet parking driver for a month. The programme aimed to train and employ people of determination, in order for them to integrate in the community and to be qualified to work in the government and private sector in the future. Early this year, the property also hired Rizwan Uddin, a deaf and mute Pakistani, as a ken fix-it technician. As part of the engineering department, his skills include carpentry, painting and masonry. Iftikhar Hamdani, General Manager of Ramada Hotel & Suites Ajman, commented, “We are extremely proud to support and offer opportunities to all the deserving people of determination. Their perseverance and dedication inspire us that nothing should stop us from being productive and contributing to our community. We will continue our efforts to help such individuals and groups as part of our corporate social responsibility initiatives.”

The Department of Culture and Tourism – Abu Dhabi (DCT Abu Dhabi) and Airbnb have teamed up to promote the UAE capital’s offerings. DCT Abu Dhabi’s already established Emirati Experiences initiative offers visitors to the emirate a selection of 20 different tours and experiences designed and led by Emirati nationals which provide firsthand insight into Emirati culture, heritage and history. These tailor-made experiences are echoed by Airbnb’s own ‘Experiences’ – unique excursions and activities designed and led by local hosts – which Airbnb offers across 800 cities worldwide. This new joint initiative means all 20 Emirati Experiences will now be included on Airbnb’s popular global platform for the first time. “This collaboration with our friends at Airbnb to showcase Emirati Experiences on their hugely popular service makes perfect sense and is in line with our mandate to promote our emirate to the widest possible audience. Each year, millions of tourists come to Abu Dhabi to experience our history, traditions and heritage and there is no better way for visitors to experience the uniqueness of Abu Dhabi and its districts, and to learn about our rich history than by spending time with an Emirati tour guide, which is what Emirati Experiences offers. With this new initiative, the demand for these unique experiences should increase as more potential visitors are exposed to the wonderful things on offer in Abu Dhabi. This co-operative initiative will no doubt result in greater visibility of our emirate to an international audience, which can only positively impact visitation numbers going forward,” said HE Sultan Al Mutawa Al Dhaheri, Executive Director, Tourism Sector, DCT Abu Dhabi.