Abu Dhabi - United Arab EmiratesIssue 44 - July 2010

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this issue:

Summer in UAE 10

Health & Wellness Toursim 06

Fine Dining / Coffee recipe 17

Interview Travel Agency 14

Global Toursim Outlook 16

Ambassador’s Interview 04

ADCCI & ATTAC establish committee to enhance cooperation

Air Travel rebounded stand at above recession level

A permanent joint commit-tee has been established by Abu Dhabi Chamber of Commerce and Industry (ADCCI) and Travel and Tourism Agencies Council (ATTAC). The objective of this committee is to enhance the contacts and recommendations with the government depart-

ments and also to organize the travel trade business in more seamless manner.

Travel and Tourism Agen-

According to the Interna-tional Air Transport Association (IATA) international scheduled traffic statistics for May wit-nessed 11.7% increase in pas-senger traffic and a 34.3% jump in freight demand compared to May 2009.

“Demand rebounded strong-ly in May following the impact of the European volcanic ash fi-asco in April. Passenger traffic is now 1% above pre-recession levels, while the freight market is 6% bigger,” said Giovanni Bisig-nani, IATA’s Director General and CEO.

A capacity increase of 4.8% in May lagged behind the strong upturn in passenger demand. This pushed May’s international passenger load factor to 76% (78.7% when adjusted for sea-sonality). This is the sixth con-secutive month with seasonally adjusted load factors near 79%. Matching capacity to demand will become increasingly chal-lenging in the coming months. Aircraft utilization remains 5% below pre-recession levels for single-aisle aircraft and 8% for longer-range twin-aisle aircraft. The 100 aircraft taken out of storage during May and 93 the new aircraft delivered globally

add further capacity pressure.Similarly, the strong surge in

cargo traffic outstripped a capac-ity increase of 12.3%, pushing load factors to a record high of 55.7% (56.3% when adjusted for seasonality).

Middle Eastern carriers re-corded a 17.5% growth in May. The region’s carriers continue to post strong growth with con-necting traffic through their hubs, although the pace of growth has dropped from the over 20% in-creases recorded earlier in the year.

European airlines recorded an 8.3% growth compared to May 2009 however this still puts Europe as the region with the weakest growth.

Asia-Pacific carriers record-ed a 13.2% increase in demand in May 2010 over the same

month in 2009. Asia-Pacific car-riers continue to drive the recov-ery based on robust economic growth, primarily in China.

North American carriers saw a 10.9% increase in May over the same month last year. Careful matching of capacity to demand has driven the load fac-tor to 82.4%, the highest among all regions.

Latin American carriers recorded the fastest growth in demand at 23.6% in May, sup-ported by the region’s strong economic upturn.

African carriers reported a demand increase of 16.9% in May as the region’s carriers benefit from growing economies and more success in maintaining market share. At the same time, the region’s load factor was the weakest at 66.5%.

cies Council (ATTAC) represen-tatives has submitted to Abu Dhabi Chamber of Commerce and Industry (ADCCI) recom-mendations, which they (ATTAC representatives) sees pertinent to introduced to stream line the relationship between the Travel Trade and the concerned gov-ernment departments.

Also, the paper suggests introducing rules to organize the infrastructure of the Travel Agents in Abu Dhabi.

Upon this presentation, the Abu Dhabi Chamber of Com-merce and Industry (ADCCI) representatives will study its contents and will exert all ef-forts to seek the best formula to embark on implementing recom-mendations on priority basis in order to reach the ultimate objec-tives of protecting the interests of the Travel Agents and to offer the travelers the best services according to the International standards.

Your very ownFood & Beverage

Manager?It’s time to change to the best.

The official magazine of:

Pantone Solid 583 c

Publisher: ATTACSecretary General: Hani Khorsheed

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DisclaimerThe Editor and Management reserve the right to decide on the editorial content of the magazine and publication is not guaranteed although we will do our best to accommodate you. All information in Al Zajel magazine is derived from sources that we consider reliable. Information is published for our readers in good faith and with the best of intentions. We cannot accept responsibility for erroneous information that is passed to us from other sources. The content of the magazine reflects the views of a wide range of sources and does not necessarily reflect the views of the publisher, ATTAC (Abu Dhabi Travel & Tourism Agencies’ Council) or the management of New Idea Advertising, the media agent.Similarly, advertisers represent and warrant that their advertisement and contact information comply with advertising standards; and that they hold the necessary rights to permit the use of the advertisement and contact information by AL Zajel magazine and agree to indemnify and hold it harmless from any and all liability, damages, or claims.

2 ADTA / ADAC

ADTA Chairman becomes World Green Tourism Abu Dhabi patron

GCAS receives certification from General Civil Aviation Authority

World Green Tourism Abu Dhabi, the international confer-ence and exhibition being held in the UAE capital this Novem-ber, has won the patronage of His Highness Sheikh Sultan bin Tahnoon Al Nahyan, Chairman of Abu Dhabi Tourism Authority (ADTA).

Sheikh Sultan, a noted pro-moter of sustainability practic-es, will also deliver the opening address at the inaugural event which will be held at Abu Dhabi National Exhibition Centre (AD-NEC) from November 22-24.

“We in Abu Dhabi are build-ing an industry to make a dif-ference on a number of levels – economically, to our social fabric and to the preservation of our cultural heritage and natural assets – in short, we are working not just for immediate benefits, but for the future. We are ensuring the efforts of today are sustained for the long-term, and this event will help ensure our initiatives are recognized

Upon the recommendation of H. E. Saif Mohammed Al Suwaidi, Director General of General Civil Aviation Authority (GCAA), the Department of Aviation Secu-rity & Infrastructure in the GCAA awarded the Gulf Centre for Avia-tion Studies (GCAS) the certifica-tion to its facilities in Al Bateen Executive Airport to provide civil aviation security courses, in line with the training guidelines legis-lated by the Civil Aviation Law of the United Arab Emirates.

By attaining this certifica-tion, GCAS – a subsidiary of Abu Dhabi Airports Company – will be delivering specialized training pro-grams in the field of civil aviation security through a qualified cen-tre as per GCAA’s legislations. As such, GCAS will provide new op-portunities to develop local man-power to serve the continuous need for development that is in parallel with the foreseen growth of the aviation industry.

H.E. Saif Al Suwaidi, Direc-

and replicated across the pub-lic and private sectors in Abu Dhabi, regionally and across the globe. We also recognize that we still have much to learn and the presence of so many industry leaders will offer valu-able insight to help us achieve our goals,” said Sheikh Sultan.

“We look forward also to discovering the latest sustain-ability techniques and meth-odologies which we anticipate being promoted at the World Green Tourism Abu Dhabi ex-hibition –it will be a window to future practices,” he added.

Having chaired ADTA since its 2004 inception, Sheikh Sul-tan has promoted sustainability as a core value for the organiza-tion as it works to develop Abu Dhabi into a world-class des-tination which has grown from receiving 960,000 hotel guests in 2004 to 1.54 million last year and to being recommended by Lonely Planet and Frommer’s in their respective Top Ten recom-mended destinations to visit in 2010. He also chairs the Al Ain Wildlife Park & Resort, a World Green Tourism Abu Dhabi Gold Sponsor.

ADTA has established its own Environmental Health and Safety Management System (EHSMS) which has become a

world-first in being on the only one of its kind which embraces an entire tourism segment. World Green Tourism Abu Dha-bi is designed to give travel and tourism industry leaders and investors greater insights into sustainability within the sector and how it can be used to en-hance business outcomes. It is being organized by the UAE’s Streamline Marketing Group (SMG).

“Sheikh Sultan will set the tone for an event which we believe will have a tangible im-pact on the way tourism-related functions are managed in this region,” said Rick Theobald, Event Director, SMG. “Through his different roles encompass-ing government, tourism, in-vestment and development, Sheikh Sultan has helped shaped Abu Dhabi’s transfor-mation into a leading tourism destination in an environmen-tally, socially and culturally aware manner.”

tor General of General Civil Avia-tion Authority, said, “As a federal, autonomous body set up to over-see all aviation-related activities in the United Arab Emirates, The General Civil Aviation Authority undertake, in coordination with local authorities and concerned bodies, the execution of the Civil Aviation Law. Therefore, GCAA strives to ensure that all neces-sary efforts are made to elevate the standards of practice in the aviation industry, and we consid-er GCAS to be one of our main tools in achieving and maintain-ing international standards in aviation security as well as all other aspects related to civil aviation practices.”

Mohammed Al Bulooki, General Manager Gulf Centre for Aviation Studies (GCAS) in ADAC commented, “GCAS is of-fering a curriculum of high qual-ity courses and training options at Al Bateen Executive Airport, a fully operational private jet

airport. We are fully committed to furthering the collective exper-tise and knowledge base in our industry and aim to provide train-ing solutions for all key aviation organisations in the region and the world. With the centre being certified today by the GCAA it is enabled to further develop its services and training programs specialized in civil aviation se-curity under the umbrella of the laws and regulations that gov-ern the aviation industry in the UAE.”

GCAS is the exclusive train-ing provider for JAATO in the Gulf and Middle East region, and is the tenth certified training cen-ter to provide ACI courses, which attracted the attention of many aviation organisations from across the GCC. In May 2010 it signed an MoU with Kuwait Airways to exchange training expertise within the airline indus-try. GCAS has also announced a partnership agreement with the Bahrain Civil Aviation Affairs de-partment earlier this year.

H.H. Sheikh Sultan bin TahnoonAl Nahyan, Chairman of ADTA

H. E. Saif Mohammed Al Suwaidi, Director General of GCAA, presenting certificate to Mohammed Al Bulooki, General Manager GCAS

3ADAC / ADTA

Double digit surge in Passengertraffic continues at ADIA

AUH hotel guests numbers surge,may-to-may comparison up 14%

Abu Dhabi Airports Com-pany (ADAC) monthly traffic report, demonstrated that the strong double-digit passenger traffic continues. The report showed a 12.2% increase in passenger traffic for the month of May 2010, compared to the same month last year. Cargo movements showed a strong 19.4% increase for the same period, while the airport re-corded a 12.4% lift in aircraft movements.

The top five destinations together recorded a passenger total of 159,609, or 19.2% of all passengers travelling through Abu Dhabi International Airport (ADIA). Manila took the top spot for the first time, followed by London in second place and Doha in third. Bangkok, affected by the recent political unrest, dropped to fourth place, leaving Bahrain in fifth place.

Ahmed Al Haddabi, Senior

The strong guest arrival which was started with the new year still holding on as emirate of Abu Dhabi recorded a 14% in-crease in guest numbers across its 116 licensed hotels and hotel apartments May 2010 compared to May 2009.

According to latest Abu Dhabi Tourism Authority (ADTA) figures, rising to 161,004, the May performance took the over-all first five months of this year hotel guest total to 790,812 – a 16% increase on the same pe-riod last year.

“We are well on course to achieve our 2010 target of 1.65 million hotel guests,” said His Excellency Mubarak Al Muhairi, Director General, Abu Dhabi Tourism Authority.

“We are now focussed on keeping the momentum going. We have significantly expanded our Summer in Abu Dhabi family festival to take in Abu Dhabi city

Vice President of Airport Opera-tions, ADAC, said, “We continue to see double digit growth at Abu Dhabi International Airport affected mainly by the increase of traffic to major regions, where North America becomes the number one region with a growth of 104% in May 2010 compared with its profile of the same pe-riod last year. Africa comes in

and, for the first time, Al Ain to help keep the momentum going and the industry has responded well with a wealth of one-for-one visitor stay incentives. With headline shows, in-mall enter-tainment and deals across at-tractions, shops and restaurants, we are looking to also encourage the average length of stay. With the planned opening of Ferrari World Abu Dhabi this October and the peak Grand Prix season yet to come, target attainment is well within our reach.”

Guest nights in May this year rose 12% on May 2009 and for the year-to-May showed an 11% increase.

“Increased room inven-tory on last year has made the market much more competitive and impacted occupancy and revenue levels. The upside, of course, is that the destination as a whole now sits in a much more competitive position than it was a

second with 58% increase and Europe takes the third place with 16% increase, while Far East came in fourth with 13% increase and Middle East and Indian Subcontinent both came in 5th with 12% increase. We do expect such growth to con-tinue as we continue to add new routes and airlines to Abu Dhabi international.”

year ago which, in the long term, will be sustainable benefits,” said Al Muhairi. Abu Dhabi cur-rently has around 17,500 hotel/hotel apartment rooms as com-pared with about 12,500 in May last year.

Occupancy levels were 61% this May – a 17% decline on May 2009 while revenue declined 9% to AED 330 million though food and beverage revenue for the first five months of the year is showing a 14% increase on 2009.

Domestic tourism again held its own growing by 18% year-on-year to 67,808 hotel guests. The UK was again the emirate’s biggest individual international market growing by 12% month-on-month to 10,031.

The GCC again proved its value with a 32% month-on-month growth with Saudi Ara-bia being the top performing Gulf market notching up a 44% growth to 2,915.

Passengers at Abu Dhabi International Airport (ADIA).

4 Policy Matter

Tell us something about yourself and your experience in UAE, what are those things from which you can relate UAE to the Dominican Republic?

I have been living in Abu Dhabi for the last seven years and I was appointed as Ambas-sador of the Dominican Republic on November 2008. It is the first time that I serve my Country in the Foreign Service. However, my father and grandfather were career diplomats so I grew up surrounded by a family where the values of vocation to the public service and the responsibilities related to representing a country abroad were always there.

My first impression when I arrived in the UAE was the warmth and hospitality of its peo-ple, which is something that I can relate to my country, beside the fact that both nations are located on the sea and the weather is very similar.

I really enjoy living in a safe and sunny country like the UAE.

How do you see the rela-tionship between the UAE and the Dominican Republic?

Since April 2009 when we officially established the Embas-sy in Abu Dhabi, the relationship between the UAE and our coun-try has been very active. I be-lieve part of the reason is derived from the international reputation acquired by our country through the policies

implemented by our Presi-dent, H.E. Leonel Fernandez

and our Minister of Foreign Af-fairs Carlos Morales Troncoso.

Also, I would like to mention that the UAE has been present in our country since 2006 through “DP World”, with an ultra-modern joint venture container facility in which “DP World” owns over 50%. DP’s “Puerto Multimodal” at Punta Caucedo, on the south-eastern part of the island has become the tenth most impor-tant in its portfolio out of the 52 terminals that they own over the world.

It is definite that the dynamic spirit the UAE uses for imple-menting international relations is key.

In your opinion as the Ambassador of Dominican Republic, how will business in general and tourism in par-ticular be enhanced between Dominican Republic and Abu Dhabi?

Cross visits are extremely important; people from the UAE have to know more about the Dominican Republic and vice versa.

My Embassy is working very actively in this matter through cultural exchanges, business meetings among others.

What Dominican Republic offers to Emiratis?

The Dominican Republic is a country of beautiful contrast with hundreds of kilometers of white sandy beaches surrounded by coconut plantations and on the

western part of the country, by four large mountain ranges.

Were you can find the high-est peak of the Caribbean “Pico Duarte” (3,000 meters above sea level) and cool weather av-eraging

10°. On the other hand, as soon as the visitors arrive in Dominican Republic, they find themselves in an atmosphere of music, joy and welcoming smiles everywhere. In addition, they can reach any part of the country through our eight inter-national airports. The Dominican Republic offers great marine adventures, either by deep sea fishing, snorkeling on the rich coral reefs, sailing, wind surfing, among others. I would also like to specifically mention that our country was the first one to be discovered by Christopher Co-lumbus in 1492, so we are proud to say that we have the first ca-thedral of the New World, the first University, the first convent, the oldest street of the Americas and indeed the richest colonial architecture in the New World.

We are also proud to say that our country is experiencing great economic growth, primarily due to our attractive opportuni-ties and political stability. I am sure the Dominican Republic will not disappoint its visitors and will fulfill all the expectations.

What opportunities UAE offers to tourists from Domini-can Republic?

During the past fifty years,

UAE is a country that has de-veloped at a very fast pace in a big number of sectors: culture, sports, entertainment, finance, renewable energy, etc., provid-ing therefore a very attractive tourist destination, job opportu-nities and a very appealing hub to Asia.

Since UAE policy is to diver-sify its investments by entering into ventures in foreign coun-tries, the Dominican Republic offers interesting possibilities in these fields and UAE can then

offer solid partnership to the public and private sector in my country.

Which are the main

source markets for Domini-can Republic in terms of tour-ism and where UAE stands?

The main source markets are the Americas and Europe. The UAE is still discovering the touristic dimension of the Do-minican Republic and I am con-fident that we will receive more and more visitors from UAE and I hope that my country will be-come one of their main touristic destinations.

What are the strategies

Dominican Republic is pursu-ing to lure more tourists from UAE?

A strategy of developing the awareness of the UAE towards our country will be through tour-ism and culture (I believe that there isn’t a better way of bond-ing two distant countries with different cultures and traditions, than through the language of art.) One such example would be to bring Dominican artists and musicians to the UAE to both perform and exhibit their works. However I also have as a goal, to import from the Domini-can Republic some excellent quality products that we have, such as: coffee, tobacco, sugar, cacao, among others.

Another strategy is the pre-sentations to the UAE Tourism Authorities by our tourist public and private sectors. I wish to

Capital : Santo DomingoOfficial language : SpanishGovernment : Democratic RepublicCurrency : PesoPopulation(2009) : 10,090,000

General Information

Talking with H.E Clara Martinez Thedy de Safa, Ambassador of Dominican Republic to United Arab Emirates, was a pleasant experience. She is among one of those who did not have any prior experience of being Ambassador but always represented her country one way or another. She has been a photographer all her life, and now as Ambassador she wishes to promote her country to the UAE. Al Zajel recently interviewed H.E to gain further insight on her country, The Domincan Republic. This is what she had to say…

point out here, that the number of tourists we have in our coun-try exceeds 4 million per year, which is already a reference in this field.

What attractions do you like to suggest to UAE Nation-als and residents to see when they travel to Dominican Re-public?

The main attractions that my country can offer to tourists is the combination of one of the best golf attractions in the world together with some of the most spectacular and vast beaches of the Caribbean, blended with the beautiful weather we have all year round.

What is your message to the Travel Trade and to Al Zajel read-ers?

Dominican culture and Arab world culture have very much in common. I do believe our countries are very complementary in terms of resources, of weather, of culture and of geographical locations. As I said before, UAE is the HUB for Asia and I think the Dominican Republic could be the Hub for Latin America. Come and visit our country, give us the chance to pamper you, let us welcome you with our music and warmth and I am sure you would like to visit again!!

H.E Clara Martinez Thedy de Safa, Ambassador of Dominican Republic to United Arab Emirates

Dominican Republic Love, Warmth & the Merengue

Places uou can explore in DR

Colonial ZoneYou can get to see magnificent views of the Alcazar and the bay area in this area of Santo Domingo. Once here, you should also visit one of the historical houses where Ponce DeLeon lived in before he went on a journey to find the fountain of youth and accidentally discovered Florida. You should also see here the Oza-ma Fort as well as the Cathedral.

MaleconThis is a waterfront avenue where you will see lots of hotels and casinos. You can also eat in this district’s numerous restaurants to get a taste of the local cui-sine. Also, you have numerous shops to explore.

Plaza de la CulturaThis is the area where the National Theater is located. You can also see here the Museum of Modern Art as well as other museums. But the most popular is the Museum of Modern Art because it houses exhibits from famous local artists as well as artists from other countries like Jamaica and Bahamas as well as Puerto Rico.

Upscale Santo DomingoIn Upscale Santo Domingo, you will get the opportunity to explore the many shops that dot the principal avenues such as Abraham Lincoln as well as Winston Churchill. You will also love visiting quaint and expensive bou-tiques. Do not forget to sample its many restaurants as well as cafes.

Eastern Santo DomingoExplore Tres Ojos which is also called Three Eyes because it is a cavern with an underground lake and an open roof. After your visit here, then go on to Faro where you will see a lighthouse. There is also a monu-ment there that was erected in memory of Christopher Columbus, which now serves as a museum as well as his burial site.

Interview - Airline - LCC 5

Flydubai: All About offering choices to customer In just 12 months Flydubai, Low Cost Carrier (LCC) based in Dubai, launches 13 destinations showing unprecedented growth despite harsh economic conditions, Al Zajel recently talk to CEO Flydubai Gaith Al Gaith and tried to get the idea that how the airline has risen up to this level and also what are the future plans, here what he had to say….

What it takes to be one of the fastest growing LCC in Middle East?

Our first year of operations has been extremely eventful. To-day, flydubai boasts a network of 21 operational destinations, with our 22nd due to start on July 16, and a fleet of nine aircraft, mak-ing us one of the fastest growing start-up airlines in the world.

Within this short space of time, flydubai has grown to be-come the second largest airline (operating almost 400 flights a week) from Dubai International Airport, the sixth largest airport in the world. This is a huge accom-plishment considering more than 130 scheduled carriers operate through this hub and almost 42 million passengers passed through its doors last year.

As LCC industry is in-

creasing rapidly, it will create more competition, what affect would flydubai will have on its operations and services.

Our aim is not to cut into the market share of others but to help grow the market further by giving people the opportunity

to travel for both business and pleasure more often therefore benefiting the industry overall.

The routes on which we started operating last year have already shown impressive in-creases in traffic – Beirut 33%, Amman 40%, Damascus 39% and Egypt 22% - which goes to prove that flydubai’s simple, uncomplicated, low fares help to stimulate the market.

How flydubai is different from its competitors, what are those points on which you think flydubai maximizes more then its contenders?

Our main point of difference is that we are Dubai’s first and only low cost airline. We have grown rapidly since we launched operations in June last year with a total route network of 22 des-tinations and nine brand new Boeing 737-800 NG aircraft in our fleet – making flydubai one of the fastest growing airlines in the world.

We recorded a world first when we received delivery of our seventh aircraft as this was the first Boeing Next-Generation

737 aircraft to receive Goodrich Corporation (NYSE: GR) DU-RACARB® carbon brakes.

We are now the second largest carrier operating out of Dubai International Airport after Emirates in terms of number of flights per week – a huge feat accomplished in a year, since we started operations - another very significant differentiating factor.

Flydubai is all about offering our customers choice. Our flights are priced to include all taxes and charges and one piece of hand luggage, and everything else is up to the customer. You can have checked-in luggage and meals on board, but you pay for them. We believe this makes our fares fair – and our customers seem to agree with us because in the past 12 months, 44% of our passengers elected to travel without checked-in baggage and thereby benefit from flydubai’s lowest fares.

What is the most important market for flydubai? Which sector (leisure or business travelers) constitute flydubai’s major passenger base?

We serve both leisure and business travelers, and we care about all passengers as well as all markets we reach out from Dubai. Generally, we may be a low-cost airline, but low cost doesn’t have to mean low qual-ity. We are committed to uphold-ing the very highest standards of safety and comfort onboard, and we want to ensure our passen-gers enjoy their reliable, on-time flight with flydubai.

flydubai launched 13 des-tinations within the span of one year, showing unprecedented rate of growth, how did flydubai achieved this especially in the lights of financial crisis, flu threats, and other issues.

In terms of challenges, like any business, our very rapid ex-pansion has meant we’ve had a very steep learning curve; how-ever, we’ve met these challenges well and are in a strong position

this year. Also, as flydubai continues to expand another one of our challenges will be to continue to attract and recruit the right number and calibre of staff to ensure we can continue to of-fer our customers the excellent levels of service on board that we have started with.

The economic crisis has affected most companies and industries in one way or another at varying levels. I cannot say that flydubai was not affected at all but at the same time, I believe we had an added advantage. Low cost airlines have lower operating costs than the legacy carriers and therefore can of-fer lower prices. Particularly in times of financial crisis, most in-dividuals prefer to opt for a more economical option, so, in that respect, perhaps flydubai has

benefited. Moreover; any rise in oil

prices of course affects this in-dustry significantly, but it affects every carrier. Some are better placed than others to handle this

issue and one of the reasons we selected a fleet of Boeing 737-800 NG aircraft was to ensure the maximum in fuel efficiency. We have confidence in our busi-ness model and we know we can weather any economic chal-lenge.

The measure of the success of a company is not whether it has had to face any challenges, but how it deals with the chal-lenges it faces. We’ve faced some challenges in our first year, but I believe we have dealt with

them well and this gives us con-fidence and a secure footing for the future.

flydubai is looking at more destinations within a 4.5 hour radius of Dubai, so what is in the pipe line for the remaining part of 2010 apart from those which is already announced?

Flights to Erbil, Iraq will be-gin on July 16 and there will be more new routes to come this year. We plan to operate to more than 25 destinations by the end of this year, further strengthening our network across the region.

How many aircrafts has been booked in order to com-prehend with the growth of flydubai?

We currently have nine air-craft and we will have 13 by the end of this year. These form part of the order for 50 aircraft placed with Boeing in 2008. The remain-der of this order will continue to be delivered over the next five to six years.

Your message to travel trade and Al Zajel readers?

flydubai was established to ensure more people in the UAE could travel to more destinations more often by offering travel that is a little less complex, a little less stressful and a little less expen-sive. I believe we are delivering on that commitment and there is a lot more to come.

Flydubai is all about offering our customers choice. Our flights are priced to include all taxes and charges and one piece of hand luggage, and everything else is up to the customer. You can have checked-in luggage and meals on board, but you pay for them. We believe this makes our fares fair – and our customers seem to agree with us because in the past 12 months, 44% of our passengers elected to travel without checked-in baggage and thereby benefit from flydubai’s lowest fares.

CEO Flydubai Gaith Al Gaith

6 point of views

Some nations, such as Brazil, India, Israel, Malaysia and Thailand, have developed niche market medical tourism centres. Furthermore, the level of medical care given in a nation may not be related to that nation’s economy. For example, medical centres in developing nations often offer private health care services that use the most up-to-date health care methods and technologies. Many of these clinics offer well-educated doctors trained in the best North

American and European medical centers.

There is no one formula to help a community decide if medi-cal tourism is correct for it. Some communities have interconnect-ed their local hospitals with other tourism facilities to offer medical tourism packages. Others simply promote good medical prices, good weather conditions, or excellent recuperation facilities. Medical tourism can be regional or international, based on long-range needs or short-range time frames. To help you decide if medical tourism is a good idea for your locale, consider some of the following ideas:

stand that they too play a role in the success of the programme, or may resent the fact that their local doctor is now seeing out-of-town patients. Be sure to provide accurate cost-benefit informa-tion and work with your commu-nity rather than imposing a new model onto it.

Determine why someone might come to your locale.

There are a number of rea-sons why people travel to other places for medical treatment. Among these are: people may choose to go to another loca-tion due to lower costs, they may seek services not available in their home location, they may need to travel to a different loca-tion due to denial of services in a managed care or nationalised heathcare programme, they may seek to combine rest and relax-ation with a medical procedure, and/or they may be seeking pri-vacy. In order to develop a good medical tourism programme it is essential to determine what drives your portion of the market

and which of the above reasons may apply to your segment of the medical tourism market.

Check out what others are doing.

This is the time to peruse the web to see what other com-munities are offering. Even a brief time on the web will demon-strate the wide range of medical travel offerings, from dental care to cosmetic surgery, from heart surgery to centres that specialise in specific diseases.

Create recovery packagesFor example, does your

community offer places where weightloss can occur? Do you have centres where people can go for alcohol treatment? Often communities have more facilities than they realise but have never combined them in one simple tourism package? Develop al-ternative activities for people between treatment periods or for their family and friends who may be accompanying them during treatment. Work with restaurants, social services centres, religious communities and others who can help you combine a total recovery package. Often smaller commu-nities offer out-of-the way desti-nations where people can go for treatment and not be bothered by urban temptations.

Develop wellness centresNations such as Switzerland

have long understood the poten-tial for spas and other wellness centers. Medical tourism is not only about curing people who are sick but also helping people to stay well. As such consider combining sports tourism with medical tourism. Develop well-ness programmes that incorpo-

rate your medical and athletic facilities with your community’s psychological facilities, its cultur-al institutions and its food provid-ers. These total packages offer health benefits to visitors and a new infusion of financial health into the local economy.

Simplify your medical tourism package as much as possible.

For example, South Korea is developing an island dedi-cated to medical tourism. That country has also opened one-stop service centres for medical travellers. These centres offer information booths and medical information website in five lan-guages. Even small town com-munities can create one-stop medical tourism brochures that provide ideas as to what to do, where to go and to whom to turn for help.

One of the interesting parts of the health and wellness tour-ism market is that if thought out properly almost any community can benefit from at least a part of this growing trend. The current economic downturn means that tourism industries will need to seek new and innovative tourism products and medical tourism may be one such product. Gov-ernments’ control of medicine may be another reason why peo-ple will seek medical help while combining travel and health.

The greying of populations in many of the more advanced parts of the world, along with shorter hospital

stays, has created multiple new tourism health, wellness and recovery opportunities around the world. Often called

medical tourism, this form of travel has existed since the beginning of written records. People in the developed

nations may travel to less developed nations that offer top-flight medical facilities as a way to combine healthcare and a vacation. Others from less medically advanced regions or countries may travel to more medically advanced locales to

seek treatment not available at home.Health & Wellness

Tourism

Contributed by:

Dr. Peter E. Tarlow is the president of T&M, a founder of the Texas chapter of TTRA and a popular author and speaker on tourism.source: www.destinationworld.info

Know what you have.Good medical tourism be-

gins with a good community resource check-up. What medi-cal facilities does your commu-nity offer? What types of doctors and recuperation facilities do you have? What languages are spoken in your community? How does your climate impact your healthcare abilities? How quickly can you get someone from a lo-cal airport to a local hospital or hospice centre? How well are your ambulances co-ordinated with your tourism industry?Make sure that your customer

service is top notch.Visitors who come for medi-

cal treatment need extra amounts of love and care, understanding and compassion. Lack of good customer service cannot only harm a nascent medical industry but also destroy it. To assure the best medical tourism customer service, take the time to train people not only in generalised customer service but also in the special needs that a patient may have due to a particular disease. Also take into account that family and friends of patients coming for medical treatment will also need a higher degree of customer ser-vice than is often provided.

Make sure that your commu-nity understands the goals of medical tourism.

Often medical tourism fails because the members of the community do not understand its goals and benefits. Locals may have misperceptions of what it means to bring people in need of medical attention into their community, they may not under-

The change is all what people demandI sincerely hope that the

travel trade generally can hon-estly say they are recording a record movement of pas-sengers and profits for the last two months as May showed an increase of 29.73% and June 37.45% over the correspond-ing months in 2009. In fact May was better than the previous 4 months. Let’s hope it continues as I see no reason why

I can realistically attribute this to a number of factors : a brand new web site now offering more than 80 different holidays and being more innovative,

bookable on line. A D.I.Y. ( Do It Yourself ) web page where agent or client creates their own itinerary and our Sunday and Wednesday Agents Bulletin to the travel trade. But I would like to think that our in house staff training is the primary reason.

Every day I sit with all of the staff individually to listen and augment any changes that I deem necessary. From this I can then assist them with a plethora of issues that may have arisen – listening to your staff is the main motivator it instills confidence and shows them that you do

care. It also means that they will always come to you even with minor problems. Several years ago I wrote a ‘ motivation tips agenda ‘ which I still use and if you wish a copy please e-mail me at peterm@salemtrave-lagency.net and I will gladly sent you a copy.

Finding capacity just now in this late booking market is not easy and this is where I be-lieve our two centre programme comes into its own due to its total flexibility. For example : 2 nights Bangkok then 5 nights to one of nine different destina-

tions let’s say Bali, then one night in Bangkok on the return. If the outbound sector is full then make it one night or three nights then adjust the number of nights in Bali – it works, now you have a happy client. Going north we do the same using Istanbul or Kiev as the main gateways.

I am still of the view that you must use every single distribu-tion channel at your disposal and make an effort to become market leaders rather than mar-ket led. It is not true that the expat market only wants to go home for their holidays and with

a populous approaching 80% they must be catered for. This is the reason why we have created a massive diversification of des-tinations – people want change, people demand change, this is the reason why we have catered for the trade with such pro-grammes as : Zanzibar – Kenya Safaris – Spa Holidays in Hun-gary: two centre holidays : Do it yourself: Greek Island Cruises: Luxury trains of India: Coming shortly will be South America – European Coach Holidays – Wellness programmes. As tour operators it is our duty to serve

the local travel trade and in six/seven weeks we will have a new 44 page brochure for you which will be in perpetuity – it will nev-er age.

Finally please remember there is life after an air ticket – and more revenue to be earned.

Peter Mayne Business Development Manager Arabian Odyssey &Salem Holidays.

Contributed by:

Interview - Hotels 7

Tell us about City Sea-sons Hotel Group in General and prospect of City Seasons Hotel Group in future in rela-tion with GCC market?

City Seasons Group of Ho-tels is the UAE based hospitality division of the Bin Ham Group, launched in 2004. The group currently owns and manages four properties across the UAE:

City Seasons Hotel Dubai – 4* Deluxe hotel with 180 rooms, situated close to Deira City Centre Shopping & Entertain-ment Complex, minutes from the Dubai Metro, Dubai International Airport as well as business and leisure centres.

City Seasons Suites Dubai – 4* deluxe all-suite hotel ideally suited for business travellers, corporate guests and families. Situated immediately adjacent to Deira City Centre Shopping & Entertainment Complex.

City Seasons Hotel Al Ain – in the Al Muwaiji district of the ‘Garden City’ offering 89 recently refurbished rooms and suites.

City Seasons Al Hamra Hotel Abu Dhabi – 180 newly refurbished rooms and suites in the heart of the business district, minutes from the Abu Dhabi Corniche. Ongoing refur-bishment will be completed late 2010, bringing the total number of rooms to 310 with restaurants, health club and business facili-ties.

Being the local group and relatively less experience in hospitality comparing to big chains like Starwood, inter-continental and other, what are the challenges facing by the group?

As a local group of hotels we are not well known in the international market and so we have to invest more in marketing and PR efforts in order to create awareness of our brand and our portfolio of properties. We have a solid sales and marketing strat-egy supported by a proactive PR campaign in place in key desti-nations to drive business.

Amid stiff competition, what are the strategies City Seasons Hotel Group are fol-lowing to entice market?

The current market is one that is driven by rates and as a result travellers are looking for the best deals. Our strategy is to provide the best value for money with value add packages. This summer for example we are run-

ning the City Seasons summer guest pass which gives away a free night’s stay for every three that are paid for at any of the City Seasons properties across the UAE and it is doing very well for us.

We don’t believe that cutting sales and marketing is the an-swer to drive business, what we focus on is the implementation of

creative sales and marketing ini-tiatives and an investment in PR to ensure we maintain our share of voice.

There are so many hotels ranging from 3-star to 7-star already present in UAE, what is the difference costumers will notice about City Seasons properties?

What makes us different is our location. We are in key city centre locations in Dubai, Abu Dhabi, Al Ain and soon Muscat, close to the popular shopping centres and tourist attractions. Location is often an important consideration for families coming from Europe and the GCC coun-tries as they want to be close to these facilities without having to travel too far.

As a local home grown group we are also proud of the traditional local flavours that make our service a little different to most.

And finally we offer value for money with excellent rates and

Currently operating four hotels in Dubai, Al Ain and Abu Dhabi, City Seasons Group of-fers convenient city-centre locations, perfect for business and leisure. Reflecting a fine blend of Arabian heritage and modern comfort, all hotels offer meeting and leisure facilities plus a selec-tion of restaurants. City Seasons Muscat will open late 2010 with 380 rooms.

special packages.

Who is City Seasons Hotel Group target customers and what specifically will be done by the hotel to lure its custom-ers?

As a ‘dry’ hotel we are par-ticularly popular with the GCC market both for business and family travel but we are also be-coming increasingly sought after by other markets who don’t feel the need to stay in a full service hotel and who are looking for city centre locations.

Our product portfolio of dif-ferent locations coupled with a choice of rooms and suites means that we can offer a wide range of facilities to suit most re-quirements.

How important you think going green is when its comes to sustainable hospitality and what City Seasons Hotel Group plans for future in re-gards to eco oriented hospi-tality?

Environmental concerns within the hospitality industry are something that we cannot ignore, not only from the point of view of creating sustainable tourism but also for cost saving issues.

We are in the process of implementing a garbage separa-tion initiative and already have motion sensor lighting in the hotels as well as the standard energy saving bulbs throughout.

I am a firm believer in the education and encouragement of employee participation in do-ing their bit for the environment and I actively seek their input and ideas on how we can do bet-ter in this area.

What do you think future holds particularly for City Sea-sons Hotel Group, and What are plans for 2010?

The City Seasons Group is growing significantly and we are looking forward to the acquisition of more hotels and hotel apart-ments. All of the properties are owned by the Bin Ham Group.

This year we will open the first hotel in Oman. This new five star hotel, adjacent to a new mall, will be the second largest in the city and will feature well-appointed interiors and state-of-the-art facilities including meet-ing and banqueting space.

We will also complete the extension renovation of City Seasons Al Hamra Hotel in Abu Dhabi which has seen the refur-bishment of 120 rooms and 60 suites during phase one of the renovation earlier this year.

It was his very first position as an apprentice cook in a 120 room hotel in Germany where Thomas Tapken’s life-long love affair with the hospitality industry began. Ten years later, having worked his way up the promotional ladder, Tapken got the opportunity to run his own hotel, the Silver Beach Hotel a 200 room resort in Mombassa. From here Thomas opened his first property the Palm Beach Hotel on the north coast of Mombassa. Following a spell in hotels in Kenya and then Egypt, Tapken moved to Spain where he worked for a German owned group of deluxe hotels.

In 1993 he was hired by Amari Hotels, Resorts & Spas for a proper-ty in Phuket but was then moved to Pattaya to turn a leisure hotel into a predominantly business property. Tapken joined Mövenpick Hotels & Resorts in 2002 where he headed up the Mövenpick Hotel Doha and then moved into the pre-opening of four Dubai properties. Tapken joined City Seasons Group of Hotels in November 2009. Al Zajel had an interview with him recently regarding the pertinent matters of hos-pitality and hotel business in post recession era to City Seasons past, present, and future, here what he had to say………….

Hospitality A life long love affair

8 Airlines / Aviation / Airports

EAC graduates ready to experience the new world

Etihad launches self service kiosks at home-base

Al Maktoum International awarded Aerodrome Certificate by GCAA

RAK Airways to re-launch before end of this year

Helping to develop future business leaders, the Emirates Aviation College (EAC) hosted the 19th graduation ceremony under the patronage of HH Sheikh Ahmed bin Saeed Al-Maktoum, Chairman and Chief Executive, Emirates Airline and Group.

This year the ceremony has been split over two days, to cater for the large amount of students graduating from a variety of spe-cialized Diploma, Bachelor and MBA programs offered by the College.

HH Sheikh Ahmed bin Saeed Al-Maktoum said, “Each of the students honored has worked incredibly hard to fulfill their po-tential and realize their dreams and I am extremely pleased to congratulate and applaud their individual achievements. I would also like to extend a special word of congratulations to our 34 UAE national Emirates employees graduating from the Comput-ing Software Development pro-gram, which was developed by the College in collaboration with Emirates Group IT. I am very proud to see such wonderful op-portunities being made available to educate UAE Nationals with valuable and relevant skills for their chosen careers.”

The glittering ceremony, at-tended by VIPs, Emirates’ senior management and proud family members, marked the very first time that students have gradu-ated from the MBA in Aviation Management program. This par-

RAK Airways, the UAE’s fourth national carrier, an-nounced that it will re-launch its services before the end of this year, following a hiatus of just over 12 months.

Sheikh Omar Bin Saqr Al Qassimi, Chairman of RAK Air-ways, explained that the excep-tionally tough market conditions, created by the global economic turndown during 2008/09 which had forced the young airline to suspend schedule services in

Etihad Airways continues to expand its customer ground ser-vices with the launch of dedicat-ed self service check-in kiosks at Abu Dhabi airport’s Terminal 3. Etihad customers can now also use the kiosks at Terminal 1.

Customers of the UAE’s national airline have access to eight kiosks in the economy check-in area of Terminal 3, and there are two kiosks in the T3 premium check-in area.

To use the kiosks, custom-ers simply key in their booking reference or e-ticket number; scan their passport; or insert their Etihad Guest card. Once this has been done the customer can choose their seat and print their boarding pass and bag-gage tags.

Peter Baumgartner, Etihad Airways’ Chief Commercial Of-ficer, said, “The introduction of the new self service kiosks is an-other achievement in our pledge to continually enhance the ser-vices we offer our customers at all times in their journey.

Following the comprehen-sive aviation safety and security certification programme carried out by the General Civil Aviation Authority (GCAA) covering all aerodrome operational disci-plines of the Dubai World Cen-tral – Al Maktoum International (DWC), the Aerodrome Certifi-cate was officially handed over to the Dubai Airports recently.

Saif Mohammed Al Suwaidi, Director General of GCAA pre-sented the Aerodrome Certifi-cate to HH Sheikh Ahmed Bin Saeed Al Maktoum, President of Dubai Civil Aviation Authority and Chairman of Dubai Airports during a ceremony held in Dubai Airports that preceded the of-ficial opening of Dubai World Central – Al Maktoum Interna-tional for cargo operations.

“We are pleased to an-nounce that Dubai World Cen-tral – Al Maktoum International has been issued with an Aero-drome License.” said Saif Mo-

ticular MBA was recently estab-lished in direct response to the growing demand from students wanting to specialize in Avia-tion Management, as the Middle East continues to strengthen its position as a global hub for avia-tion.

Dr. Ahmad Al Ali, Senior Vice Chancellor, Emirates Avia-tion College said, “With just over 2,000 students from all over the world currently enrolled at the College and a 20% student growth rate over the past 12 months, the past year has been an extremely successful aca-demic year for us. We pride our-selves on being the number one aviation educational institution across the entire GCC region. Our wide range of postgraduate, academic and vocational pro-grams are tailored to meet the personnel industry requirements of aerospace, travel and tour-ism, and aviation and business management, providing the strongest of foundations, practi-cal knowledge and education for

our students.”The ceremony for students

graduating from MBAs, Bache-lor degrees and Computer Soft-ware Development programs took place at separate event while, with Higher Diploma and Diploma students was honored at another ceremony later.

The range of courses that students has graduated from in-cluded an MBA in Aviation Man-agement; Bachelor degrees in Aerospace Technology, Avionics Technology, Aeronautical Engi-neering, Aviation Management and Applied Business; Diplomas and Higher Diplomas in Aero-space Engineering, Electronics Engineering and Computing, Computing Software Develop-ment, Business Management and Tourism Management.

All programs are accredited and recognized by the Ministry of Higher Education & Scien-tific Research, the Ministry of Education, Edexcel Foundation: and the General Civil Aviation Authority (GCAA).

“The first ten kiosks are conveniently placed throughout the Etihad terminal and will en-able customers, especially those travelling on short haul flights, to save time on their journey and allow them to relax in our lounge or visit the shops and restau-rants airside in the airport.”

Etihad offers a range of

hammed Al Suwaidi, Director General of GCAA.

“This is the 8th International Aerodrome within the UAE to receive a certification from the GCAA. In addition to the aero-drome being certified, DWC was the first to obtain organi-zation certificates for Air Traf-fic Services, Communication, Navigation and Surveillance, Aeronautical Information Ser-vices and Aviation Meteorology Services” Al Suwaidi added.

GCAA Inspectors respon-sible for regulation and safety

oversight conducted many comprehensive certification audits and inspections, while maintaining a close contact with aerodrome developers, in-cluding providing guidance and direction to ensure regulatory requirements and best industry practice were achieved. Dubai World Central – Al Maktoum In-ternational’s development team over the past few weeks dem-onstrated to the Authority that an acceptable level of safety and security exists within all op-erational areas.

online services at www.etihad.com. Via the website customers can check-in for their flights up to 24 hours in advance as well as choose their seats on the aircraft. The airline also has city check-in facilities in Abu Dhabi city and Dubai.

Etihad will also complete the next phased roll-out of its new digital strategy towards the end of 2010. Within the strategy cus-tomers will be offered a range of services and information via mobile devices and other digital channels. It will also include a brand new website and online shopping experience for airline customers.

Etihad launched its own iP-hone application earlier this year – the first of its kind. The appli-cation enables members of the Etihad Guest loyalty programme to manage their accounts and stay informed of the latest offers via their iPhone and provides them full access to over 1,700 products from the airlines award winning reward shop.

May 2009, had now sufficiently abated.

“We are now ready to make a strategic re-entry into the mar-ket,” he said. “We have a lot of exciting new plans, which will be unveiled soon. Omar Jahameh, our recently appointed CEO and

his team are finalising the de-tails of our flights to destinations in the Gulf, Africa and the Indian Sub Continent,” he added.

“The decision to re-launch the airline is part of the ambi-tious vision of H.H. Sheikh Saud Bin Saqr Al Qassimi, Crown Prince and Deputy Ruler of Ras Al Khaimah, aimed at boosting tourism in the emirate. RAK Airways is viewed as a key part of that plan,” Sheikh Omar con-cluded.

Etihad self service Kiosk at Terminal 3

Graduating students EAC with Dr. Ahmad Al Ali, Senior Vice Chancellor, Emirate Aviation College

Saif Mohammed Al Suwaidi, Director General of GCAA presenting the Aerodrome Certificate to HH Sheikh Ahmed Bin Saeed Al Maktoum, President of Dubai Civil Aviation Authority and Chairman of Dubai Airports

Airlines / Aviation / Airports 9

Hong Kong Airlines celebrates delivery of its first Airbus aircraft

Al Ain International Airport hosts Oman Air’s new product

Hong Kong Airlines cel-ebrated becoming a new Airbus operator with a ceremony in Hong Kong to mark the delivery of its first A330-200. Featuring the carrier’s new two class long haul cabin product, the aircraft will be used to launch services to Europe soon, initially flying non-stop to Moscow.

The A330-200 is the first of 53 aircraft ordered by the airline from Airbus, comprising 23 A330s and 30 single aisle A320s. In addition to direct or-ders with Airbus, the airline also plans to operate two A330-200F freighters under a separate lease agreement.

“The arrival of the A330 is a milestone for Hong Kong Airlines

as we expand into the long haul market,” said Yang Jian Hong, President, Hong Kong Airlines. “It also marks the start of Air-bus operations at the airline, which will enable us to offer our customers a premium product across our route network with the most efficient aircraft avail-able today.”

“We are proud to welcome Hong Kong Airlines as a new Airbus operator,” said John Le-ahy, Airbus Chief Operating Of-ficer, Customers. “The extended range, low operating costs and high levels of passenger comfort offered by the A330 make it the perfect choice for the airline to launch its long haul services.”

Established in 2006, Hong

Kong Airlines already operates a network linking Hong Kong with destinations in mainland China and the Asian region. With the arrival of the A330s, the airline plans to expand its reach to ma-jor cities in Europe, as well as to destinations in North America.

The A330 is one of the most widely used wide-body aircraft in service today. To date, Airbus has won more than 1,000 firm orders for the various versions of the aircraft. Almost 700 A330s have already been delivered and the aircraft is currently flying with over 80 operators worldwide.

Senior government officials and trade delegations were wel-comed by Abu Dhabi Airports Company (ADAC) at Al Ain Inter-national Airport where Oman Air showcased one of its new Airbus A330-200, after having estab-lished its Muscat – Al Ain route in May this year.

The new two class A330-200 offers Economy and Business Class cabins. Both are fitted with brand new seats that offer more space, greater comfort, fantastic in-flight entertainment options, and the very latest in commu-nications technology. In fact, the Business Class seat goes way beyond what many airlines offer in First Class. Oman Air’s new business and economy products, configured with 20 business class seats and 196 economy class seats.

Oman Air’s decision to dis-play its new aircraft in the airport of the Garden City of the UAE is testament to the strong business partnership between the airline and ADAC, and the value it plac-es on its new Al Ain route.

Welcoming Oman’s Air flag-ship, Faris Al Mazrouei, General Manager, Al Ain International Airport, said, “We would like to officially welcome Oman Air’s

new daily service between Al-Ain and Muscat, which already has proven to be popular and beneficial to our local commu-nity. We value Oman Air’s initia-tive to invest into this dynamic market and look forward to an even closer cooperation towards expanding services.”

Barry Brown, Chief Com-mercial Officer Oman Air, com-mented, “We are glad to see that the close partnership we have with ADAC is already translat-ing into results. We are today here to showcase our product and provide the opportunity to our customers to experience Oman Air’s services from Al Ain

to Muscat and beyond.” Al Ain International Airport is

a smart choice for busy carriers as it allows for minimal ground time for aircrafts due to its speedy turnaround times as well as enabling it to enjoy the low congested skies of Al Ain City. On the front of recent develop-ments, ADAC had announced last year the bourgeoning Al Ain Aerospace Cluster, which is set to attract highly special-ized aerospace companies and individuals, and in tandem with the city’s growing education and construction industries, it is ex-pected to spur demand for con-venient air travel.

Jazeera Airways wins ‘best in aviation’ ABAAK 2010

Jazeera Airways, the Middle East’s leading regional carrier re-ceived the ‘best in aviation’ Arabi-an Business Achievement Award Kuwait (ABAAK) 2010. The pres-tigious ceremony was held at the luxurious Arraya Ballroom at the Courtyard by Marriott.

The event boasted an im-pressive turnout of the top movers and shakers from Kuwait’s most prominent businesses across all fields. Walid Akawi, CEO of ITP, presented the award to the most outstanding performers of busi-ness in Kuwait. Rafik Boghdady, VP Sales represented Jazeera Airways at the event and ac-cepted the award on behalf of the airline.

“We are happy to see that our dedication to our Guests and our ability to deliver a great travel experience is being recognized. Jazeera offers excellent service and convenient flying times at the best possible prices. Jazeera’s success is also due to our dedi-cated staff and we would like

to take this opportunity to also thank them for their hard work,” said Stefan Pichler, CEO Jazeera Airways.

Each year, the Arabian Busi-ness Achievement Awards cel-ebrate the very best in business achievement, both on a corporate and individual level. Previous awards have been held in Ku-wait, Jordan, KSA and Dubai and previous winners have included HRH Prince Alwaleed, King Mo-hammed VI of Morocco, and King Abdullah of Jordan.

Jazeera Airways owns a fleet of 11 Airbus A320s. Each aircraft is fitted with the airline’s signature leather seating, while the Jazeera Business Class cabin offers busi-ness travelers a little extra conve-nience including easy booking, special check-in counters, 40 kilograms baggage allowance, access to airport lounges and exclusive in-flight service and entertainment. The airline flies to destinations in the Middle East, North Africa, Turkey, Pakistan and Iran.

Walid Akawi, CEO of ITP, presenting the award to Rafik Boghdady,VP Sales, Jazeera Airways

George Karamanos, VP Corporate Marketing and Comms, Firas Al Maz-rouei, GM Al Ain Int Airport, Abdulrazaq Al Raisi, GM Worldwide Sales and Barry Brown, CCO oman air.

Air Arabia takes off to Abu Dhabi from Alexandria

Air Arabia, the Middle East and North Africa’s first and larg-est low-cost carrier (LCC), has started of its direct services from its latest hub in Alexandria, Egypt, to the UAE’s Capital Abu Dhabi. Inaugural ceremony was held at Abu Dhabi International airport.

Roundtrip flights to Air Arabia’s fifth destination from its Egyptian hub will operate four times per week between Burj Al Arab International Air-port, Alexandria, Egypt and Abu Dhabi International Air-port in Abu Dhabi, UAE. “We are glad to announce the start of our services to the UAE’s Capital and one of the regions fastest growing cities” said Adel Ali, Group Chief Executive Of-ficer, Air Arabia. “We thank Abu Dhabi’s Civil Aviation Authority and ADAC for their continuous support. Abu Dhabi represents Air Arabia’s fifth destination from our one month old hub in Alexan-

dria, Egypt, and we are confident of the strong demand for air trav-el between the two countries. Air Arabia will continue to offer best rates in the market along with the highest standards of service and value for money products” Ahmed Al Haddabi, Senior VP Operations, ADAC commented, “We are pleased to be welcom-ing Air Arabia’s inaugural flight to Abu Dhabi International Air-port from Alexandria Egypt, which adds one more destina-tion to our network. Air Arabia

is the 5th new airline that ADAC has added to its portfolio this year and will be contributing to our continuing traffic growth. We look forward to seeing this route further develop since the Egyp-tian market as a whole has great potential. We are dedicated to extending the airport’s services to fit the needs of our local and transfer passengers, which in turn will support Abu Dhabi In-ternational Airport’s position as the ideal destination for regional and international airlines”

Egyptian ambassador in UAE along with ADAC and Air Arabiaofficials cutting the cake

10 Special Report - Summer in UAE

Despite of the fact that hot and humid condi-tions started as soon as months of April

starts, but the summer in United Arab Emirates (UAE) officially starts in June, the preparation to attract regional and local visi-tors during a long summer was always the first priority of every Emirate of UAE so the plans and design were also completed pri-or hand. Out of Seven Emirates, which constitute UAE, three of the bigger Emirates, Abu Dhabi, The Capital, Dubai, and Shar-jah compete with each other in a healthy combat to attract as many tourists as they can, with their unique promotions and ac-tivities.

Indeed remaining four Emir-ates are also doing a lot to se-cure their position in terms of tourists arrival in summer and also in contributing towards UAE economy in general, but its not that huge as of Abu Dhabi, Dubai or Sharjah.

Al Zajel in its latest issue tried to cover the offerings made by these three Emirate during summer so that our readers would be able to enjoy as mush as they can, starting with the Capital, Abu Dhabi.

There is no doubt in the fact that the Capital is leaving no stone unturned to make summer 2010 a memorable and amazing experience for tourists. The Abu Dhabi Tourism Authority (ADTA) the sole authority for developing, promoting, and managing Abu Dhabi’s tourism has rolled out a detail program in this regard.

Summer in Abu Dhabi – the six-week family-centric festival now in its third year – has been expanded to attract greater numbers of GCC visitors to the emirate and deliver greater ben-efits to its tourism sector.

The festival’s organizer Abu Dhabi Tourism Authority (ADTA), has brought eight venues in Abu Dhabi and the emirate’s heritage

city of Al Ain under the Summer in Abu Dhabi umbrella and gal-vanized stakeholders to provide 1-for-1 visitor deals during the festival period from June 24 to August 5.

“This is the biggest summer event to hit Abu Dhabi yet,” said Dayne Lim, Product Develop-ment Director, ADTA. “It’s a strong pitch to families within the GCC to come and spend time in Abu Dhabi where they’ll be guaranteed fantastic value and awesome entertainment.”

The festival with a wide array of family activities and entertainment staging at Abu Dhabi National Exhibitions Cen-tre (ADNEC), Khalifa Park, Abu Dhabi Mall, Marina Mall and Al Wahda Mall in Abu Dhabi, as well as Al Jimi Mall, Al Ain Mall and Bawadi Mall in Al Ain.

ADTA is the main presenter of all of the events across Abu Dhabi and Al Ain, with the ex-ception of Khalifa Park where the Abu Dhabi Municipality is presenting the entertainment.

The ADNEC festivities com-prises of two unique branded entertainment acts, which each run for two to three weeks in the recently-inaugurated Abu Dhabi Hall – the region’s biggest entertainment venue seating 6,000 – as well as Hall 11 which are packed with six edutain-ment zones with activities for every age group.

Six shopping malls in Abu Dhabi and Al Ain are packed with programs for six weeks centered on family entertainment, edu-cation and togetherness. The program included indigenous cultural performances, multi-dimensional entertainment ex-periences, ‘live’ cooking classes, competitions and workshops.

To entice GCC families to ‘Summer in Abu Dhabi’, ADTA and its stakeholders have rolled out an expansive umbrella one-for-one campaign which will see GCC travelers get free air

seats for children, complimen-tary room nights, meal deals, discounted attractions and free tours.

A host of ‘one-for-one’ deals is on offer with award-winning Etihad, the national airline of the UAE, providing one child’s seat (under 16 years) free for every adult ticket bought, across any class, from any of five GCC cit-ies – Riyadh, Manama, Muscat, Doha and Kuwait. ‘One-for-one’ hotel and restaurant are also on offer at over 30 four and five star hotels in Abu Dhabi and Al Ain. The same one-for-one of-fering are being rendered by at-tractions across Abu Dhabi and Al Ain.

To cap off the ‘Summer in Abu Dhabi’ experience, ADTA has laid on complimentary cultural tours for visitors, daily tours from Abu Dhabi city to Al

Ain and free admissions to se-lected places of interests.

“Our aim is to attract an additional 25,000 hotel guests to the emirate during this fes-tival period which would be a 15% increase on last year,” ex-plained Lim. “At the same time, we want visitors to stay longer and immerse themselves in Abu Dhabi’s varied experiences. We will be taking our message out to the GCC in a dedicated regional road show later this month and meeting both the media and trade there to engage them in this campaign.”

The GCC is Abu Dhabi emirate’s second largest inter-national market after the UK. In the first quarter of this year, some 26,685 GCC nationals stayed in hotels throughout the emirate – a 29% rise on the same period last year.

“This is arguably the emir-ate’s most important market on account of its proximity, ease of accessibility and general travel propensity,” said Lim. “We have a much stronger tourism propo-sition now in terms of infrastruc-ture and leisure product offer-ings and believe the timing is right for us to market ourselves more tangibly in the region.”

Indeed the offers at Sum-mer in Abu Dhabi are very tan-talizing but hold no doubt in the fact that the neighboring Dubai is also ready and offer some fabulous deals during this sum-mer.

Dubai, without any doubt is the most known around the world has started Summer Sur-prises 2010 on June 17, for 52 days of international shows, mu-sicals, events, shopping promo-tions across Dubai, and prizes

to be won throughout malls. As part of the opening, shoppers got the chance to win tickets to destinations around Dubai for a purchase of just AED 500 in 21 select shopping malls.

Through the promotion, shoppers can win vouchers to Modhesh World, Aquaplay, Ski Dubai, Magic Planet, Cite’ des Enfants, Soccer Circus Dubai, iFLY, At The Top, Burj Khalifa Observatory, Cinestar Cinemas, Aquaventure & The Lost Cham-bers, Dubai Dolphinarium, and Wild Wadi Water Park. These entertainment venues also had incredible promotions on the opening day.

Shopping this summer be-came more exciting as more than 6000 retail outlets par-ticipating and discounts of up to 70%, shoppers can rest assured that brands of their choice can

SUMMER IN UAE A GRAND & EXPANSIVE

EXPERIENCE

UAE’s rapidly growing festival in-dustry has evolved exponentially to be-come a key component of the country’s economy today. Festivals and events in Dubai, Abu Dhabi, and Sharjah only complement each other to achieve the main objective in driving growth of UAE’s tourism industry. These events are instrumental to UAE’s economy and provided the residents of UAE an opportunity to not only experience in-ternational festivals but provided a platform for the exchange of cultures, something that UAE is known for.

His Highness Sheikh Ahmed bin Saeed Al Maktoum, President of Dubai Civil Aviation Authority, Chairman of Dubai Airports, and Chairman of the Dubai Shopping Festival Supreme Committee.

Special Report - Summer in UAE 11

be bought at throwaway prices. Every shopper is also rewarded for a purchase and individual malls are giving away cars, cash, and shopping vouchers.

Dubai Shopping Malls Group, a key sponsor of DSS 2010, is also organizing a raffle with a giveaway of 14 BMW-Se-ries-3 luxury sedans. The seven weekly raffle draws has to be held throughout DSS 2010, with two lucky winners driving away with a stunning BMW each week. The draws has been car-ried out every Thursday from June 24, except for the Final Draw which will take place on Saturday August 7. Shoppers are entitled to one raffle coupon for every AED200 spent at par-ticipating retail outlets. Those shopping with MasterCard can double their chances of winning, receiving an additional raffle

coupon by making purchases on their cards.

Some of the first week at-tractions of summer surprises were World of Stories, this year featured the theme of the fa-mous character Alice and trans-

ports viewers into her exciting wonderland. The event also in-corporated the 3D theme where several popular cartoon charac-ters were depicted in a 3D form making them appear life-like. Then Middle East Junior Chef

of the Year, In recognition of the regions upcoming culinary tal-ent, the Middle East Junior Chef of the Year celebrated the works of 600 and more chefs came to-gether in Dubai from star hotels across the GCC. With over 22 categories and separate com-petitions, the jury is formed from master chefs from around the world.

One of the major attrac-tion during this year Summer Surprises in Dubai is Modhesh World, Spread across 37,000 square metres at the Airport Expo Dubai, is synonymous with unlimited fun and entertainment for children and families under the comfort of a massive air-conditioned venue. With more than forty themed zones, Mod-hesh World is one of the main attractions of Dubai Summer Surprises and attracted around 500,000 visitors in 2009.

Attractions for this year in-clude a huge fun fair, a scooter zone, the Modhesh Magical Forest, a 4D cinema display, an inflatable zone, magic planet zone, and a mini zoo, in addi-tion to numerous other enter-tainment areas. Soccer fans will also have much to look forward to at Modhesh World with live telecasts of the 2010 FIFA World Cup on giant screens located at the Sports Zone for free.

Apart from entertainment and shopping, this year’s sum-mer the Emirate of Dubai has planned to pamper its visitors with soothing touch, around forty of the city’s top spas have come up with irresistible dis-counts of up to 50% on a wide range of spa treatments. Spa enthusiasts can expect to enjoy amazing discounts, two-for-one offers and pampering compli-mentary extras on a number of treatments and therapies in-cluding body scrubs, rasul mud baths, reflexology sessions, ayurveda treatments, Moroccan baths, Swedish and Thai mas-

sages, beautifying and detoxify-ing treatments, and numerous other specialized therapies ca-tering to men and women.

That was all about Dubai, indeed fabulous but this is not all, the Cultural Capital of Arab World, The Emirate of Sharjah also designed something for summer visitor which by no ac-count is less than what others are offering, so lets have a look at what Sharjah is offering.

‘Sharjah Summer Promo-tions 2010’ was formally opened by the Sharjah Chamber of Commerce and Industry (SCCI). The summer campaign is being held in cooperation with various governmental departments and entities involved in economic and touristic affairs within the emirate of Sharjah.

Running until July 20, 2010, Sharjah Summer Promo-tions is regarded as one of the most prominent entertainment, promotion, and marketing events organized by the Cham-ber every summer. It aims to stimulate business activities at shopping malls and traditional marketplaces and create a competitive environment for the retail and service sectors.

Sharjah Summer Promo-tions 2010 is being held simul-taneously with other festivals across the country for the pe-riod of 40 days and Sharjah’s local and Gulf visitors to vari-ous special promotional offers from different shopping malls and retail shops. The annual campaign once again included awareness, entertainment, cultural, and traditional events that foster an atmosphere of leisure and fun throughout the summer vacation season.Ibra-him Rashid Al-Jarwan, Director of the Department of Economic Affairs at SCCI and Head of the Coordination Committee of Sharjah Summer Promo-tions, said, “The program of events included in the current edition of Sharjah Summer Promotions was finalized after comprehensively studying the results of last year’s session and evaluating the concerns and positive feedback from the management of shopping malls, owners of retail shops, shoppers, and visitors. Our committees are exerting extra effort to make this campaign an effective vehicle for build-ing up Sharjah’s stature as a leading tourist destination. We have formed a talented to team to organize entertainment and promotional activities that are highly effective in stimulating economic and marketing activi-ties in Sharjah.”

“During the course of its supervision of the event’s work-groups, the Department of Eco-nomic held several consultative meetings with representatives from local shopping malls. In our sessions we thoroughly consid-ered the opinions and sugges-tions relevant to the events to be held at the malls. We also for-mulated integrated plans aimed at enhancing cooperation and coordination among us as stra-tegic partners in order to guar-antee the success of this annual event,” added Al-Jarwan.

Sharjah Summer Promo-tions 2010 features several cultural, tourism and marketing events and activities which are taking place all over Sharjah. Participants offering major sales, discounts, contests and rewards to shoppers throughout the cam-paign’s run.

So on the whole this year’s summer is rocking in UAE with lots of fabulous activities, attrac-tions and stunning prizes, there is not doubt that visitors are go-ing to have the experience of their lifetime. Come to UAE and have a blast!

12 Hotels

A new & classy look of Novotel Centre Hotel

The Ritz-Carlton, Dubai ready to expand further

Wafi Group to rebrand Somerset Residences

Millennium’s consistent commitment towards environment

There are some hotels in the capital that are doing efforts to save environment since the time when not many people have even herad of what eco friendly hospi-tality is, among those Millennium Hotel Abu Dhabi

Millennium Hotel Abu Dhabi participated in the Emirates En-vironmental Group’s program to-wards responsible waste manage-ment practices by way of action programs as recycling for more than 13 years now.

The trophy being handed to the Hotel’s General Manager Mr. Moine Kandil who is always sup-porting programs of such nature and this is one among a series of efforts to green the workforce where he congregates with his

team to implement solutions and create new approaches to the eco-logical problems we face today.

The Millennium Hotel shared with the EEG’s 13th cycle of Waste Management and Recy-cling Program in commemoration of the World Environment Day because the Hotel is a strong be-

liever of the role and mission the hospitality industry has to play in greening their field. Numerous projects have been done and new ones on the way on various fronts by the Hotel’s manage-ment and staff to promote the eco-friendly world issue to save our one and only planet.

After an extensive and ex-pansive refurbishing, the No-votel Centre Hotel, part of Accor group has appeared in all new and stylish look, with new ame-nities in place taking the prop-erty to all new level.

Adel Eid, General Man-ager of Novotel Centre Hotel stated that the utilities and spe-cial services in the Hotel were completed, refurbished and developed for a cost of around Dhs.13,000,000/-. This has in-cluded the renovation of the res-taurants, kitchens, rooms, up-grading of a free of charge fast internet service to be aligned with the International Standard of the ACCOR group.

Mr. EID has affirmed the im-portance of the renovation and development of services at the Hotel to enhance the quality and refined standard of services.

At a press dinner held re-cently with some of the Media reporters, he was quoted as say-ing, “We effectively managed to implement the slogan (Together

This October, The Ritz-Car-lton, Dubai will begin an expan-sion project that will increase the total number of guest rooms and include the addition of several new restaurant concepts. This project is expected to be com-pleted in 2012. The beachfront resort currently features 138 sea view guestrooms over seven floors.

Spearheaded by Dubai-based architectural firm Rice Perry Ellis, there are plans to build an adjacent wing to house an additional 163 guestrooms, bringing the total number to 301.

Of these, 18 are designated as suites including two Royal Suites, each providing more than 180 square meters (1,937 square feet) and offering a 180-degree panoramic view of the Persian Gulf.

All guest rooms will be equipped with the finest bed-ding experience, state-of-the-art technology including wireless and wired internet access, iPod docking stations, flat screen tele-visions and DVD players as stan-dard to enable guests to both work and relax in their rooms. Located on the third floor of the new wing is The Ritz-Carlton Club Lounge, offering six com-

The Wafi Group has taken over management of the Som-erset Residences in Jadaf, and will re-brand the property as Park Hotel Apartments. Park Hotel Apartments is the second property managed by the Wafi Group, and is located adjacent to their existing hotel, the Ara-bian Park Hotel.

“The property is ideal for the mid- to high-end market, as is positioned as deluxe fully-serviced apartments,” said Mark Lee, General Manager of Arabi-

for the Client Service)”.“We are always pleased to

work hard to achieve distinc-tive and unique performance so as to reach highest levels of success through the round the clock services provided by the Hotel. We aspire to provide maximum comfort and pleasure to our guests,” he added.

He added: we are happy to provide our esteemed guests with daily free shuttle from and to Abu Dhabi and Marina Mall.

The Hotel has 215 modern and comfortable rooms and suites of which 140 rooms are allocated to the non smokers.

Additionally, a full fledged fitness club, swimming pool, ballrooms to accommodate

more that 200 persons, confer-ence rooms, the four locally and internationally distinguished restaurants: “Le Beaujolais” a Sixth Time in a Row Award Win-ner of the (What’s on) annual competition.

The “China Restaurant” also winner within the same activity, “Le Jardin Restaurant” which serves the most delicious and exquisite International Dishes and caters for Business-men and families, “Le Prive” offers a wide variety of French Cuisine served “a la carte” spe-cially offered for private lunches and dinners.

Mr. Eid praised the substan-tial role played by Abu Dhabi Tourism Authority in supporting and developing Hotels Industry according to pre-structures and high quality International Stan-dards in addition to its role in at-tracting the attention of the en-tire world to the tourist features of the Emirate of Abu Dhabi as a capital attracting tourists from all over the world

plimentary food and beverage presentations throughout the day and dedicated multi-lingual concierge service.

“This major project is part of our goal to meet our guests’ re-quirements in the coming years,” says General Manager Andrew Nasskau. “Since the resort’s opening 11 years ago, our num-ber of guests have increased an-nually, and with the development of The Walk and Dubai Marina, we are predicting even higher visitors’ interest in The Ritz-Carlton at the completion of this expansion program.”

As the new wing is located away from the resort’s guest-rooms and recreational facilities such as the Spa and swimming pools, Mr. Nasskau believes the impact will be minimal. “We are mindful of the effect that the expansion program will have on our guests and we will make every effort to ensure that their comfort and enjoyment will not be compromised,” he says. “All our rooms and suites will still be occupied for the next two years, and the only areas that will be closed are La Baie, the spa pool and garden in front of the new wing.”

To capitalize on the require-

ments of corporate travellers, the resort will boast sizable meeting and function space to include an 800-square-meter (8,640-square-feet) grand ballroom that is divisible by six, a boardroom and three multi-purpose function rooms. In total, the resort will of-fer 1,160 square meters (12,528 square feet) of meeting space, all of which will be equipped with the most advanced technol-ogy. In addition to a world-class audio and visual set-up, the hotel’s Technology Butler, floral artist services and a dedicated catering and conference team ensures a seamless experience for all meetings and events.

The new wing will feature the resort’s famed landscaped gardens including new outdoor swimming pools and a terrace. A 2,020 square meters (21,743 square feet) Spa and Fitness Center, with separate entries for men and women, will showcase a fully equipped gymnasium, beauty salon and 13 private treatment rooms.

The Ritz-Carlton Hotel Com-pany, L.L.C., of Chevy Chase, Md., currently operates 73 hotels in the Americas, Europe, Asia, the Middle East, Africa, and the Caribbean.

an Park Hotel and the new Park Hotel Apartments.

“We feel that the new prop-erty will allow us to tap into a higher-end market that we were not able to cater to in the past, and our aim will be to operate the new apartments like a 5-star hotel,” said Lee.

Park Hotel Apartments offers short and long stay-ing guests a warm and stylish ‘home-away-from-home’ expe-rience with a comprehensive range of business support and

recreational facilities. Facilities include 84 fully-serviced apart-ments ranging from studios, to 1- and 2-bedroom apartments. All apartments feature spacious living and dining areas, fully-equipped kitchens and utility areas, home entertainment sys-tems and high speed broadband internet access. 24-hour guest service and security is available and provides a convenient and secure living environment.

The property also features a business centre, complete with a private meeting room equipped with audio visual equipment, teleconferencing fa-cilities and internet access.

“We are very excited to wel-come Park Hotel Apartments as a new addition to the WAFI Hotels portfolio and we are now able to cater more effectively to all tourists and corporate clients no matter what their budget and accommodation requirements,” added Lee.

Moine Kandil, General Manager Millennium Hotel - Abu Dhabi withEEG Trophy

Hotels 13

Ibn Battuta Gate Hotel draws the lighter side of life

SAD H&R awarded “Best Health Club & Spa” in Abu Dhabi

IFA Hotels and Resorts open Four Seasons Hotel Beirut

The Health Club at the Sheraton Abu Dhabi Hotel & Resort (SAD H&R)has been awarded as “Best Health Club & Spa in Abu Dhabi” by AHLAN! Magazine readers in June 2010. The majority of Abu Dhabi resi-dents voted for the Health Club, rewarding its state-of-the-art gym with latest equipments as well as the broad variety of sports ac-tivities offered. In line with the “Sheraton Core Performance” program, Sheraton Abu Dhabi Hotel & Resort delivers person-alized training programs, work-outs, nutrition, fitness, weight loss, health, sports and commu-

IFA Hotels and Resorts (IFA HR) has celebrated the open-ing of its first hotel in Lebanon - Four Seasons Hotel Beirut, in which the company is a major shareholder. The ceremony was attended by Lebanese President - Michel Suleiman, the President of the National Assembly (speak-er of the legislature) - Nabih Berri, the President of Council of Ministers - Saad Al Hariri, as well as the Chairman of Kingdom Hotel Investments - HRH Prince Al Waleed Bin Talal, in addition to the ministers and members in the Diplomatic Corp in Lebanon.

Talal Jassim Al-Bahar, Vice Chairman and CEO, IFA HR stated, “We are delighted to be adding yet another five-star hotel and an exceptional operator to our portfolio. This is our second investment in Lebanon, following our branded residential resort - Alabadiyah Hills - in Bhamdoun.”

Set in a sail-capped tower on the corniche in Central Beirut, and directly opposite the new Solidere marina facilities, Four Seasons Hotel Beirut offers 230 guest rooms including 60 spa-cious suites with interior design by Pierre-Yves Rochon. Large windows and private terraces offer panoramas of the Mediter-ranean Sea and its stunning rug-ged coastline. Featuring an 800 square-metre ballroom, restau-rants, library bar, roof-top pool, and a health and beauty spa,

nity activities. The first Best in Abu Dhabi

Awards, dubbed ‘The Emmys of the Emirate,’ were awarded with the winners having been an-nounced to a glamorous crowd

of who’s who in the Emirate. The winners list recognizes the best the Emirate has to offer in hos-pitality, activities, culture, social and initiatives that will shape the future of Abu Dhabi.

The winners were chosen from a shortlist nominated by the public. Once the shortlist was announced, the voting was again opened to those who work, live and enjoy the Abu Dhabi Emirate who were invited to select their favorite businesses, galleries, night clubs and health clubs, and to recognize government initia-tives which has made the big-gest impact on the region.

Three senior executives from Mövenpick Hotels & Re-sorts abandoned their shoes and socks in a moment of fun during a pre-opening inspec-tion at Dubai’s new hotel on the block, the Ibn Battuta Gate Hotel, scheduled to open in August.

Andreas Mattmuller, the group’s Chief Operating Officer - Middle East & Asia with Jan Kaiser, General Manager, Ibn Battuta Gate Hotel and Michael Nugent, General Manager of the upcoming Mövenpick Hotel Deira were fast to spot an opportunity to paddle in one of the two water pools located in 396-room hotel’s Grand Hall.

Kaiser, said that the Grand Hall, or Al Bahou, is set to be the ‘hub of the house’. “Al Bahou is huge yet inviting and has numer-ous signature photo opportunities for visitors, including 88 mam-moth, eastern-style lanterns dan-gling elegantly into the wonderful lobby area.”

He said that in a desire to cre-ate an interactive ambiance the lobby provides numerous seating areas geared to meetings and rendezvous. “Al Bahou is a per-fect place to ‘kick off your shoes’, just as we did. You can sit back

and watch the world go by, meet friends, or even hold a business meeting - as we have created nu-merous nooks and crannies.” He said that it is also the ‘gateway’ to six of eight equally iconic restau-rants and bars.

The Ibn Battuta Gate Hotel is part of the multi-faceted ‘Ibn

Andreas Mattmuller, senior vice president, Middle East & Asia, Mövenpick Hotels & Resorts goes paddling with Jan Kaiser, General Manager, Ibn Battuta Gate Hotel (left) and Michael Nugent, General Manager of the soon-to-be-opened Mövenpick Hotel Deira.

Marwan Mseikeh, General Manager, Kingsgate Hotel cutting the cake at annual staff party, members of the staff also present at the occasion

Battuta Square’ and sits along-side the famed Ibn Battuta Mall and Cineplex, a double-block, 12-story upscale office and apartment facility.

the hotel is set to become one of Beirut’s finest venues for high-end events and celebrations.

Controlling interest in the hotel is held by IFA Hotels & Resorts’ long-standing strategic partner Kingdom Hotel Invest-ments (KHI). Other shareholders are Mohammed Abdel Mohsen Al-Kharafi & Sons Group, as well as Mr. Mohammed Abdel- Rahman Al Bahar and Mr. Sami Musaad Al Saif.

Sarmad Zok, Chief Execu-tive Officer of KHI said, “Beirut is a particularly exciting market for us and we’re happy to be strengthening our alliance with IFA HR in the region. Lebanon, and Beirut in particular, has en-joyed resurgence in luxury travel and we expect the Four Seasons Hotel Beirut to quickly become the market leader.”

IFA HR is a leader in real estate development, specialis-ing in premium mixed-use hotel and tourism resort projects. The company offers a variety of prod-

ucts across an array of asset classes from exclusive branded residential, resort and hotel properties in exotic locations to sound appreciating investment opportunities including hotel condominiums, vacation clubs and private residence clubs. IFA HR currently has 46 projects and is present in 13 countries across four continents.

Al-Bahar concluded, “We have every expectation that the Four Seasons Hotel Beirut will perform well and generate posi-tive returns on our investment. The Lebanese market has grown steadily in the last two years and we believe this trend will contin-ue. It is a market in which we see a great deal of potential and a country in which we will explore further investment opportunities. The opening is a significant mile-stone in our ongoing relationship with Kingdom Hotel Investments and we look forward to working with them on new projects in the future.”

Kingsgate hotel celebratesannual staff party

Kingsgate Hotel Abu Dhabi convenes the 2nd annual party for the staff celebrating the suc-cesses and profits achieved by the hotel since opening.

The celebration was at-tended by General Manager, Mr. Marwan Mseikeh, who praised the efforts exerted by the staff members, reviewing the results and achievements of the hotel. He also unveiled some of the future plans for development and growth.

The theme of the event was National dress where every staff wears the national dress of his own country. This concept made the ballroom of Kingsgate Hotel Abu Dhabi colorful and the night more enjoyable.

The celebration included a

number of wonderful parts and dancing shows, in addition to distributing the prizes for the

distinguished individuals of the different departments and the hotel staff.

Martina Venus, Director of Public Relations & Roxanne Campbell, Resort Manager with trophy

VIPs present at the opening of Four season Hotel Beirut

14 Interview - Global Holidays

A Friendly Approach

towards travel

Can you tell us briefly about Global Holidays ?

Established in 1999, Global Holidays is one of the emerging travel management organisa-tions within the UAE. We have been thrilled to have celebrated our 10th anniversary in 2010. This is a decade of travel ar-rangements for inspiring travel-lers, to look past the standard travel guides.

Business for our travel com-pany is defined in segments of Leisure, Corporate and VIP Travel arrangements for niche travellers.

We have gathered signifi-cant recognition for our innova-tive travel products, with travel-lers of sorts of individual nature, family travellers, young groups of travellers, honeymooners and cruisers.

What are the challenges in recent time Global Holidays is facing?

We have strategically identi-fied and concentrated on few tar-get markets and this focus has yielded fantastic results for us.

We are not trying to do ev-erything, but rather trying to get it absolutely right with what we do !

At Global Holidays, we have a devoted and a highly experienced team of Managers, most of us have been fortunate to have experienced, worked and risen from rapidly changing markets, environments, custom-ers, demands and learnt to work amidst an overall change in busi-ness characteristics. Traditional practices of a travel agency have to be stepped up and then linked to innovative alternates and oth-er smarter sources of revenue in such a business environment.

Travel is an industry that supports other key industries which comprise of the overall economy of a respective coun-try. Travel flourishes, when the other industries are working well. However, trouble would certainly be around upon any travel com-pany when the business opera-

tion is limited to a particular seg-ment or target.

No one can deny the ongo-ing tremors felt by all business in the global economic crisis and travel is no exception to the same. But, we have learnt to sail in safe waters.

What it takes to be the leading travel services com-pany, how has Global Holidays risen up to the top?

The Learning Curve and change implementation is signifi-cantly important in any project.

Global Holidays has planned this journey with goals in mind and the company has been lead by veterans of the industry.

We have gradually ex-panded the modus operandi of our business, to do more only with every passing year and by learning from our experience in operations.

Most importantly, we have learnt to retain the loyalty of our customers towards our organisa-tion, whilst continuously impress-ing new customers, segments and markets. Our strategic mar-keting practices, direct customer specific communication, travel management solutions and high service oriented team have dis-tinguished Global Holidays in a highly competitive market, to avoid being typecast as a tradi-tional travel agency.

How Global Holidays is different from others, what special services you offer?

Global Holidays is a little more innovative than the tradi-tional travel agency operations, we differentiate ourselves by providing personalised or cust-omised travel solutions to each of our customers, with very high level of services. Our services have raved great reviews of being highly professional, on time and we manage this with a

friendly approach !Our products may be similar

in offering to other travel agents, but we have focused and worked on the packaging aspect of prod-ucts, with a high rate of accep-tance. We have been marketing our products and services to all our customers (internal and ex-ternal) and constant promotions and marketing initiatives to our focused cliental and customer groups has bought customer loyalty to our brand and travel company.

The company has grown substantially, since the introduc-tion decade and as part of our marketing campaigns, constant efforts are vested on our website, annual brochures, travel exhibi-tions and other modes or direct customer communication with our customers.

We have recently been ap-pointed with a Regional Repre-sentation for Marhaba Malaysia, this is a unique meet, greet and assistance service, specially de-signed to cater to Arab Travellers to Malaysia.

This is an exciting service, the travellers can take advantage of 24x7 communication in Arabic language with the dedicated 24 Hrs call centre team in Malaysia, along with various other benefits associated to travel.

Our front line staff are sea-soned travel and holidays con-sultants, which have been trained and been enriched with regular trainings and growing experience.

We take pride in what we do and how we regard our custom-ers.

How do you see the role

of ATTAC in protecting travel agents’ benefits?

Abu Dhabi Travel and Tour-ism Agency Council is the travel

agents governing council based in Abu Dhabi. ATTAC has done very well in protecting and safe-guarding travel agents interests in operations. We are updated and constantly informed about new travel agents and latest activities. ATTAC is working pri-marily on protecting operational interests and building satisfied travel agents trade.

What are the expectations and goals set for 2010?

We are very optimistic of the market and our clients. We have already seen 2010 being a better business year than 2009, along with a steady improvement in customer sentiments.

We plan to keep up the high end service levels, along with ongoing product innovations, representations and partner-ships for our organisation along with expansion opportunities. We also hope to see better per-formances of other industries and growth signs with them, this will certainly result in growth of the travel industry.

Abu Dhabi is coming fast at Tourism, what special ser-vices Global Holidays has or planning to launch to coupe up with the demand?

Abu Dhabi is an upcoming tourism destination and has gen-erated great reviews with visi-tors. Also, with increasingly suc-cessful events happening within this region, inbound traffic is at a constant growth. The cruises coming into UAE which are do-ing itineraries around the region brings in a lot of guests from Eu-rope and other regions.

The First Formula 1 event bought in considerable busi-ness for tour operators with an increase in inbound traffic. We

received business, which was of niche nature. With needs of V.I.P services, Chauffeur driven cars and other high end services catering to the up market visitors to this region.

We have a team, which works on specialist projects from identifying opportunities to op-erational requirements of such clients.

Which is Global Holidays main source market?

As Global Holidays, we operate from Abu Dhabi and Al Ain regions of UAE. Certainly the local based travellers from this region are our target clients. We also service diverse types of travellers, from government body group travel to student travellers to honeymooners to cruisers. From Leisure holiday travellers to corporate travel solutions to retail travel intentions, we are currently working with such seg-ments and working on expand-ing our target to travellers with similar characteristics.

Message to Al Zajel Magazineand for our readers

Al Zajel Magazine is one of the few travel magazines with the latest news of the travel industry, with every edition.

The magazine’s content usually cover all aspects of the trade, with information about Airlines, Hotels, Travel Agents, Networking functions, Awards, ADTA Plans etc. The informa-tion is pretty concise for trade and colleagues. Its imperative to keep yourself informed about your industry !

Tell us something about your self and your experience in travel trade?I have spent nearly 8 years in the UAE Travel Industry, indeed fairly new with existing veterans. Started off by stepping into a 2 year aca-demic program in the year 2000, majoring in airlines and tourism man-agement. My career in this region commenced with one of the very well know and established travel management company within the UAE called Sharaf Travel, onwards i was the Manager with Bahrain Airways and now with Global Holidays. My career has evolved with jobs in the commercial airlines and travel business.I have plotted my career progress by constant advancements in achieving professional business qualifications and trainings. Currently, I function as the Business Development Manager, UAE Re-gion for Global Holidays.

Young, passionate and energetic can rightly describe Mr. Nicky Bijlaney, Business Development Manager, UAE, Global Holidays, Al Zajel had a chance to talk to him recently, we tried to get the idea about this emerging travel solution provider’s way of working and vision, here is he revealed to us.

Mr. Nicky Bijlaney, Business Development Manager, UAE, Global Holidays

Travel Management 15

Amadeus, a travel technol-ogy partner and transaction pro-cessor for the global travel and tourism industry inked a three-year partnership agreement with Kanoo Travel, the largest Travel Company in the Middle East.

Under this agreement, Ka-noo has chosen Amadeus’ e-Travel Management, the widely deployed online booking solution for managed travel, for its corpo-rate travel services in the Middle East.

Featuring a quick and easy booking process, Amadeus e-Travel Management helps com-panies increase business travel program compliance, reduce total travel spend and drive on-line adoption. Available in 12 languages, the global platform is easily adapted to local needs. Its low-fare search capabilities ensure corporate travelers have a wide choice of travel options.

To celebrate its 40th anni-versary independent tour opera-tor Salem Holidays Abu Dhabi announces the launch of its new web site – www.salemtrave-lagency.com - which it main-tains is the most comprehensive available on the UAE market with over 80 new packages to choose, from Australia to Zanzi-bar with more being added.

Always being innovative, clients can also select a Greek Island or Nile Cruise – a Kenya Safari – a Spa resort in Hungary or 2 centre holidays incorporat-ing Istanbul in Turkey with 14 European cities including Mos-cow and Helsinki. Bangkok in Thailand with Bali – Tokyo and Los Angeles, 9, 2 centre desti-nations in all via Bangkok. For the client who needs an inde-pendent tailor made package, there is a DIY page offering trav-el agents and clients the chance

Bruce Poon Tip, founder of Gap Adventures, the world’s larg-est adventure travel company, will be a key note speaker at the inaugural World Green Tourism Abu Dhabi (WGT-AD) confer-ence taking place this November at Abu Dhabi National Exhibition Centre (ADNEC) in the capital of the United Arab Emirates.

Canadian Bruce, an award-winning sustainability pioneer, founded Gap Adventures as a 23-year-old in 1990 with two credit cards. His driving force was a desire to create a sustainable travel experience that strived to minimize its environmental im-pact, to respect local people and cultures, offer economic benefit to local businesses and commu-nities, and provide a memorable experience for travelers while protecting destinations for future generations.

With over 850 employees, Gap Adventures now offers more than 1,000 small group experi-ences, safaris and expeditions on all seven continents, to more than 100,000 travelers a year.

Now the innovative leader who in 2003 launched the non-profit Planeterra Foundation to make a positive difference to peo-ple’s lives is bringing his cause to Abu Dhabi - a destination which keeps sustainability at the core of its development.

“I launched Gap Adventures with the belief that other travellers would share my desire to experi-ence authentic adventures in a responsible and sustainable man-

Dnata Travel continues to give away three AED10,000 travel vouchers every week as part of its summer promotional campaign, designed to reward loyal customers currently booking their summer escapes.

AED120,000 worth of travel vouchers have been given away by Dnata Travel to12 lucky U.A.E. residents who were recently pre-sented giant-sized AED10,000 travel vouchers by Majid Al Mulla,

It provides corporations with im-proved administration features and new flexible faring options designed to help companies bal-ance their global and local travel management needs.

This recent agreement dem-onstrates Kanoo’s commitment to enhance the value it already provides corporate clients by integrating Amadeus e-Travel Management, Amadeus’s award-winning globally distributed self-booking solution, into Kanoo’s portfolio of solutions.

Abdulla Abo Khamseen, Executive General Manager, Ka-noo Travel said, “Our partnership with Amadeus is a step forward in offering our customers the best online travel solutions that is available in the region today. The solution integrates with our existing applications allowing our clients to enjoy the benefits of working with a harmonized global infrastructure. Addition-ally, the agreement helps us de-liver greater value to our network of clients by being the most ef-fective travel management con-sultancy in the region.”

Growing number of corpora-tions today cite the ability to im-prove efficiency and processes as one of the most significant benefits of a global travel man-agement program. Amadeus e-Travel Management addresses this issue by providing improved administration features that help travel managers to simplify the booking process.

“We are committed and strongly positioned to support Kanoo’s business growth needs in the region. As one of the lead-ing travel management firms in the Middle East, Kanoo has been an early adopter of online booking technology,” said An-toine Medawar, Vice President, Amadeus, Middle East and North Africa. “Through this new deployment, Kanoo can continue to offer seamless travel manage-ment programs while helping their clients optimize revenues and improve profitability.”

Amadeus Middle East partners with Kanoo Travel

Salem Holidays’ new website, more options for travelers

Adventure-travel pioneer signs up as keynote speaker for WGT-AD

to create their own holiday. Holi-days are also now on offer to celebrate Eid Al Fitr with 5 days in Istanbul flying from Abu Dhabi in a 4* hotel, commencing 10th September and Bangkok flying from Dubai in a 5* hotel com-mencing 12th September, both offers can be enjoyed at very low rates. For the epitome of comfort 5 separate Luxury Train Journeys of India is also pro-grammed. Research shows that the Salem Holidays program is the most diverse in Abu Dhabi and for a privately owned com-pany and the biggest.

For clients who may have friends or relatives visiting the

UAE Salem Travel Dubai can also process visa applications on line.

Probably even more inter-esting was the recent launch of Arabian Odyssey solely for incoming tourists to Abu Dhabi with no less than 23 different itineraries on offer in 25 world wide countries – arabianodys-sey.ae

Abu Dhabi is not ignored with the introduction of the im-pressive and awe inspiring Qasr Al Sarab resort located in the Liwa Desert 240 km’s from the city centre with transport includ-ed in a 4 X 4.

Salem Holidays now has no less than nine independent search engines to access ac-commodation anywhere in the world with instant confirmation. Work has also commenced on a new Salem Holidays worldwide brochure bookable on line.

ner, and I hope that by learning about our journey and success at the Abu Dhabi congress, other in-dustry leaders will also recognise why putting in place measures to make tourism more environmen-tally and culturally aware can also create growth opportunities. I am looking forward to engaging with the audience in Abu Dhabi given the investment being made in the region’s tourism sector and the particular challenges the indus-try faces in the Middle East and North Africa,” said Bruce.

In recognition of its dedica-tion to ethical business practices and sustainable tourism, Gap Ad-ventures was awarded the 2009 World Savers Award by Condé Nast Traveler magazine, as well as the 2009 Travel and Leisure Global Vision Leadership Award for voluntourism. Bruce Poon Tip has been twice honored as the Ernst & Young Entrepreneur of the Year and was recognized as the 2009 Awards of Merit Travel Personality of the Year. He has also been presented with the Global Traders Leadership award for excellence in exporting and international business.

“Securing Bruce as a speaker is something of a coup for World Green Tourism Abu Dhabi and we can look forward to a thought-provoking address,” said Ahmed Hussein, Deputy Director Gen-eral, Abu Dhabi Tourism Author-ity, which is the event’s headline sponsor.

The inaugural World Green Tourism Abu Dhabi, which will

run from November 22-24 and feature an associated exhibition, is designed to provide travel and tourism industry leaders and in-vestors a greater insight into sus-tainability within the sector and how it can be used to enhance business outcomes. It is being or-ganized by the UAE’s Streamline Marketing Group (SMG).

Bruce Poon Tip joins an increasingly powerful speaker platform which includes: Gopi-nath Parayil, Founder and CEO of India’s leading responsible travel company Blue Yonder; Arnfinn Oines, Social & Envi-ronmental Conscience Officer, Six Senses Resorts & Spas and Faith Taylor, VP for Sustainabil-ity & Innovation, for Wyndham World, one of the world’s larg-est hospitality companies and ranked by Fortune magazine amongst the world’s ‘Most Ad-mired Companies.’

“Bruce Poon Tip is heading what is shaping up to be a stel-lar speaker platform,” said Rick Theobald, Event Director, SMG. “He is a genuine sector pioneer and his insight and experience sums up what this event is all about. Using tourism as one of the key economic diversification drivers lies at the heart of Abu Dhabi’s 2030 plan, but this also has to be achieved based on the fundamental principal of envi-ronmental sustainability. This is the case across the region and internationally, which is why this event is so vital for global indus-try leaders and investors.”

Dnata Travel continues summer raffle promotion

Vice President, Dnata Travel, un-der the supervision of the Dubai Economic Department.

Majid Al Mulla, VicePresi-dent, Dnata Travel commented; “We are extremely proud to be able to reward our lucky custom-ers with this fantastic prize offer-ing and are delighted to help our winners ensure that a memorable vacation will be had by all.”

The winners were thrilled to receive the generous travel

vouchers and are now busy fan-tasizing about ways to spend them by either upgrading existing holiday plans or dreaming up new ones.

With many more chances to win, now is the time to head to your nearest Dnata Travel outlet to investigate ideas for summer escapes and take advantage of the great value ‘free nights’, ‘chil-dren go free’ and ‘early bird’ sum-mer holiday offers available.

16 Indepth - Global Tourism Growth

Recovery bounces back while growth patterns remain uneven

It is indeed good and prom-ising that the travel and tourism industry is having it’s luster back after 14 months of lust less ac-tivities. Economic slum of 2009 hit hardest the travel sector, everything within the realm of travel & tourism went in disarray but ultimately things started get-ting better. The recovery pattern which began in the last quarter of 2009 got stronger in 2010, tourist arrival and movement has increased multifold since the start of the year, which for the fact helped the industry to hold its lost ground much quick-er then it was anticipated.

This growth was recently confirmed by the UNWTO World Tourism Barometer, according to that International tourist arriv-als grew by 7% in the first four months of 2010. This growth endorsed the recovery trend beginning in the last quarter of 2009 and comes despite the challenging conditions of recent months. While April’s results were affected by the week-long closure of European airspace, globally the pace of recovery is faster than initially expected, driven largely by emerging markets. For the full year 2010, UNWTO forecasts international tourist arrivals to grow by 3% to 4%.

The recent IATA’s statistics regarding passenger air traffic movement, one of the major industry indicator also backed this growing trend, figures of IATA showed that demand re-bounded strongly in May 2010 and are at above prerecession

level, which without any doubt a good news for the travel indus-try. Giovanni Bisignani, IATA’s

Director General and CEO said, “Demand rebounded strongly in May following the impact of the European volcanic ash fiasco in April. Passenger traffic is now 1% above pre-recession levels, while the freight market is 6% bigger.”

International tourist arriv-als increased by 7% in the first four months of 2010. The 3% in-crease registered in April marks the seventh month of growth in international tourist arrivals after 14 consecutive months of negative results, UNWTO report revealed further. Still, growth slowed down slightly in April as a consequence of the closure of European airspace for a week due to the ash-cloud following the eruption of a volcano in Iceland. Although only around 30 countries have reported May

data, the vast majority is posi-tive, clearly pointing to a con-tinuation of the current pace of

growth, UNWTO report noticed.The Middle East is at the

fore front of this recovery of global tourism and among one of those regions which picked up strongly after recession, at present ME is at +33%, com-pared to the very depressed same months of 2009, however growth varied between world regions in the first four months of this year. Apart from ME the Asia and the Pacific (+12%) also shows strong growth for the period, continuing the rebound that began in the second half of 2009. Africa (+7%) is at the global trend and the Americas (+6%) just below, while Europe (+0.3%) reports the poorest re-sult. Northern Europe, the only subregion in the world still far from recovery, was additionally affected by the closure of Euro-pean airspace last April.

The overall positive trend during the first four months of 2010 is reflected in the rise of the UNWTO Tourism Confi-dence Index. 50% of the Experts participating in the UNWTO Panel of Tourism evaluate the period January-April as “better” or “much better”. This compares to 34% for the period Septem-ber-December 2009 and is the best rating since January-April 2008 – before the onset of the global economic crisis.

Other industry indicators such as accommodation sec-tor also affirm the resilience of the industry. Data from the ac-commodation sector reflects improved performance, with occupancy and average room

International Tourist Arrivals (% change over same period of the previous year)

Source: World Tourism Organization (UNWTO) ©

-9 -10-14

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Western

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Central/

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North-East

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South A

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2009 H12009 H22010* January - April

International Tourist Arrivals, monthly evolution Advanced economies & Emerging economies (% change)

Source: World Tourism Organization (UNWTO) ©

-20

-15

-10

-5

0

5

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2008 2009 2010*

Adv anced economies

Emerging economies

rates on the rise again. International tourist arriv-

als from January to April 2010 totaled over 258 million. This clear improvement has to be compared with the negative re-sults of 2009, the worst period of the crisis, totaling 242 million arrivals. The current volume is still 2% short of the record year 2008, with 264 million arrivals in the same four months.

2010 results will continue to benefit from the gradually improving economic situation, as well as from a number of high profile events including the Winter Olympics in Vancouver, the FIFA Football World Cup in South Africa, the World Exposi-tion in Shanghai and the Com-monwealth Games in India. Unfortunately, tourism has also suffered the effects of a series of natural disasters, including earthquakes in Haiti, Chile, Southern California and Gua-temala and severe flooding in a number of destinations includ-ing Machu Picchu (Peru) and parts of Europe.

UNWTO maintains its Jan-uary forecast for international tourist arrivals in 2010 at +3% to +4%. Current growth rates suggest that end-year results are likely to be closer to 4%, and may even exceed it. Much depends on the results of the upcoming summer high season in the northern hemisphere, particularly in Europe.

As the peak tourism season for the world’s leading regions in the northern hemisphere starts, short-term prospects are prom-

ising. The UNWTO Confidence Index for May-August 2010 is even higher than the one for January-April 2010.

Nevertheless challenges remain and the sector still has a long way to go to make up lost ground. Increasing unem-ployment continues to be a major cause of concern and, as anticipated by UNWTO, it is now clear that public deficits represent a clear challenge. This is particularly relevant for advanced economies and could affect leading outbound mar-kets. The phasing-out of stimu-lus measures, combined with austerity measures and the rise in taxation introduced by many governments, have become main factors to be considered. The tourism sector itself may be confronted with increased taxes given the expected rise in UK departure tax (November 2010) and Germany’s intention

International Tourist Arrivals, monthly evolution World (% change)

Source: World Tourism Organization (UNWTO) ©

-15

-10

-5

0

5

10

15

2008 2009 2010*

to introduce a new air tax as part of its budget-cutting plans. UNWTO cautions against the potential adverse effects of one-sided decisions on taxation which might harm the tourism sector.

“These factors constitute an important downside risk to a re-covering industry”, said UNWTO Secretary-General, Taleb Rifai. “This is the time to support the tourism sector. At a time when many countries are witnessing public deficit constraints and low domestic consumption lev-els, tourism can provide much needed jobs, as well as export and tax revenues. UNWTO wel-comes examples of countries like China, which has identified tourism as a strategic pillar of its economy going forward” he added.

On the consumer side, trends such as late booking, in-

creasing use of the internet to look and book, travelling closer and for shorter periods of time and demanding value for mon-ey, seem to have been accentu-ated during and post crisis. This evolving marketplace will in-evitably require changes in the business models of the industry and the tourism supply. “It’s il-lusionary to assume that we can go back to ‘business as usual’”, said Taleb Rifai. “We need to know consumers better, master technology and integrate it more and more into the management of destinations and companies. We also need to invest more in product innovation and human resources, particularly training for green jobs and make a clear commitment to sustainability”, he concluded.

On Location 17

2nd Annual Kingdom Hotel Expansion and Investment Summit, brings together the leading companies and individuals shaping the future success of the hotel and tourism industry in

Saudi Arabia.Saudi Arabia is currently undergoing a boom in its tourism and hotel sector. As the Kingdom takes steps to diversify its economy, grow its tourism industry and promote its rich culture and heritage, international investors, developers and hoteliers are moving into a market that promises to be one of the most lucrative in the Middle East. As a result, the Kingdom Hotel Expansion and Investment Summit hosts industry experts, all of whom explore the key considerations and the driving factors behind the expansion of hotels

Shaping the success of

Saudi Arabia’s hotel industry

and property in the Kingdom. Industry leaders uncover the challenges, reveal the secrets to their success and share vital industry information that will directly influence and impact expansion strategy.The summit is more than just a successful conference, but a unique platform for sharing industry knowledge and capitalizing on exclusive networking opportunities. Here is the pictorial glimpses of the event….

18 Fine dinning / News & Views

Fine Dinning

Recently Le Royal Méri-dien Abu Dhabi organized a media gathering at AL Fanar rooftop revolving restaurant, which is located at the 31st floor of the hotel. The English translation of Al Fanar is light-house and it really does look like a lighthouse if you gaze at it from the Corniche.

At the first impression it appears that the restaurant is not revolving at all but once you settle down you will start noticing that you are actually moving and you will be able to experience the magnificent views of Abu Dhabi during the course of your meal.

The ambiance of this res-taurant is superb with fabulous live music in place, but apart from the atmosphere and the stunning views this restaurant also complements its primary purpose of serving good and tasty food. The menu gives a very good idea of the Chef Alain’s vast experience and his combinations of flavours

combined with excellent pres-entation gives all his dishes the full marks.

Abu Dhabi’s food enthusi-asts can now enjoy outstand-ing cuisine which most ap-propriate can be described as French cuisine with a modern twist with exceptional flavour combinations such as lobster on vanilla sauce or tuna fillet with fois gras. Inspiration for such extraordinary composi-tions Chef Alain Rion received from legendary Chefs such as Paul Bocuse, Alain Ducasse and Bernard Loiseau.

The cosy but stylish atmosphere of Al Fanar res-taurant fused with amazing views and exceptional dishes underlines the quality of this place and is also the reason why it is holding its place for a long time in Abu Dhabi’s Fine Dining circle and therefore, was selected for Al Zajel’s fine dinning section.

Al Fanar restaurant is open for lunch and dinner. Every Friday guests can enjoy a sumptuous Bubbly Brunch with the best views of Abu Dhabi.

AL Fanar: Revolve around the best scrumptious dinning in town

Coffee Tips

For some, drinking several cups of coffee a day is a habit. For others, it is a necessity. But for me it is a pure passion. And for this reason I’m trying to spread the coffee culture by giving out my knowledge and some tips to recognize the perfect cup of coffee.

Talking about Espresso, it is the coffee being con-sumed and used as well in the preparation of your cappuc-cino, Caffè Latte, Mochaccino, Caffe` shakerato, and many other related drinks. That means a good cup of espresso is mandatory for having any of the drinks mentioned above.

In many places they are using soluble powder to make a cup of a coffee or to prepare even Espresso/Cappuccino/ Caffè latte, many consumers drinking these without know-ing that this is not the right coffee to have. And the cof-fee was made and prepared not according to the Espresso techniques by following the basic of beans roasting, grind-ing and the right instruments for correct extraction, as the espresso history teaches us.

Off-course, for many op-erators it is easier and cheap-er to use the soluble powder, but this is not the right con-cept, so please be careful that

from where you are drinking your Espresso or drinks made with Espresso and always check if the operator is using freshly grounded roasted cof-fee beans, preferably roasted in Italy.

When you order an Es-presso, make sure that the coffees in the cup should have the following characteristics:

Lets start with the face, the coffee should have a nice tightly compact cream. If the cream is just absent, means the coffee was over extracted, taste burned, bitter and acid. If the cream is very less and light in color that shows the coffee did not extracted well.

Before drinking your cof-fee, smell it, so you can dis-cover all the fragrances and you can feel if the coffee is made and roasted from good quality coffee beans, or form

Recipe of the month: CREMINO

Spill Chantilly cream in the cup, same quantity of the espresso cup.

Add on the top equivalent of one espresso cup

Add whip cream and then decorate it with cacao or hazelnut grains

Note: To prepare coffee drink, you must have a espresso coffee machine. Use martini glass to prepare Cremino.

Know the drinkbefore drinking it

poor, old and badly stored ones.

Dear Reader, A corky bottle of wine and

badly prepared cup of a cof-fee create the same result, i.e both have the potential to de-stroy the best of the mood and moments in a sip. We usually taste the wine before having it or serving to our guests and if it is faulty, we order new one. Same should be the case for a cup of coffee, if it is not well prepared we should order new one rather having the bad one which very easily can kill our mood and time. Therefore, do your self a favor, try to have coffee which is prepared ac-cording to techniques sug-gested me in this article.

By: Dr. Massimo Hakim

For the real sun seeker, the ultimate holiday destination this summer is the island para-dise of Sri Lanka. An increasing number of tourists from the Mid-dle East region are travelling to Sri Lanka in search of an exotic location with plenty of sun and clean, unspoilt & uncrowded beaches.

Destination Sri Lanka re-ported a major influx of Arab travellers as Middle East Tour-ist arrivals to Sri Lanka surged 50 per cent in January, 2010 compared to the same period last year, according to statistics compiled by the Sri Lanka Tour-ism Development Authority and announced by the Middle East office of the Sri Lanka Tourism Promotion Board (SLTPB).

For the sun-sea-and-sand enthusiast, Sri Lanka offers un-beatable value. Due to its loca-

tion along the equatorial zone it has a tropical climate which varies with the regions and the seasons. Summer temperatures range between 24 to 26 degrees Celsius and sunny, blue skies are virtually guaranteed. The island nation offers several pub-lic beaches as well as five-star beach hotels and resorts.

“A full range of water sports can be enjoyed in Sri Lanka, including swimming, sailing, windsurfing, scuba diving, wa-ter-skiing and deep sea fishing. Equipment for all sports can be hired and professional instruc-tion is available throughout the coastal areas,” said Heba Al Ghais Al Mansoori, Middle East Director of SLTPB based in Du-bai.

Divers in Sri Lanka are treated to some of the most spectacular reefs in the world as

also large schools of a variety of colourful fish. The islands coast-lines have dozens of famous ship wrecks dating back centu-ries and also coral reefs, under sea caves & rock formations all around the island.

When even the most avid sun-bather needs a break from the beach, Sri Lanka offers a variety of options to unwind. Comfortable tours of the city are also possible with air-condi-tioned coaches and multi-lingual guides introducing you to the island’s unique culture.

A visit to Sri Lanka would hardly be complete without sam-pling the wild natural beauty of the country including the scenic waterfalls, spice and tea planta-tions, bird and wildlife reserves, tropical jungle excursions and the luxurious yet eco-friendly accommodation.

Sri Lanka’s golden beaches a major tourist attraction

Birthday

July - August 2010

Events CalendarIf you would like your event to feature on this page

send the details to alzajel06@gmail.com

www.mydsf.ae

www.arqueotur.org

www.farnborough.com

www.bigapplecircus.org

Barcelona, Spain

Farnborough, Hampshire, London

17 THUR

19THUR

17th June - 7th August, Dubai Summer Surprises 2010

19th - 24th Arqueotur

Dubai - United Arab Emirates

23 FRi

19th - 25th, The Farnborough Inetrnational Air Show

23rd - 3rd August, The Big Apple Circus 2010

Abu Dhabi National Exhibition Centre, Abu Dhabi - UAE

20Mon

JULY

01THUR

1st - 24th , Salalah Tourism Festival

Municipality Fair Ground, Salalah, Oman

JULY

JUN

www.summerinabudhabi.com24THUR

24th June - 4th August Summer in Abu Dhabi 2010

Abu Dhabi National Exhibition Centre, Abu Dhabi - UAE

JUN

JULY

JULY

People on the move

New Appointments/ Event Calendar 19

Faris Azzee

Pravin Kumar Ray Manulat

Ali Abdulla Al Shamsi

Jumeirah Group has appointed Toby Joseph as Vice-President of Sales & Marketing - Dubai.

Toby Joseph

Bahrain Airport Company has appointed Gordon Dewar, as its CEO, taking up the post in the beginning of July.

GordonDewar

Corp Executive Hotel Apartments, Al Barsha, Dubai has appointed Aamir Pervez as General Manager of the property.

AamirPervez

Atlas Hospitality, a division of the Atlas Group of Companies has appointed Siegfried Nierhaus Managing Director.

Siegfried Nierhaus

Jessica Asher

One to one hotel has appointed Jessica Asher as Marketing & Communication Manager

Etihad Airways has appointed Ali Abdulla Al Shamsi as its General Manager of Abu Dhabi Hub at Abu Dhabi International Airport.

Sheraton Deira Hotel has appointed Pravin Kumar as Food & Beverage Manager.

Saadiyat Beach Golf Club has appointed Ray Manulat as its new General Manager.

Maher Salman Al Musallam

With best wishes from the management of Al Zajel!May you havemany more

Jimmy El MurrGeneral ManagerSalem Travel

Wish you Happy Birthday

Travelport has appointed Faris Azzee as General Manager in Saudi Arabia

Gulf Air has appointed Maher Salman Al Musallam as Deputy Chief Executive Officer.

Holiday Inn: Young but mature towards environment

In hospitality, up to the mark services are a matter of life and death, especially when it come to hotels, lacking at any level can lead towards a serious con-sequences. Moreover, in today’s conscious world, where people are taking matter of climate and global warming as serious as anything, becoming eco friendly is no more an option but an obli-gation. Hotel brands that are not able to adopt eco-friendly hos-pitality are loosing serious busi-ness, contrary to this, brands, which are aware and doing ef-forts for going green, doing good business.

A palm-lined driveway leads to the glittering glass facade of the 11-storey Holiday Inn Abu Dhabi, 15 minutes’ taxi ride from Abu Dhabi Airport. This modern hotel is located in the centre of Abu Dhabi Island, 3km from gov-ernment offices and a 5-minute drive from Abu Dhabi National Exhibition Centre (ADNEC).

With 203 rooms, 5 of which

are suites, This new 4 star prop-erty opened Oct. 27 2009 and taking matters of eco friendly very serious.

Currently implementing an Environmental Health and Safe-ty Management System, which is a requirement of all hotels under ADTA. The hotel made a pledge that it will reduce its waste by 7%, and its water and energy by 5% in the coming year (2011). Then hotel under its “Green Rooms” program, allows guests to make the choice whether they want their towels or bedsheets washed on a daily basis.

This effective program cur-rently save over 2,000 liters of water a month. Then the hotel is also looking at reducing one of the multiple rinse cycles per-formed by its laundry washers, without affecting the overall qual-ity or performance of the wash.

This could save hotel over 15,000 liters a month. Then going step further engi-neers of the hotel have been

busy re-p l a c i n g all the light bulbs with energy efficient bulbs, which helps save money and environment both. Hotel also use motion light sensors on all floors and guest rooms, which will keep the lights off if no one is there. Ian Osborn, Assistant Safety Manager, Holiday Inn said “I am very excited about our recycling program within the ho-tel, which focuses on paper and cardboard, plastic, glass, and aluminum. This started because we participated in the Earth Day Can Collection Drive, sponsored by the Emirates Environmen-tal Group. From this point, we also introduced recycling bins for paper, plastic, and glass.” Because of what the hotel has been able to achieve in relatively small span of time for the cause of environment, this month ‘Al Zajel Green Hotel of the month’ award went to Holiday Inn.