Emirates has renewed individual global marketing agreements with Mauritius and Seychelles in the form of Memorandum of Understandings with the respective tourism boards. The MoUs were signed by Orhan Abbas, Emirates’ Senior Vice President, Commercial Operations for Africa, Kevin Ramkaloan, Director of the Mauritius Tourism Promotion Authority, and Sherin Francis, Chief Executive Officer of the Seychelles Tourism Board in presence of Maurice Loustau-Lalanne, Minister for Tourism, Civil Aviation, Ports and Marine in Seychelles. Various joint activities will be developed under the agreement, such as attendance of tourism trade shows and fairs, trade familiarisation trips, product presentations and workshops. Emirates started operations to the Mauritius in September 2002 with three weekly flights. The daily A380 service was launched in December 2013, and the double-daily service was introduced in October 2014, following a strong demand for Emirates’ flagship aircraft on this route. In 2016, more than 1,200,000 tourists visited Mauritius. In June 2015, Emirates increased its capacity to the Seychelles, when it switched from the Airbus 330-200 used on one of the two daily services to a larger Boeing 777-300ER. The introduction of the Emirates Boeing 777-300ER, which operates as flight EK 705 from Dubai and as EK 706 on the return flight, increased the overall capacity on the route by 1722 seats per week and made the route an all-Boeing 777 operation.
Read More »Dubai Tourism hosts 300 African trade professionals
Dubai’s Department of Tourism and Commerce Marketing (Dubai Tourism) hosted its largest ever group of travel trade professionals from Africa, during a six-day familiarisation trip aimed at positioning Dubai as a leading destination of choice. The familiarisation trip, which ends today, has given over 300 senior management executives from 12 African countries – South Africa, Ghana, Nigeria, Kenya, Zambia, Ethiopia, Zimbabwe, Seychelles, Mauritius, Uganda, Tanzania and Cote D’Ivoire – first-hand insights into the array of unique experiences, attractions and activities that Dubai offers, with the spotlight falling on the city’s upcoming summer calendar, starting with the cultural activities during the holy month of Ramadan, followed by the Eid in Dubai celebrations and the Dubai Summer Surprises. In addition to visiting a number of key attractions across the city, the delegation also attended the Dubai Tourism Conference and Workshop on 3 June, which provided an overview of Dubai’s tourism offerings and the kind of support that is being offered to the African travel trade to promote Dubai in their continent. Presentations were also made by officials from the different agencies and divisions of Dubai Tourism such as Dubai Festivals and Retail Establishment (DFRE), the organiser of major festivals in Dubai, digital and marketing communications and Dubai Calendar.
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