Tag Archives: Asia

Dubai’s Jumeirah Group announced its plans to expand its brand presence in Asia, Europe and US whilst doubling its portfolio by 2030, building on its strength in the UAE and further expanding into key global markets. Plans include upweighting its presence in Europe, leveraging its strong base in London, Capri, Mallorca and Geneva to acquire luxury properties in other major cities as well as exploring opportunities in the US. The Group will also look to capitalise on the strong growth potential of the Asia Pacific market to extend its current reach beyond its properties in China, Bali and the Maldives. The growth plans are part of Jumeirah’s Mission 2030 strategy which will also see an evolution of the brand with a renewed focus on delivering distinct guest experiences and new ancillary businesses to complement its ultra luxury positioning.  Launching in 2024, this will include the integration of wellness into the entire guest journey based on the principles of lifelong learning, longevity and inclusivity, as well as a re-imagined family experience with a focus on education, self-discovery, environmental stewardship, cultural immersion and the arts. Katerina Giannouka, Chief Executive Officer of Jumeirah Group, commented: “The luxury landscape continues to evolve in response to consumer demand, particularly from younger millennial and Gen Z audiences, and as a brand we need to continually innovate to stay relevant.  Mission 2030 is a strategic plan that is designed to evolve the Jumeirah brand from a regional success story to a global leader in ultra luxury hospitality. It focuses on four key areas – international expansion, brand and product development, operational excellence and ancillary business – with an overall aim to sustainably double the size of our …

Rayna Tours announced its plans for expansion into new destinations, along with the appointment of a CEO to lead the company’s tourism businesses sector. The company’s expansion plans include establishing new destinations in the main European, Asian, and Middle Eastern countries, to create a comprehensive fully fledge products for the travel and tourism industry and communities. Since its inception in 2009, Rayna Tours has established itself as a leading player in the tourism and hospitality industry in UAE. With a major focus on adopting technology across all facets of its businesses and a commitment to excellence, Rayna Tours has been at the forefront of creating innovative travel solutions for its partners across the globe. To accelerate its growth strategy, Rayna Tours is pleased to welcome Mr. Senthil Velan, an accomplished leader in the tourism industry, as its new CEO. With over two decades of a proven track record of success in driving business growth in some of the leading DMCs in the region. Velan is ideally positioned to lead the company’s expansion into new markets and to build upon the company’s strong reputation. Mr. Velan will take over the CEO duties from the company owner and founder Mr. Manoj Tulsani who will continue to oversee the whole group of companies with a major focus on initiatives such as driving overseas expansions in addition to leading the innovation and technology developments across the group. In his new role, Mr. Velan will be responsible for accelerating the growth of Rayna Tours and its various tourism ventures, assets, and brands across the Middle East. He will oversee the company’s operations, strategic planning, and business development initiatives. “We are thrilled to welcome Senthil to …

Dubai International (DXB) retained its position as the world’s number one airport for international passengers for the fourth consecutive year with annual traffic for 2017 reaching 88.2 million passengers, according to the annual traffic report issued by Dubai Airports. Propelled by high traffic volumes averaging 7.35 million passengers per month throughout the year, including the record months of January, July and August when traffic breached the 8-million passenger mark, DXB’s traffic reached 88,242,099 passengers for the full year, up 5.5 per cent compared to 83,654,250 passengers recorded during 2016. The airport welcomed 7,854,657 passengers in December, up 1.9 per cent compared to 7,706,351 recorded in the same month in 2016. India continued its domination run as the single largest destination country for DXB with 12,060,435 passengers in 2017, up 5.4 per cent compared to 11,440,215 passengers recorded in 2016. The UK claimed the second spot with 6,466,404 passengers (+6.7 per cent), overtaking Saudi Arabia which recorded 6,364,598 passengers (4.6 per cent). Top regions in terms of percentage growth in 2017 were South America (36.1 per cent), Eastern Europe (25.3 per cent) and Asia (17.9 per cent)–mainly spurred by network expansion by Emirates, flydubai and other carriers.

Travel management company, ITL World signed a new agreement with technology provider Sabre Corporation.  Under the new agreement, Sabre will enable the TMC to continue fuelling its global expansion strategy. With 39 fully owned/operated offices across Asia, Middle East & Europe, ITL World, a member of the Eram Group already enjoys a successful relationship with Sabre, will continue to access Sabre’s broad portfolio of technology solutions, including the latest mobile, data analytics, personalisation and automation capabilities.  The TMC will also benefit from the new version of the Sabre Red Workspace, which was designed to help agents offer a greater experience and more personalisation to travellers. “We chose Sabre as its innovative technology has proven to better support our objectives, which include delivering the highest level of service to our customers,” said Dr. Siddeek Ahmed, Chairman and Managing Director, Eram Group/ITL World. “Sabre’s understanding of the latest technology trends and traveller behaviours has been essential in our expansion in the Middle East. It has helped us to truly understand the needs of the Middle Eastern traveller, enabling us to deliver an unrivalled service to our large customer base. Sabre’s new platform will help us to meet the growing demands of our travellers globally, who demand and expect increasingly personalised itineraries and a seamless travel experience.” “ITL World has proven its position as a global player in a very short time,” said Ramzi Al Qassab, Commercial Director for GCC and global partners. “This agreement highlights the confidence ITL World has in Sabre’s expertise and technology to support its objectives and meet its diverse customer needs.”

Air Arabia introduces SITA’s next-generation passenger management system to extract even greater efficiency across its operations. Air Arabia carried close to 8-million passengers in 2015, serving 101 destinations spread across the Middle East, North Africa, Asia and Europe from five hubs in the UAE, Egypt, Morocco and Jordan. SITA’s latest passenger service system will help the airline better manage the boarding of passengers across all destinations while streamlining the turnaround of the airline’s aircraft. Through the Horizon Passenger Management and Distribution portfolio, SITA will provide the airline with its latest departure control and weight and balance systems. Horizon Weight & Balance will increase fuel savings for the airline by providing full load planning capabilities, including a graphical user interface framework, for all the functionalities required to load and dispatch an aircraft. This includes all legally required documentation for both airlines and ground handlers. SITA’s Horizon  Departure Control Services (DCS) is a fully integrated multi-host system for automated check-in, boarding and load planning and has been used to check in more than 167 million passengers worldwide.