Tag Archives: GCC

From the Future Hospitality Summit in Dubai, Marriott International, Inc. announced plans to expand its Middle East footprint with the expected addition of over 20 properties and more than 5,000 rooms across the Gulf countries over the next 15 months. The company’s growth in the region is fuelled by ongoing demand for its extraordinary portfolio of hotel brands across Saudi Arabia, Qatar, and the United Arab Emirates, and increased appetite from developers for conversions and adaptive reuse properties. “The tourism industry in the Middle East continues to undergo significant growth in line with the long-term strategies of regional governments to diversify their economies,” said Jerome Briet, Chief Development Officer, Europe, Middle East & Africa, Marriott International. “The reputation of Marriott International and our world-class brands, along with our long-established presence in the Middle East, continue to put us in a great position to contribute to the ongoing growth and diversification of the region’s tourism sector.” Luxury Segment Spearheads Growth in Saudi Arabia, While Select Segment Maintains Momentum With significant demand for luxury offerings in Saudi Arabia, particularly within the country’s ambitious developments such as the Red Sea Project and Diriyah Gate, Marriott International expects to enhance its portfolio with six additional luxury properties in the Kingdom by the end of 2023.  The anticipated openings will debut the St. Regis and EDITION hotel brands in the country and introduce the first Ritz-Carlton Reserve in the Middle East with the opening of Nujuma, a Ritz-Carlton Reserve in the Red Sea Project. Additionally, the company is responding to strong demand in the country for select service accommodation, with a new Four Points by Sheraton in Riyadh and Courtyard by Marriott in Jubail expected …

Premium destination, Vienna is ready with its new luxury experiences for the travelers from the GCC as they announce some of their latest openings from the airport to hotels etc. Summer is the main time of the year where GCC travelers explore and spend their family vacation in the lap of luxury in cooler areas in Europe. “We are looking forward to welcoming visitors from the GCC region, so that they can experience the premium destination Vienna first-hand. Vienna has a host of surprises for the luxury-loving guest from the GCC region, who prefer the more tasteful things in life. And it wouldn’t be Vienna if the extravagance were not accompanied by a hint of the city’s typical charm.” Matthias Schwindl, Media Manager Middle East at the Vienna Tourist Board In Vienna luxury can take a highly traditional form. Although the Austro-Hungarian monarchy ceased to exist in 1918, the high quality standards set by the former purveyors to the imperial court continue to have their place in the modern era. Around 500 companies were granted the royal k. u. k. (kaiserlichen und königlichen) warrant, making them Hoflieferanten. With this honor came the right to supply the Imperial Court with goods and services. Whether they had the imperial seal or not, in Vienna these long-standing local companies and their artisanal traditions continue to shape the city’s unmistakable appearance and fuel unique shopping experiences in the twenty-first century. Since 29 March 2022 Vienna International Airport put Terminal 2 once again into operation, ensuring a new travel experience for passengers. The oldest airport terminal was completely modernized and expanded to encompass new features. Travelers can take advantage of a modern and very exclusive …

Starting from 26 June 2021, Switzerland opened its borders to fully vaccinated guests from the GCC countries, who will be able to enter the country again without having to undergo quarantine, nor testing, celebrating the improvement of the global pandemic situation, and answering calls of those who wait for this destination to open. All EMA and WHO approved vaccinations including Sinopharm will be accepted up to 12 months after full vaccination, with the exception of people entering from countries with worrying mutations of the virus who will still have to abide by the country’s covid control rules. Matthias Albrecht, Director GCC, Switzerland Tourism says: “We are extremely happy and feel quite emotional that we finally can go back to what we do best; to host guests in our magnificent country. And we believe with our beautiful nature and uncrowded boutique towns as well as wide-open landscapes, Switzerland is the natural choice for a post-Covid holiday. Now that borders will open, we can’t wait to welcome each one of you!” The news come as a relief for travellers eager to visit, or revisit, Geneva, one of the most vibrant cities in the world, where its European identity blends with a warming welcome to share its beauty, history, and culturally rich public life with everyone, embodied in the details of every site, monument and locally crafted object, harmoniously located at closed proximity to take them from one experience to another, adding multiple flavours and layers to their city-escape. To explore Geneva from a unique and wholesome angle, the city offers an array of cruises spanning from one hour to a full day, designed to take visitors onboard an adventurous discovery of the …

In a recent interview with Yamina Sofo – Director of – German National Tourism Office (GNTO) in Dubai for GCC countries shared with us that they are hopeful about summer as most tourism establishments opens for guests in Germany.  At the press conference it was revealed that Berlin would be one of the first destinations to open for fully vaccinated travellers with those recommended by the EU whereas other travellers may have to undergo PCR tests, however, more details are to be shared very soon. Sofo reiterated, “we are very hopeful for the summer, so already by next week, a lot of the tourism establishments are reopening for guests from Germany itself, the neighboring countries, and then hopefully summer and maybe already in June for overseas customers. So it’s going to be in phases. But by the time our valued GCC guests can travel to Germany, Germany is well up and running and the safety standards are very high and in place. The GCC countries are the third most important overseas market for Germany incoming tourism so they’re very high and extremely important for our tourism industry profits, and they’re highly appreciated and welcomed. So over time in 2019, we had 1.6 million guests overnight, guests from the GCC countries. Last year the number was lower unfortunately, but we had to reach 300,000. So this shows really the eagerness of GCC travellers to come to Germany even in the most difficult situations, and we appreciate that a lot. So we are very hopeful because we know the industry, we know the guests here – they have their suitcases packed. They are ready to go, and so we anticipate a very …

Second edition of the Gulf Travel Show (GTS) will be held on March 31 and April 1, 2021. GTS with its proprietary exhibition software will help you recover, rebuild and reimagine relationships and products. Our first edition which concluded with great success was an affirmation of the need of the hour for the travel fraternity to ensure they maintain their connections and proactively search for new connections and/or partners that will help them grow their business help grow their brand and build long-term profitable business connections. For more information kindly contact – crisna@ddppl.com +971 55 470 4200; sonia.butalia@ddppl.com +91 96503 1177; nikhil.jeet@ddppl.com Last November the first edition received a positive impact from the industry partners as they were provided the opportunity to network with partners from across the globe which targets the Middle East as one of their source markets. It concluded with 40 plus exhibitors, 6000 one-to-one meetings, and 2,500 visitors from 59 countries which included travel agents, tour operators, tourism boards, airlines, hotels, travel management companies and international agencies. Local and international industry leaders attracted viewers with their insightful and engaging panel discussions. The hosted buyer programme along with the leader board motivated buyers to have meetings till the late hour. At the onset of the first virtual event, we provided the platform which depicted that of a real live event, with our state of the art technology. As you enter the event, you were transported to the venue with a very easy to manage menu that enabled you to really enjoy the event without any hassle. The hosted buyers had the opportunity to earn points while visiting each booth and increase chances of making connections and at …

We are just a few hours away to discover one of the most loved European destinations by the GCC, German National Tourist Office Gulf Countries will host a special webinar today at 11am UAE time to discover the destination in the comfort of your home. They will highlight the importance of the destination of Germany as one of the preferred travel destinations for the GCC nationals due to its diversity. The Webinar is a perfect platform to reach out to the travel professionals in the region. Germany ticks all the boxes, whether for wellness and recreation, nature and sightseeing or simply for entertainment and shopping – offering high quality services, great value for money, luxury accommodation and facilities as well as environmentally-friendly transportation links throughout the entire country. So join Yamina Sofo – Director, Sales & Marketing – German National Tourist Office, Gulf countries with State Tourist Board SouthWest Germany Natalie Dietl, Sales & Marketing Overseas, from Hochschwarzwald Tourism (HochschwarzwaldTourismus GmbH- (Black forest highlands) Christian Gross, Head of Incoming/MICE and Outletcity Metzingen; Angela Rieger, Sales & Tourism Manager from Europe’s largest outlet brings outlet shopping to a new level.

Dubai’s Department of Tourism and Commerce Marketing (DTCM) has appointed Claviger to promote Dubai as a destination and increase arrivals from across the GCC and Egypt. Claviger will leverage its in-market presence across the GCC and Egypt to promote Dubai as a prime destination for leisure travellers. Its dedicated sales force of market experts will highlight the exceptional Dubai calendar of events and tourism and hospitality attractions that the destination has to offer. Appointing Claviger will give DTCM access to an extensive network of travel industry professionals as it targets increased tourist numbers from Saudi Arabia, Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman, and Egypt. DTCM will also call on the company’s expertise to further develop Dubai as an important brand and destination of choice for GCC and Egypt holidaymakers. KSA is one of the GCC’s highest traffic generators for Dubai, with 1.56 million [AAS1] Saudis visiting the city in 2019. As the second highest volume driver for the GCC, Oman secures fourth spot in 2019 with a sharp 24.3 per cent spike to deliver over a million visitors. While Egypt remains in the top 20, with 314,000 visitors all demonstrating potential to positively impact tourism traffic in 2020. Speaking about the representation agreement, Hoor Al Khaja, Acting Associate Vice President for International Operations at DTCM said, “Dubai remains amongst the most preferred destinations for tourists from the region. Appointing Claviger is part of Dubai Tourism’s commitment to its source markets and our ongoing strategy to attract even more visitors from GCC and Egypt to Dubai, year-on-year.”

Geneva is all set to welcome travellers from the GCC and around the world, while still maintaining the necessary security measures to ensure the health and safety of all citizen and visitors. Geneva’s restaurants, shops, markets, travel agencies, museums, libraries and sports facilities were reopened with precautionary measures being applied. The re-opening plan consists of different phases where with each entity in Geneva will gradually take a step closer to being fully operational. On June 8; Phase 3 will take effect and swimming pools, theatres, cinemas, zoos, botanical gardens, animal parks and mountain transport services will be open to the public again. “We are optimistic about the current situation in Geneva and looking forward for more positive developments highlighted with the opening of airports for international flights soon,” says Franck Romanet, Market Manager GCC & India at Geneva Tourism & Conventions Foundation. “With the restrictions in Geneva being lifted and having more airlines announcing their return flights and connecting the GCC to our city, we hope to see more and more tourists from the GCC region travelling again to their favourite destination, Geneva,” Romanet continues. Every year Geneva welcomes the highest numbers of travellers from the GCC compared to other Swiss cities. This is linked to Geneva’s diverse offerings, natural scene and unique shopping opportunities which Arab travellers look forward to. The number of halal food restaurants and the hotels with Arabic speaking staff makes travellers from the Middle East region feel at home when visiting Geneva. Another important factor which makes Geneva an appealing destination for Arabs is its medical offerings which have a positive international reputation thanks to the number of clinics and hospitals available, the cutting edge …

GCC tourists to Egypt will spend $2.36 billion in 2020, an increase of 11 per cent over 2019, with visitors from Saudi Arabia driving this growth, according to new data published ahead of Arabian Travel Market 2020, which will take place at Dubai World Trade Centre from April 19-22, 2020. Visitors from Saudi Arabia to Egypt made 1,410 trips in 2019 with a forecast of 1.8 million tourists by 2024, a Compound Annual Growth Rate (CAGR) of 5 per cent. In terms of tourism expenditure, Saudi Arabian visitors spent $633 million in 2019 which is estimated to grow at a CAGR of 11 per cent through to 2024, reaching $1.13 billion, according to Colliers International research commissioned by the organiser of ATM, Reed Travel Exhibitions. Danielle Curtis, Exhibition Director ME, Arabian Travel Market, said, “Total tourism receipts in Egypt which stood at $16.4 billion in 2019, will achieve an average 13 per cent CAGR over the next five years to reach $29.7 billion. And Egypt also has a significant outbound market for the GCC. 1.84 million visitors arrived in 2019 and this is estimated to increase to 2.64 million by 2024.” “Over the last 12 months, Egypt’s tourism industry has witnessed remarkable growth, with arrivals up by 57.5 per cent from 11.3 million in 2018 to 17.8 million in 2019. Growth has been fuelled by the cheaper Egyptian Pound and government incentives for charter airlines operating international flights. Underscoring those impressive numbers, we witnessed a 23 per cent increase in the number of visitors interested in doing business with Egypt, up to almost 4,000,” added Curtis.

The Bicester Village Shopping Collection is pleased to announce a GCC roadshow across four key cities, commencing on February 10 from 10 am to 3 pm at The St. Regis Doha, the team will travel to the JW Marriott Hotel Kuwait City on February 11, followed by the Fairmont Dubai on 12 February and will conclude the roadshow at the Sofitel Abu Dhabi Corniche on February 13. The roadshow will allow the collection of villages to showcase their exceptional offering to the Middle East and also provides an opportunity to establish face-to-face relationships with travel partners in order to give Middle Eastern guests the best shopping experience possible.  The roadshow aims to attract around 200 travel trade professionals, all of whom will gain an in-depth understanding of the experience-led luxury retail offering and the culturally rich regions in which these villages are located. The collaboration of tourism boards, travel partners and travel trade media also provides an outstanding opportunity to promote the nine villages in Europe and the regional treasures on their doorsteps. Not only will the roadshow increase awareness of these picturesque European shopping destinations and their associated regions in this important market, but it will also furnish the Collection’s travel trade partners with a suite of exceptional value-added incentives that they can pass onto the travellers. Unifying nine distinctive destinations across Europe (and two in China), The Bicester Village Shopping Collection offers a personalised and differentiated luxury shopping experience – one that has significant appeal to the discerning Middle Eastern guest. Through an incomparable edit of leading brands, culturally-rich settings and unparalleled levels of service and dining, these global shopping destinations contribute to the experience economy by engaging …