Category: News

AC Group has appointed Mamdouh Abdelkader as Sales and Operations Manager (Middle East and East Mediterranean) as the wholesale tour operator in an effort to grow its presence in the Middle East. Abdelkader’s appointment marks AC Group’s expansion within the Middle Eastern, North African and Southern European markets, offering experiential-led tours to the region’s travellers. He will be working closely with regional travel agents to create a new range of unique itineraries which meet the interests of Middle Eastern travellers to the UK, Ireland, France, Germany, Benelux and North America. Egyptian-born Abdelkader has worked in the UK as a specialist ... Read more

AKARYN Hotel Group, Thailand’s award- winning  luxury boutique hotel specialist, is preparing to spreads its wings and move into international markets for the first time, with the launch of its pioneering hospitality brands in Indonesia and Vietnam. In the coming months, two of the group’s much-loved hotel concepts will make their international debuts. Aleenta, the original barefoot luxury brand that first launched in Thailand in 2004, will be introduced to Bali, Indonesia’s “Island of the Gods”, and akyra, the trend-setting boutique brand, will arrive in Hoi An, the UNESCO World Heritage-listed port town in central Vietnam. Aleenta Retreat Bali will ... Read more

Noesis Capital Advisors, India’s leading hotel investment advisory firm has been appointed Executive Strategic Partner for the 7th annual ‘Hotelier Summit India 2019’. Noesis will have exclusive rights as Hotel Consultants in the domain of feasibility study, operator search, debt syndication, private equity, valuation, asset management and PMC services. Hotelier Summit India 2019 which will be held in May 20th and 21st 2019 at Goa will consist of 100 companies that will include Hotel Owners, Investors and Real Estate Developers. As an Executive Strategic Partner, Noesis Capital Advisors with its vast experience in the hospitality sector will evaluate the need ... Read more

Built inside the Mall of Muscat, the aquarium is first of its kind in Oman and the largest in the Middle East covering 8,000 square meters of the mall and spanning three floors. The Oman aquarium opened doors to visitors this month showcasing around 1000 types of Omani fishes and 30,000 marine animals including sharks, lobsters, turtles, rays, local corals, penguins and crocodiles. The main tank has a walk-through tunnel for visitors to get an up-close and personal look at the variety of fishes inside. The ticket is priced at OMR 8.5 for adults and OMR 6.5 for children. In ... Read more

Travelstart has announced the launch of the ‘Travelstart Media Hub’ as the OTA offers a new media division that will support tourism agencies, airlines, cruise companies and related organisations with a platform to promote their brands and services to a global community of travellers. With an addressable audience of fifty million travellers globally, the Travelstart Media Hub aims to deliver better advertising value by capitalising on twenty years of relationships and content and community development in the travel market. “After twenty years of investing in trusted digital travel content and audience development, it’s a natural progression for us to extend ... Read more

The tourism industry professionals in Kerala is all set to participate in the fifth Madhu Memorial Cricket Tournament. Organized by Association of Professionals in Tourism (APT), the tournament held in memory of Madhu, will be held from May 1-5, 2019 in Thiruvananthapuram. Tourism professionals from various departments will participate in the tournament, which is slated to begin on May 1, 2019 at the Medical College Ground, Thiruvananthapuram. This year, 22 teams will be participating in the tournament. Cholan Tours is sponsoring the event. The final match will be held on May 6, 2019 and the winners will get Rs 35,000 ... Read more

Al Badayar Oasis project Sharjah Investment and Development Authority (Shurooq) has unveiled three new luxury hospitality projects worth AED 130 million at ATM 2019, which are nearing completion and slated for an official launch in the second half (H2) of 2019. Situated in three distinct historical and natural sites across the emirate of Sharjah, the three projects are Al Faya Lodge at Mleiha Archaeological and Eco-tourism, Kingfisher Lodge at Kalba, and finally, the Al Badayer Oasis being developed in the Al Badayer desert. The projects are poised as world-class additions to Shurooq’s growing portfolio of leading cultural and eco-tourism projects ... Read more

Hard Rock Hotel Ibiza has confirmed the music legends that will headline its weekly ‘Children of the 80’s’ party for the 2019 season, promising a summer of addictive ‘old school’ vibes and rocking Eurodance anthems. Opening on 31 May with German synth-pop band Alphaville, ‘Children of the 80’s’ will take place every Friday from 6pm for 18 weeks at Hard Rock Hotel Ibiza’s beach-front open-air stage. Over the following weeks, music icons from the eighties and nineties will take turns to headline the event, including British rapper Ice MC (7 June), Danish singer Whigfield (21 June), and Spanish duo OBK ... Read more

The Tourism Authority of Thailand (TAT) has revealed that tourism revenue earned from international visitor arrivals to Thailand and domestic trips during the 2019 Songkran holiday all showed year-on-year increases over the same period in 2018. TAT Governor Yuthasak Supasorn said that during the holiday period of 12-16 April, 2019, total revenue from the international arrivals and domestic trips amounted to 22.07 billion Baht, an increase of 15 percent year-on-year. The number of international arrivals reached 543,300 (up eight per cent year-on-year) and generated revenue of 10.23 billion Baht (up 14 per cent). There were 3.27 million trips by domestic ... Read more

Summer just got better in Central Vietnam with a mega event organized together by Tourism Department of Thua Thien-Hue Province, Da Nang Tourism Promotion Center and Vietnam Travel Expert Fayfay.com. Vietnam’s ‘Central Summer Viet-stival’ is a collection of exciting happenings in the area, headlined by Da Nang International Fireworks Festival, Hue Hot Air Balloon Festival and Hue Traditional Craft Festival. Starting on 22 April, ‘Central Summer Viet-stival’ aims to show the unique festive side of Da Nang and Hue in this travel season. Throughout the festival period, travelers will find series of exclusive promotions like free Ao Dai Rental Experience, ... Read more

Hard Rock Hotel Tenerife has hosted its first ‘Children of the 80’s’ party of the year with a tribute to Celia Cruz and the famous open-air show in Santa Cruz de Tenerife during the island’s renowned carnival in 1987. Lucrecia (Celia Cruz’s tribute act) together with Venezuela’s most famous orchestra headlined the celebrations on 16th March, when the 2019 series of ‘Children of the 80’s’ kicked off at the open-air stage of Hard Rock Hotel Tenerife. Like Celia Cruz, Lucrecia is a Cuban singer who is currently playing Celia Cruz in a touring musical about her life. She led a ... Read more

The St. Regis Doha has opened one of the most prestigious Tennis Centres in Doha ‘The Bollettieri Experience’, in collaboration with tennis legend ’Nick Bollettieri’. The Bollettieri Experience Tennis Center aspires to become Doha’s finest Tennis Center and the leading sporting center for tennis programs that specialises in developing local talents and boosting the image of Qatar’s proficiency in tennis. “We are honored to collaborate with Nick Bollettieri, one of the biggest names in the world of tennis, to open our Tennis Center. We are very proud to continue raising the bar with our new facilities and offerings not only in ... Read more

Contiki has appointed MakeMyTrip as one of their preferred sales agents (PSA). The OTA will feature Contiki’s bestseller trips and promote them through its website as well as their retail outlets and B2B channels. India is a growing market and key area of focus for Contiki, with trip bookings increasing three-fold over the past five years. With Make My Trip, Contiki hopes to further expand its reach and inspire young travellers to embark on a trip of a lifetime to Europe and beyond. With three main travel styles, Discoverer (‘see it all, do it all’), Iconic Essentials (‘stretch your budget’) ... Read more

Clarks Inn Group of Hotels has opened its latest 52-room property in Chhattisgarh. The  property is located in the city-centre and is in close proximity to the Raipur Airport. This would be the first property by Clarks Inn in Chhattisgarh. “We are ecstatic to announce the newest addition, Clarks Inn Suites Raipur, to our ever-expanding portfolio. We are particularly thrilled to debut in the fast-growing hospitality market of Chhattisgarh with such a wonderful and top-of-the-line hotel property. We expect this property to be the most sought-after hospitality address of Raipur and will also strive hard to leverage our presence here ... Read more

The Indian Hotels Company Limited (IHCL) has recently announced the signing of a Taj hotel in Ahmedabad, which will be the fourteenth IHCL branded hotel in the state. “We are delighted to partner with Sankalp In to introduce the iconic Taj brand in Ahmedabad. With this announcement, IHCL reaffirms its commitment to Gujarat. The signing highlights the growth momentum of the company and is a great addition to our domestic portfolio,” said Puneet Chhatwal, Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer, IHCL. The hotel is strategically located on Sindhubhavan Marg and is spread over 1.4 acres of land. Slated to open ... Read more