vfs

Summer beckons: A quick visa guide by VFS Global

Monaz Billimoria, deputy regional head – UAE and Qatar at VFS Global, discusses all things visa with Gulf Business ahead of the summer holidays

emirates

Luxury on a budget: Emirates begins booking for its premium economy

From June 1, 2022, the carrier has commenced premium economy bookings on routes to London, Paris and Sydney

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Saudi tourism official clarifies country’s stand on alcohol consumption

Princess Haifa Mohammed Al-Saud, the kingdom’s assistant minister of tourism, spoke on the subject at the World Economic Forum in Davos

Airbnb is shutting China business to focus on outbound Asia travel

The San Francisco-based company will stop offering rental homes and experiences in the country this summer

Revealed: UAE tourism sector’s performance in Q1 2022

According to tourism figures for Q1 2022, the country’s hotel establishments attracted nearly 6 million visitors who spent 25 million hotel nights

Emirates DCT Abu Dhabi

ATM 2022: Emirates signs MoU with DCT Abu Dhabi to boost tourism

The two partners will collaborate on advertising and cross promotional marketing campaigns, familiarisation programmes and promotional competitions

Dubai

Dubai welcomes 3.97 million overnight visitors in Q1 2022

In the first three months of 2022, hotels across Dubai achieved average occupancy levels of 82 per cent

Dubai

ATM 2022: Dubai receives 630,000 health tourists in 2021

As many as 55 per cent of the international health tourists were men, while 45 per cent were women

UAE’s flydubai to launch services to Pisa in June

Flydubai, which is the first carrier in the UAE to operate direct flights to the Italian city, is also resuming services to Catania in June

Vaccinated and unvaccinated UAE residents can now visit Israel

Travellers from the UAE will still have to present a negative PCR test taken before departure and after arriving in Israel

Dubai’s Emirates to commence daily service to Tel Aviv in June

The first flight taking off from Dubai on June 23 will operate as EK931

Trojena NEOM

Trojena: All you need to know about Saudi’s new mega tourism project

Trojena which will include the GCC first outdoor ski resort is expected to create more than 10,000 jobs and add SAR3bn to the kingdom’s GDP by 2030

Colombo sri lanka

UAE’s Emirates signs MoU with Sri Lanka Tourism

Since Sri Lanka re-opened to international tourists in February 2021, Emirates has carried more than 80,000 passengers to Colombo

Tourism airport

Special report: The power of the GCC as a source market for global tourism

The size and monetary value of the outbound GCC tourism market were never in question – but what are its challenges, opportunities and key growth drivers in the foreseeable future?

Dubai’s Emirates signs agreement with Tourism Authority of Thailand

The carrier will develop initiatives to boost tourism to the kingdom by showcasing it to customers across its network

Getty Images

Dubai’s travel platform Wego to acquire Cleartrip’s Middle East business

Travel bookings worth $2bn were generated by the combined businesses in 2019 pre-Covid and the company expects to return to this rate by the end of 2022

VisitBritain launches GBP10m global tourism campaign in Dubai

The campaign aims to drive inbound tourism, as Britain gears up for a year of landmark events

Dubai received 7.28 million overnight visitors in 2021

Hotels in the emirate recorded average occupancy levels of 67 per cent last year

Travel and tourism contribution to global GDP could reach $8.6 trillion in 2022: WTTC

The global tourism body says the sector’s contribution to the global economy could reach almost pre-pandemic levels this year

Saudi’s Tourism Development Fund partners with Al Nahla Group to launch $80m destination

The project will feature upscale accommodation with more than 150 keys

Fintech platform PayBy partners with Asfartrip.com

The launch of PayBy payment solutions on online travel platform Asfartrip is a step towards making cashless travel more inclusive

DCT Abu Dhabi signs MoU with fintech platform PayBy

The secure platform will be used across hospitality and tourism establishments

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Arabian Travel Market announces new dates for 2022 edition in Dubai

It will now be held from May 9-12, 2022, at the Dubai World Trade Centre

Abu Dhabi introduces Dhs1,000 cap for tourism business licences

The revised fee structure is applicable to tourism business licences starting this month

Abu Dhabi updates travel green list, number of destinations cut from 95 to 73

Mauritius, Morocco, New Zealand and Seychelles are among those excluded on the list

Video: Sheikh Mohammed launches UAE’s winter tourism campaign

Running from December 15 until the end of January 2022, the campaign will highlight the diversity of the UAE’s touristic and recreational attractions

Dubai welcomes 4.88 million tourists between Jan-Oct 2021

A total of 9.4 million room nights were booked during the first 10 months of the year

Abu Dhabi’s ADNEC acquires Etihad Holidays

ADNEC’s tourism promotion business – Tourism 365 – will operate Etihad Holidays

Revealed: Winners at the 2021 Gulf Business Awards

The awards lauded luminaries from across the region’s business ecosystem

Bahrain aims to attract 14.1 million tourists by 2026 as part of new strategy

The strategy seeks to increase the contribution of tourism to Bahrain’s GDP to reach 11.4 per cent in 2026