Demonstrating their commitment to the Gulf region, the European national tourist boards of Germany, Switzerland, Austria and France are hosting an exclusive networking event in Dubai this April, ahead of Arabian Travel Market (ATM). In a combined effort, Atout France’s travel trade workshop ‘Marhaba’ will kick off its two-day event on April 24 while the national tourist boards of Germany, Switzerland and Austria will take over on April 26 and host the ‘Heart of Europe Travel Summit’ at Sofitel, The Palm Resort & Spa, Dubai. More than 40 tourism suppliers from France and 80 from Germany, Switzerland and Austria – ranging from local tourist boards, hotels, destination management companies, airports, shopping facilities, transport companies as well as medical clinics – are looking forward to developing knowledge about the destinations, and also providing travel trade from the GCC with the opportunity to source products to enhance their holiday offerings for the summer season and beyond. The four tourism boards expect an attendance of over 100 buyers from the GCC region. Highlighting the importance of the travel trade industry in the Gulf region, Sigrid de Mazieres, Director–Gulf Countries, German National Tourist Office, said, “We are excited to collaborate with our European neighbouring countries, and to facilitate business relations between our touristic partners and the local travel trade through this new innovative platform.” The travel trade workshops will include pre-scheduled B2B appointments, cutting-edge presentations and extensive social programmes to experience the destinations’ hospitality and networking opportunities with participating decision-makers. “We believe that one of the many challenges facing the travel trade industry today is to keep abreast of the growing and changing needs of travellers from the region. This joint and unprecedented event …
Read More »GNTO vies to woo Dubai crowd with German cuisine
The German National Tourist Office in Dubai, together with its partners Emirates, Münich Tourism and Steigenberger Hotel Business Bay, brings some of German cuisine’s delicious flavours at Steigenberger Brothaus Bakery – Bistro in Dubai to inspire guests to visit Germany. Sigrid de Mazieres, Director — Marketing and Sales Office Gulf Countries, German National Tourist Office Gulf Countries stressed the importance of the GCC as being the third-largest non-European feeder market for Germany. She reiterated that the number of travellers to GCC from 2009 has been increasing year on year and in 2017, it witnessed 4.5 per cent increase. Annually, the theme to attract international tourists changes in the sector. This year is about the culinary journey which is quite interesting for the visitors from the region as food and shopping are two main areas that they focus while travelling to Germany. Shaz Peshimam, Emirates Senior Manager for Dubai and the Northern Emirates addressed the audience and stated that the new visa-free facility to all the UAE nationals has made a great impact for their flights as earlier it was seasonal. Emirates has been serving Germany for the past 31 years and they fly to four main areas — Frankfurt, Düsseldorf , Munich and Hamburg with 70 weekly flights.
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