Category Archives: Agents

Miral has confirmed that Warner Bros. World Abu Dhabi, an indoor theme park spanning 1.65 million square feet and home to 29 immersive rides, entertaining shows and interactive attractions, will open in 2018. The fully-immersive world-class park will also include retail outlets featuring a wide collection of merchandise inspired by Warner Bros. franchises as well as a full range of dining options from full-service sit down to grab and go. Warner Bros. World Abu Dhabi will bring together Super Heroes and Super-Villains from the DC Universe, including Batman, Superman and Wonder Woman, as well as Warner Bros.’ iconic animated properties such as Bugs Bunny, Scooby-Doo and Tom and Jerry, creating a family-friendly destination for fans of all ages. “We are very excited to be announcing the number of rides, shows and attractions for Warner Bros. World Abu Dhabi,” said Mohamed Abdullah Al Zaabi, CEO of Miral. “We’re very delighted to see the park coming together and on track for the 2018 launch. Warner Bros. World Abu Dhabi marks an important step in the development of Yas Island as a complete leisure and entertainment destination, and we can’t wait to share it with the world,” he added. Theming is currently underway throughout the park and will immerse guests of all ages into the world of Warner Bros.’ best-in-class brands. Factory acceptance testing for all rides is nearly done, and delivery and installation of rides has already started. Warner Bros. World Abu Dhabi comes as part of Yas Island’s commitment to attracting 48 million annual visits by 2022. The ambitious vision is aimed at transforming the island into a world-class leisure and entertainment destination that caters to everyone around the world.

Travelport has announced a new multi-year agreement with Astra Travel, the first dedicated travel management company in Egypt. This new partnership will provide Astra Travel with access to Travelport’s travel content – including the branded fares and ancillaries from the world’s leading airlines and low cost carriers, as well as over 650,000 hotel properties and 36,000 car rental locations in nearly 180 countries across the globe. Astra Travel will access this consumer-ready content via Travelport Smartpoint, Travelport’s industry leading point of sale solution for travel agents that provides rich, graphical detail in a fast and accurate single workflow. Established in 1990, Astra Travel provides integrated travel services as well as event management services to large local and international firms. Fatma Nosseir, Managing Director, Astra Travel commented: “Considering the constant changes and customer needs of the travel industry, all of us at Astra Travel, are fully dedicated to customer satisfaction and devoted to serving our clients efficiently. Our investment in Travelport’s industry leading technology solutions is an innovative move for us to grow our business in the region. Travelport’s Travel Commerce Platform will provide our business with opportunities to work smarter and improve our productivity and profitability, helping us to stand out from the competition.” Mervat Alfy, Country Manager, Travelport Egypt said: “Astra Travel is a key player in the Egyptian travel industry. This partnership with Astra Travel, is testament to the value that our Travel Commerce Platform brings to travel business and demonstrates how we are working with Egypt’s travel industry leaders to innovate together and support them in growing their businesses. Travelport’s presence in Egypt is steadily growing and we are looking forward to working with Astra Travel over …

UAE based loyalty and payments solutions company Infinia Services and Solutions will be launching its mobile application “Dubuy” during this week. Dubuy is the first one of a kind application in the Middle East with many benefits for tourists to Dubai at any time of the year. It is a smartphone application which can function on both Android and iOS formats for travellers to Dubai. Tourists can browse for merchant categories, apply filters and find locations near them using the simple geo-location tool, which shows all merchant offers nearby. It can be availed through hotels, DMCs or registered travel agents of Dubuy. A tourist visiting Dubai will be provided with a downloadable application link by the travel agent. Once the link is downloaded, entering an authentication code makes the application ready for use. The tourist can then view multiple options of discounts, offers and deals across various categories to explore in Dubai. Dubuy enfolds a number of options to discover Dubai like never before, with valuable discounts, offers and deals across shopping, dining, leisure & attractions, spa & wellness and many more.  The initial launch phase of Dubuy has already brought leading brands on board and plans are to build Dubuy into the ultimate experience for a tourist. With Dubuy, Infinia brings to tourists the ‘great deals more fun’ experience in one of the world’s most popular tourist destinations – Dubai. “The driving force for growth at Infinia results from putting the customer at the centre of everything we do. Instead of offering a one-size-fits all model, we invest time and effort in understanding consumer needs and go about devising comprehensive solutions with the help of best-in-class technology and innovation. …

Musafir.com in collaboration with the India Tourism, Dubai (Incredible India – an international marketing campaign by the Govt. of India) has formed a comprehensive partnership to promote tourism in India and to raise awareness about India as a leisure destination among UAE travellers hailing from diverse backgrounds and to highlight India’s vast culture, demography and rich heritage among the UAE travellers. With the association and rigorous promotion of India during December, Jan and February, Musafir.com witnessed a growth of 12 per cent in their flight bookings to the Indian sector out of the UAE and 21 per cent increase in holiday packages sold by Musafir.com to India. I.R.V. Rao, Assistant Director of Incredible India, states, “Our aim is to increase our foothold on the digital front and to further target key new demographics, at which Musafir.com has helped us immensely given their varied demographic base on the online front. We have witnessed a sharp uplift in our Arab enumeration and look forward to working with Musafir.com closely again, to help establish India as a tourist destination in the GCC region.” “The association between Musafir.com and India tourism was extremely successful and the partnership further strengthened the tourism influx into India. Tourism is the second largest foreign exchange earner in India and it is a brilliant source of cultural exchange between the countries and in addition opens the gateway for numerous business opportunities. Tourists from both sides are visiting for leisure with an increased number of UAE nationals availing the tourism facilities in India” said Rajesh Pareek, Group CEO, Musafir.com. Musafir.com has managed to create an awareness amongst the UAE population, (specially expats) through their digital acquisition campaigns with a strong …

GTA has kicked off its 2017 roadshow in the Middle East region. The first stop took place in Riyadh at the Marriott Hotel on the February 6, 2017, where over 180 key travel professionals and hotel representatives attended the event. The second stop on Wednesday, February 8, at Atlantis, The Palm in Dubai. The event connects travel agents and key shop bookers with leading suppliers and hoteliers from across Asia Pacific, Africa & Turkey. The aim is to increase product knowledge and awareness and ultimately to grow outbound traffic from the Middle East markets to these destinations by building new distribution channels and stimulating specific customer segments. Over 60 hotel partners, representing groups, chains and unique individual brands show cased their products. These included ACCOR Hotels (Platinum Sponsor), Regal Hotels Group (Gold Sponsor), Hilton Hotels & Resorts, InterContinental Hotels Group, Anantara Hotels & Resorts, Shangri-La Hotels & Resorts and many others. “By organizing this roadshow, we enable our travel associates to connect with our leading hotel partners from across Asia Pacific, Africa & Turkey, allowing them to understand their key offerings, powering global travel while focusing on the most-loved destinations where we see a growing demand from the GCC region. We also support business growth with expert advice and insights on the latest travel trends”, said Rami Mashini, Vice President of Sales and Marketing for Middle East, Africa, Turkey & India at GTA. Today 35% of GTA Middle East business is going into Asia Pacific, Africa and Turkey destinations, the ambition is to keep growing with double-digit increase year-on-year. The Middle East Roadshow 2017 welcomed hotel partners from Malaysia, Singapore, Thailand, Indonesia, China, Hong Kong, Japan, Taiwan, India, Sri Lanka, …

AVIAREPS has been appointed as market representative, with immediate effect, for the Bahrain Tourism & Exhibitions Authority (BTEA), in Germany, Austria, Switzerland and China. AVIAREPS’ marketing and PR specialists, located within each targeted market, will be responsible for proactively coordinating and developing the authority’s media relations, press events and familiarization trips, and the organization of roadshows and seminars in Central Europe and China based on Bahrain’s unique tourism offering. These activities will also include a major presentation to be conducted at ITB Berlin, the world’s leading travel trade show in March 2017. Thomas Drechsler, Chief Operating Officer-Tourism, AVIAREPS, says: “Our media partners will be pleasantly surprised with the unique and aspirational stories the Kingdom of Bahrain has to tell. Bahrain is a small country packed with many wonders of nature and a unique culture to share with travellers. At the same time, Bahrain boasts an impressively modern tourism infrastructure. We are very excited and honoured about our appointment, and looking forward to representing Bahrain`s interests in both German-speaking Europe and China”. Commenting on the appointment, His Excellency Shaikh Khaled bin Humood Al-Khalifa, CEO of BTEA said, “Although Bahrain has a number of unique offerings for tourists, we noticed that tour operators around the world did not have enough information or packages to push holidaymakers to visit the island. The new representative offices would help bridge the gap and boost visitor numbers to the kingdom.” Yousef AlKhan, Director of Marketing and Tourism promotion at BTEA added “BTEA took a huge step forward by introducing its new brand ‘Ours.Yours.Bahrain’ at the World Travel  Market in London in November 2016. We are now showcasing our new brand outside of the region. ‘Ours.Yours.Bahrain‘ embraces …

The first dual International Air Transport Association (IATA) New Distribution Capability (NDC) Certified travel technology provider unveiled that it will be launching ihlah.com – Middle East and Africa’s first Travel Search Engine, by the second quarter of 2017.  ihlah.com is a travel search website accompanied by top-ranked mobile Apps for travellers living in the Middle East & Africa region. “Ihlah.com is Africa & Middle East’s Region’s first Travel Search Site targeting a market of 482 million Internet users in the region and 232 million passengers who travelled by air. We help travellers with a comprehensive browsing experience to compare flight and hotel options and pricing from various suppliers while keeping shoppers engaged in a single tab. Ihlah.com presents an unbiased comparison of all travel products and prices offered in the marketplace by merchants both local and global and enables shoppers to quickly find the best deal and place to book, whether from airline, hotel direct or with a third party aggregator website. Ihlah.com harnesses powerful yet simple to use technology based on IATA’s New Distribution Capability (NDC) that automates the process of searching and comparing results from hundreds of airline, hotel and online travel agency websites,” said Praveen Kumar, Chief Technology Officer of TPConnects. For registered users, to search and compare travel products on ihlah.com will be offered as free of cost, while it works on a Cost Per Acquisition and/or Cost Per Click business model with airlines, hotels and online travel agencies.

Desert Adventures, part of the Kuoni Destination Management Specialists division, has appointed Discover The World-Germany as its representative in the country. The appointment is part of an overall strategy by the Middle East’s leading Destination Management Company of strengthening its foothold in key source markets such as Austria, Switzerland and Germany, and further enhancing its business performance. With ITB Berlin scheduled to take place on March 8-12, 2017, Desert Adventures and Discover The World-Germany will be working closely on a persuasive sales pitch to existing customers and prospective clients during the event. “The places within which Desert Adventures operates – the UAE, Oman, Jordan and Qatar – have remained as among the most sought-after destinations for German-speaking guests,” said Fabio Prestijacopo, Head of Sales & Marketing, Desert Adventures Tourism. “We are therefore delighted to have appointed Discover The World-Germany as our representative in this market and look forward to making such partnership work to the advantage and benefit of customers.” For her part, Margit Schwarz, Director, Discover The World Germany commented: “We are pleased to have been provided this opportunity to further develop Desert Adventures‘ business in the leisure and group segment. Our synergies will certainly bring about a rejuvenated feeling of enthusiasm among customers looking to travel into any of Desert Adventures’ destinations because they know that they will be taken care of by two of the most trusted brands in the travel & hospitality industry.” Discover The World Germany is known for its market-leading and innovative sales and marketing solutions aimed at helping solve market expansion challenges to a diverse client base. The combined strength of talented local travel professionals and existing online technologies enable clients to increase …

Al Tayyar Travel Group, as part of its sustained efforts to contribute to the development of the corporate travel sector, has signed a new partnership agreement with Amadeus. The agreement extension till the year 2020 will transform the existing relationship between Amadeus and Al Tayyar to a strategic partnership, and expand their cooperation from the local level to the Middle East and North Africa. The signing of the agreement marks a step forward in ensuring the delivery of quality services to a wider customer base across the region. Al Tayyar Group’s decision to upgrade the partnership with Amadeus to the regional level is in line with its intensive projects and investments in the e-commerce, travel and tourism industries, as well as its global expansions. Abdullah bin Nasser Al-Dawood, Managing Director & CEO of Al Tayyar Travel Group, said, “As a major company in the regional travel sector, Al Tayyar has been building on the solid foundation of our existing relationship with global travel solutions providers like Amadeus. Our vision is to find innovative ways to meet the needs of the market and create new avenues for growth. The expansion of our strategic partnership with Amadeus to the regional level will further strengthen our relationship and infuse fresh energy to the corporate travel sector in the region.” Amadeus is one of main leading innovators in the travel sector; it has been empowering the regional travel industry with next-generation products and services to help it overcome rising costs, unpredictable market conditions and changing business models. Its integrated and comprehensive suite of solutions allows travel agencies to streamline and enhance the corporate travel process, enabling them to leverage the opportunities offered by automation …

This month Dubai welcomed over 50 delegates from across the GCC in two familiarisation trips including travel and tourism industry VIPs and representatives. From January 12-14, Dubai Tourism hosted owners, CEOs and Managing Directors of the top travel and trade agencies from across the GCC. The VIPs represented leading regional travel companies including Al Muftah Travel, Marmul Travel, Yrbooking and Orange Travel. The trip gave the VIP guests and their families the chance to be amongst the first to experience the newly launched Dubai Parks and Resorts in its full capacity, as well as the opportunity to stay at the Marriott’s brand new Polynesian Lapita resort right in the heart of the parks. Dubai Tourism also held a private dinner for the city’s stakeholders to network with the 15 delegates from Saudi Arabia, Bahrain, Oman and Qatar. Other key industry partners included Emirates Airlines, Alpha Destination Management and GTA. With the GCC contributing 24 per cent of all visitors to Dubai from January – November 2016, it continues to be a key focus for the Department of Tourism and Commerce Marketing (Dubai Tourism). The VIP and industry familiarisation trips highlight the significance of GCC outbound travel to Dubai, and form part of the ongoing efforts of Dubai Tourism to promote the emirate’s tourism offering to each of the markets in the GCC. Hoor Al Khaja, Manager, China, International Operations at Dubai Tourism, added: “The GCC remains a key priority for us as a top source market for visitors to Dubai. We are also enhancing Dubai’s tourism offering further with new attractions like IMG Worlds of Adventure and Dubai Parks & Resorts which offer new and exciting experiences for visitors, not …