TAN Oct-Nov 2012

October - November 2012 No.03 www.travel-arabia.com

O n l i n e C i r c u l a t i o n : 1 7 , 3 8 1 r e a d e r t h r u e - m a i l b u r s t s a n d s o c i a l m e d i a g r o u p sO n l i n e C i r c u l a t i o n : 1 7 , 3 8 1 r e a d e r t h r u e - m a i l b u r s t s a n d s o c i a l m e d i a g r o u p s

British Airways is currently in the thick of a multi-billion pound improvement project aimed at enabling the airline to get a bigger slice of air travel market. (Story on page19)

Story on page 10

WTM Tackles Travel barriersCites visa rigmarole as impediment

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w w w . t r a v e l - a r a b i a . c o m

OUR WORD

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Publisher-CEO Hekmat el Zein

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NUMBERS SPEAK

INDUSTRY QUIZ

ExclusivEsThis year’s World Travel Market offers an opportune time for govern-ments to go back to their respective visa policies in view of reformatting the template to ease restrictions on travel.

This, considering the tourism industry’s economic impact on their economies.

Mr. Taleb Rifai, UNWTO Secretary-General, couldn’t have put it more aptly when he said that “while important steps have been taken over the past few years to facilitate travel, millions of people continue to face unnecessary barriers to travel such as overly complicated and expensive visa processes.”

“These obstacles,” he further stressed, “are not just barriers to travel; they are barriers to economic growth at a time when we need it most.”

Putting this in perspective, it’s high time to stir action among national governments to enact measures easing these restrictions, which is exactly what WTM is doing.

This year’s WTM will convene a special body of tourism ministers that will draw a roadmap that will reduce visa constraints, simplify entry pro-cesses and develop policies improving connectivity across borders.

It’s a step toward the right direction.“The Ministers’ Summit is our chance to push ahead with the necessary

travel facilitation measures that will allow tourism to continue generating jobs and prosperity worldwide,” Mr. Rifai said.

It’s the much needed impetus for change and one can only hope that governments respond accordingly to this initiative.

1) Name at least two hotels that have recently opened in Doha. 2) How many years has Etihad been flying Beirut?3) Hotel Al Khozama, a regular fixture along Olaya Road in Riyadh, KSA is how many years old?

CLUE: The answers are all in this edition of TAN.Email your best guess at [email protected]

New Hotel Al Khozama to be built

Hotel Al Khozama, a regular fixture along Olaya Road in Ri-yadh, KSA for the past 35 years will be closed and replaced with a new one having the same name, according to Erich Steinbock, Rosewood Hotels regional vice president and managing director overseeing Al Khozama’s opera-tions.

“We will be building a whole new hotel to replace Al Khoza-ma,” Steinbock told TAN. He said it makes more sense constructing a new hotel than renovating the old one.

Al Khozama which means “sweet desert flower,” has 187 ac-commodations. Steinbock said the new building, the construction of which will start towards the end of this year, will have a contempo-rary appeal when it opens around the first half of 2014. He said the old building will be levelled once the new building has been com-pleted which will be right next door in the Al Khozama Center. No definite cost estimate was pro-vided.

Hotel Al Khozama is adjacent to the 267-meter high Al Faisaliah Tower, another Rosewood Hotel that Steinbock also oversees.

Erich Steinbock

Top destinations in the Middle East. There were over 60 million tourists to the Middle East per recent statistics.

14.05million

1.52 million

2.17 million

1.66 million

7.43million

10.85million

Egypt

Saudi Arabia

UAE

Lebanon

Qatar

Oman

Anantara, a high-end hotel brand also known for its themed resorts, recently opened its first hotel in China—the Anantara Sanya Resort & Spa.

Located on the southern-most island-city of China, Sanya is fast emerging as a popular tourist destination because of its unspoiled serene beauty. Several major international hotel chains

have started looking to the island to open resorts.

“We are pleased to be expand-ing in China. Sanya island is a very rapidly expanding destination,” said Michael Marshall, Anantara senior vice president for com-mercial operations.

The new resort has 19 Premier rooms, 19 Premier Ocean View rooms, 51 Deluxe Ocean View rooms, 8 suites, a royal suite, 21 different pool villas and three spa suites.

In the Middle East, Marshall said nine hotel projects are cur-rently in the pipeline. He also said Anantara is scheduled to open a hotel in Mauritius this year, one in Schezwan China and another one in Bali, Indonesia.

Anantara Hotels, Resorts & Spas is a luxury resort and spa operator based in Bangkok, Thai-land with a current portfolio of 14 resorts across Asia Pacific and the Middle East.

The company is part of Mi-nor international which for itself has a portfolio of high-end ho-tel brands like Four Seasons and Marriot Resort & Spa.

Anantara is unique in that pi-oneered experience-based travel as opposed opulent travel.

Anantara opens first hotel in China

Michael Marshall

‘We are pleased to be expanding there.’—Michael Marshall, Anantara senior vice president for commercial operations.

C O N T E N T S

EXCLUSIVES 02

COVER STORY 10

ONE ON ONE 12

TRAV-TECH 18

BUSINESS TALKS 19

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India’s tourism ministry has set a goal to in-crease the country’s share in international tour-ism arrivals from .6 percent to one percent by 2016 and would need approximately 430,000 new rooms to meet this, according to Sultan Ahmed, Indian Tourism Minister.

Ahmed noted that foreign tourist arrivals to India have witnessed a steady increase over the years, reaching 6.29 million in 2011, a spurt of a whopping 8.9% increase over 5.78 million tourist arrivals in 2010.

Till March 2012, the Foreign Tourist Arrivals (FTAs) in India stands at 1.98 million. The For-eign Exchange Earnings (FEE) till March 2012 stands at US$ 4,969 million

Meantime, Ahmed said there has been a con-sistent and positive growth of FTA figures from the Middle East region to India over the last two to three years with the 2010 having registered an overall growth of around 17 percent over the pre-vious year. Some of the countries, particularly, UAE, Saudi Arabia, Oman, Yemen and Turkey have registered positive growth and are emerging as major tourism generating markets for India from this region.

India needs 430,000 more hotel rooms to meet target

Sheikh Muhammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Ruler of Dubai (3rd, left) with leaders of the local Indian community during a recent event.

Dusit International has taken steps to further develop its brand, expanding its sales and devel-opment offices in Hong Kong, Shanghai, Middle East, UK and Germany, and launching hotel

projects across the globe, a num-ber of which are under negotia-tion in Saudi Arabia, Qatar, India and China, according to Cath-erine McNabb, vice president for sales and marketing.

“The company is undertak-ing major growth,” McNabb told Travel Arabia News, adding that Dusit International has embarked on a “new direction” as it focuses on development in the Middle East and India. “Projects are un-der negotiation in Saudi Arabia, India and China. The new Dusit Devarana, New Delhi, India will open in Q4, as will Dusit Thani Abu Dhabi, and two properties will open in Hainan, China in early 2013.”

Dusit International undergoes major growth

Catherine McNabb

Oliver J. Key

Abu Dhabi gets butler service

Abu Dhabi now has another world class— a private butler ser-

vice by St. Regis Hotel which had a soft opening in September this year.

“St. Regis, as a brand, is re-nowned for its butler service. We offer our guests a private butler. The service level is among the best in the world,” said Oliver J. Key, general manager.

Envisioned to be the new busi-ness and social hub of the city, St. Regis features 283 rooms and suites from its 33rd to 49th floors.

The St. Regis Butler Service has been the hotel’s hallmark for over 100 years.

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100 operational hotels by 2015Millennium & Copthorne’s MENA president bares plan

Millennium & Copthorne MENA is on track with its target to have 100 hotels operating by 2015, Ali Hamad Lakhraim Alzaa-bi, president and CEO, told Travel Arabia News.

“We are on track in our 100-hotel target for 2015—op-erational and signed. We see our growth coming from Saudi Ara-bia and UAE. We also see growth coming from a very important market for us which we have initi-ated: Turkey,” Alzaabi said.

Likewise Alzaabi said Millen-nium & Copthorne MENA is go-ing to sub-Saharan Africa as well as India. He said the company has managed to also add more hotels to its expansion.

“We are focusing on Saudi Arabia in a big way. We already have 10 hotels up and coming there. We are expanding also in South Africa to start our African move. We are going now to Libya for a massive number of hotels under discussion,” Alzaabi said.

Moreover, Alzaabi said focus is

also on the Commonwealth of In-dependent States (former USSR) where projects have been signed in Tajikistan and Azerbaijan. “We have more hotels coming in CIS, which we are very excited about. We are due to announce soon,” he said.

“We are in the right direction. We are expanding as we go.”

Meantime, Alzaabi said inter-Gulf tourism has been playing a key role in keeping UAE’s visitor industry abreast, noting that the country which has “everything from beaches to shopping malls” is also a safe destination.

“Families in GCC prefer to be in Dubai than in London, Paris, Malaysia, Singapore, Thailand or the U.S. because first of all, it is next door, secondly it is safe and secure—people can leave their families and go back to finish a meeting or something without be-ing worried. There are also more activities to do here for their kids and families than in any other places,” he said.

‘We are on track.’ – Ali Hamad Lakhraim Alzaabi

ExclusivEs

Jumeirah Group looks to Saudi Arabia for new hotels

Apparently capitalizing on the Saudi Arabia’s push to develop the country’s tourism industry, a top official of Jumeirah Group, a Dubai-based international hotel chain owned by the Dubai gov-ernment, told Travel Arabia News the hospitality company is looking at opening hotels there.

“Saudi Arabia is an important market to us. We’ve seen huge growth in incoming tourists from Saudi Arabia to Dubai in 2011 and 2012. We are exploring possibili-ties of opening across all (major)

cities in Saudi Arabia,” Marwan Al Ali, Jumeirah Group senior vice president for Middle East, Africa and South Asia operations said.

Al Ali at the same time said Jumeirah Group will open a hotel in Kuwait later this year even as the company looks to China and India.

“We are very much concen-trating on the China and India markets. We have signed for an-other hotel in Guangzhou, China. India, we are exploring possibili-ties. We are very close to signing a

deal. India is a growing market. It is also a source market for Dubai,” he said.

Saudi Commission for Tour-ism and Antiquities (SCTA) has updated its comprehensive overall strategy for the development of national tourism and approved an operational plan for the next three years. Part of the master plan is the ongoing construction of the kilometer-high Kingdom Tower in Jeddah, the centrepiece attraction which is set to become the world’s tallest building upon completion in 2017. The structure, built at an initial cost of US$1.23 billion, is the highlight of a US$20-billion development project entitled, “Kingdom City” along the Red Sea.

Jumeirah Group’s portfolio in-cludes the Burj Al Arab, Jumeirah Emirates Towers, Jumeirah Beach Hotel, Madinat Jumeirah, Jumei-rah Zabeel Saray in Dubai and Jumeirah at Etihad Towers in Abu Dhabi.

Jumeriah hotels abroad in-clude Jumeirah Dhevanafushi and Jumeirah Vittaveli in Mal-dives, Jumeirah Himalayas Hotel in Shanghai, Jumeirah Frankfurt in Germany, Jumeirah Grand Hotel Via Veneto in Rome, Pera Palace Hotel, Jumeirah in Istan-bul, Jumeirah Carlton Tower and Jumeirah Lowndes Hotel in Lon-don and Jumeirah Essex House in New York.

Marwan Al Ali

Gaztec Tourism & Travel is set to go full steam next year with plans to expand to the CIS and in-crease its client base by 5,000, ac-cording to Abdul Rehman Algaz, owner.

“As we have started our opera-tions in full strength this year, we would like to target a minimum of 5,000 passengers in inbound and outbound travelers,” Algaz told Travel Arabia News.

Algaz said travellers from Sau-di Arabia and Qatar comprise the bulk of the company’s customers, followed by those from India and

China.“We are also expecting the

numbers to increase from the CIS countries,” he said.

Meantime, Algaz said the trend for Middle East travellers is such that Turkey and Oman “seem to be the favorite for short term vaca-tions.”

“The U.S and Europe have also always been keen attractions to all travellers from the Middle East mostly the expats which has been slightly diverted from Fareast des-tinations,” Algaz said.

Gaztec Tourism & Travel was

added under the Gaztec Group of Companies in 2008, with the sole purpose of adding more excit-ing opportunities to the world of travel and tourism in the Middle East by offering all travel-related services in one roof.

The company handles big in-bound and outbound groups. It also works in the area of bringing delegates attending various major public and private events in the country.

“Whatever are the require-ments our dedicated team of pro-fessionals can handle any event

smoothly,” Algaz said.“We want to be highly active

in terms of presence in the market and also attend all travel exhibi-tions around the region to further develop and strengthen our busi-ness and provide best travel deals to our clients.

GTT is a full service travel agency providing personalized travel and travel-related services to all destinations. It has a team of specialists and experienced staff who can organize competitive pricing for individual travelers and groups of all sizes.

The company also has special consolidated airfares on almost all airlines, as well as special contracts with hotels and our operators worldwide.

Abdul Rehman Algaz

Gaztec Tourism & Travel goes full steam

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Eastern Mangroves Hotel &

Spa by Anantara, which opened on

June 19, 2012, is a unique destina-

tion, Michel Koopman, Anantara

operations director for Middle

East, matter-of-factly told Travel Arabia News.

And how might that be?“We are not people who try to

run a hotel full of policies and pro-cedures. We want to let the people tell the story,” Koopman said. “We are not coming up with buy-one-get-one- free deals. It’s very not Abu Dhabi-correct.”

The five-level hotel comprises 222 rooms and features unique Arabian design elements in its archways, mosaics and timber as well as subtle touches of 18-carat gold. Rooms are spacious, from the entry-level Deluxe Balcony rooms to the Royal Mangroves Residence – the largest suite in the UAE with up to ten en-suite bedrooms.

The most opulent accommo-dation at the hotel is the Royal Mangroves Residence, which is ideal for dignitaries and VIPs. Of-fering a lavish but residential feel, the size of the Royal Mangroves Residence can be adapted depend-ing on guest requirements with options for three, seven or ten en-suite bedrooms and balconies featured throughout. The suite also comes equipped with its own 10-metre rooftop swimming pool with swim-up pool bar, private gym and its own dedicated en-trance. Guests at the Royal Man-groves Residence will also have ac-cess to a limousine service, private chef, butler and a massage and beauty therapist during their stay.

Eastern Mangroves official tells it as it is:‘We are not coming up with buy-one-get-one- free deals. It’s very not Abu Dhabi-correct.’

Michel Koopman

In apparent efforts to stay abreast of the information tech-nology age, Planet Group, a lead-ing travel management company, has started to further improve on its online registration system for tour operators and as well come up with a version that consumers can find to be user-friendly.

Planet Group’s Planet Trav-

els & Tours, recently launched its upgraded business-to-business (B2B) online reservation, offering XML connectivity for key custom-ers. Before the bookings for 2012-2012 start coming, Planet will also offer a secure payment gateway for credit card transactions which will allow agents to book online with an instant confirmation. “The B2B online reservation system will give individuals and companies con-venient and immediate access to the latest rate and availability with login and password access,” said George Moussa, chairman.

He added that since all rates and availability can be viewed at any time anywhere by a travel agent or by corporate clients, “they can make bookings on real time basis with instant email informa-tion.”

“The system is time and cost-efficient.”

George Moussa

Planet Group launches online one-stop instant booking system

Fraser suites expands

Two years after it opened on Sheikh Zayed Road, Fraser Suites is now in the thick of expansion projects, two of which are slated to open late next year, with other proposals currently under review elsewhere in the region, according to David Brown, general manager.

“We have been very active in working with project developers with a view to identifying more sites in the UAE as well,” Brown told Travel Arabia News.

Fraser Suites Dubai on Sheikh Zayed Road was the company’s first and only branch in the UAE. Fraser Suites is part of Frasers Hospitality, which operates ser-viced apartments and luxury resi-dences worldwide from Singapore to London and Istanbul. It’s port-folio in the Middle East includes Bahrain and Doha which have also just opened in the past few years.

Meantime Brown said Fraser Suites Dubai, doing a 91-percent occupancy in the first quarter of the year which, according to him,

was about 16 percent increase over the same period last year.

Twenty percent of Fraser Suites Dubai’s market were from Saudi Arabia. Other strong markets, Brown said, include U.K., U.S.A., western European countries and southeast Asia.

Longstayers—mostly busi-ness executives and highly-skilled professionals sent by their home-base to oversee projects in the region—account for 50 percent of Fraser Suites Dubai’s market, the rest coming from transients or those who stay for from one to seven nights, not to mention those staying from seven to 28 nights—mostly people needing temporary accommodations till they get per-manent lodging.

Brown said in some cases “people prefer to stay with us because of the lifestyle solutions that we provide.”

Brown explained that such is the case for Fraser Suites because “we work with multinational cor-porations.

“Frasers is a provider of 80 percent of Fortune 500 companies around the world so we got very, very strong global corporate pres-ence. We are able to leverage on that relationship in other coun-tries.”

He said this is “one of the strengths of the Frasers brand.

“Globally, we have that reach. We have that relationship in place. So, instead of bidding on one property, we bid on multiple properties to provide solutions to many, many top companies.”

David Brown

Untitled-1 1 10/18/2012 11:01:04 AM

Dubai, over the years, has de-veloped into a “truly hotel metro-pole” such that “it is not good enough anymore to just have marble and gold in the lobby” to attract guests, said Klaus Ass-mann, general manager of the newest in the Jumeirah Group’s chain, the Jumeirah Creekside Hotel owned by Dubai Duty Free (DDF).

“Dubai is a completely differ-ent market today than it was 10 years ago. We can see how many hotels open every year, have opened over the last 10 years. Nowadays, you need to be very unique. Only if you’re unique and a trendsetter will you be able to survive the very competitive mar-ket here,” Assmann told Travel Arabia News.

Being “unique” and a “trend-setter,” he said, means “bringing something different to the mar-ket.”

“And that I think is where Jumeirah is actually good at.”

“Something different” in this case would be Jumeirah Creek-side Hotel as an art and lifestyle hotel, Assmann said.

The five-star luxury hotel—the first of its kind in Deira’s Al Garhoud side—has 482 works of art from 52 Arabic artists, and a curator, “the closest one can get into being a public space for con-temporary Middle East artists in the UAE or maybe the region,”

Assmann said. Assmann said Dubai Duty

Free, which owns the property, bought the art works.

There are leisure hotels for holiday makers and there are business hotels for Meetings, In-centives, Conventions and Exhi-bitions (MICE)—and now, Ass-mann said, Dubai has an art and lifestyle hotel in Jumeirah Creek-

side.“We are a very good hotel for

leisure, say on your weekend re-treat. We are very good hotel for ‘corporate’ because our rooms are really big and nice. We are very good on MICE because we have 27 meeting rooms and a ballroom that can accommodate 1,000 people standing up or 550 sitting down. We can do ‘meet and feed.’

“So it’s very difficult to say. Are we this? Are we that? If you ask me what we are, I will tell you we are an art and lifestyle hotel,” Assmann said.

The property, which had a soft opening in July this year, is ex-pected to go full steam in January next year as ongoing work at the clubhouse is completed, accord-ing to Assmann. “Occupancy has been good. Months per months the revenue is going up and up, as well as the occupancies,” he said.

For now, he said, Jumeirah Creekside Hotel offers 24-hour stays meaning there is no check-in and check-out time.

“Whenever you come, you stay 24 hours. So if you arrive here in the night or two in the morning, you won’t have to wait until your room is ready. You can check in right away,” Assmann said, noting that this will be on offer depend-ing on the property’s occupancy level.

“Of course if the hotel be-comes extremely successful and always have 88 to 90 percent oc-cupancy then probably it can’t do that anymore. But right now, that is the offering that we want to give into the market because it is just the right thing to do. People like to have that kind of service,” he said.

The property is comprised of two buildings: the completely new hotel building and a 21-year-old club building that is being renovated from the ground up, according to Assmann.

Jumeirah operates the prop-erty as a hotel management com-pany.

This is Assmann’s third post as general manager. He has been with Jumeirah Group for the past 10 years.

Jumeirah Creekside Hotel has 270 rooms and 22 suites, two sig-nature restaurants, two cafes, a rooftop bar and lobby lounge. It will also feature Akaru spa, The Aviation Club health club and ex-tensive conference and banquet-ing facilities. The hotel is located within the grounds of the Dubai Tennis Stadium, the award-win-ning Irish Village, as well as Cen-tury Village, featuring 14 infor-mal restaurants.

Assmann said Jumeirah Group will be holding roadshows in China in November; GCC in mid-November; Barcelona around the end of December and Cannes in early December.

DDF has posted US$1.14 bil-lion in sales for the year covering January to September, a 10-per-cent increase over the same pe-riod last year, which placed it on track for its US$1.64 billion year-end sales target, according to a DDF report.

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The Ritz-Carlton Abu Dha-bi, which is set to open three months from now, has project-ed a 65-percent occupancy rate for its first year of operation, Pep Lozano, the hotel’s general manager told TAN.

“We have very clear strategic plans. We have developed sales offices in different countries. We have a very ambitious plan,” Lozano said. He said The Ritz-Carlton, which features luxury hotels across the globe, is also “working closely with key mar-kets like the UK and Germany.

Broken down to segments, Lozano said 30 percent of their market will be coming from the emirate’s public sector; another 30 percent from private cor-

porations and 20 percent from leisure holidaymakers. He said they are also looking at hav-ing at least 20 percent of their guests from the wedding mar-ket.

The Ritz-Carlton Abu Dhabi eyes 65% occupancy in first year

Pep Lozano

ExclusivEsJumeirah Creekside Hotel turns leisure and MICE to art and lifestyle

Dubai will see a “very suc-cessful year” in 2013, said Mark Deere, Arjaan by Rotana general manager, citing a growth in oc-cupancy and average room rate brought about by more people coming to the city.

“We’re very positive,” Deere told Travel Arabia News. “We are expecting 2013 to be a very successful year. There should be a growth in both the occupancy and the average rate with the in-creased supply coming into the market being offset by more peo-ple coming into the city.”

He added that the trend so far in 2012 has been for more visitors from surrounding countries for both leisure and business. Deere said Arjaan By Rotana, which is in Dubai Media City, currently has “a year to date occupancy in the mid-80s compared to a slightly lower one last year.”

“Our core business is the GCC market. Sixty percent of our guests come from GCC. We are very popular within this sector as a result of our great location—close to the Palm Island and so easily accessible to both Abu Dhabi and Dubai—as well as our large rooms and great service.

“Whilst maintaining our fo-

cus on the needs and wants of this market, we are constantly striving to appeal to other markets also,” Deere said.

He said a Rotana Road Show is planned to be held in Kuwait and Qatar very soon.

Meantime, Deere said the property, though not tradition-ally a Meetings, Incentives, Con-ferences and Exhibitions (MICE) hotel, has been attracting people attending major events in city.

Further, he said, the hotel, with its six meeting rooms and a Skylight Hall which is ideal for exhibitions, weddings and din-ners for up to 220 people, “has been seeing more and more com-pany-organized meetings and seminars.”

Hotelier paints bright forecast for Dubai in 2013

Mark Deere

Being “unique” and a “trendsetter,” he said, means “bringing something different to the market.” “And that I think is where Jumeirah is actually good at.”

Klaus Assmann

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Dubai gets the Spanish flairMelia plans to have 5 GCC hotels in 3 years

Melia Hotels & Resorts, market leader in Spain’s resort and urban ho-tels which operates some 300 hotels in 27 countries, has landed in Dubai, opening its first hotel in the region and eyeing five more across GCC, according to Susanna Mander, vice president for marketing and brand development.

“Ties between Spain and the Ara-bians go back hundreds of years. We feel very much connected to the local culture,” said Mander when asked why Melia has decided to expand to the Middle East.

Also asked why Dubai and not

elsewhere, Mander replied: “We have to be here. Dubai is the centre of ev-erything. The tallest, the grandest, the biggest. Dubai is very international. It’s the hub.

“We are looking also to expand to Qatar, Bahrain and Kuwait. Right now, we think Dubai is the place. If you’re already here, it is easier (to ex-pand elsewhere in the region).”

Melia Hotel in Bur Dubai opened on April 29, 2012.

“We plan to have five hotels in the GCC in the next three years,” Mander said, adding that the company moved to open its first Middle East hotel in

Bur Dubai because the place is “al-ready accepted in the region histori-cally.

“It’s really where Dubai was born.”Mander said the company expects

“very high” occupancy, around 80 per-cent by yearend, she said. “We put the Spanish flair.”

Spain was part of the Iberian Pen-insula, which was also composed of Portugal and Andorra, as well as the British Overseas Territory of Gibral-tar. In 711 AD, North African Muslims invaded the peninsula and placed it under Islamic rule from the 8th to the 15th centuries.

Susanna Mander

Golden Tulip Al Barsha sees ‘very high demand’ in second half 2013

Golden Tulip Al Barsha’s gen-eral manager is optimistic the second half of 2013 will bring in more visitors owing to the suc-cessful season that tour opera-tors and agencies had this year.

“We are expecting a very high

demand during the next half of 2013 due to the success of the last season. Tour operators and travel agencies who had a suc-cessful season in UAE this year will promote this destination more in the next winter…to achieve more success,” Mr. Tarek Lotfy, who also is Golden Tulip’s regional revenue

He added, “We can see in the market, a new airline destination coming to Dubai which is ex-pected to increase next winter’s season between 30%-50% more than last winter’s arrivals.”

Golden Tulip Al Barsha is a 125-room hotel in the upcoming Al Barsha area of Dubai, just off the Sheikh Zayed road and a few steps from the famed Mall of the Emirates.

Xclusive Group of Hotels enjoy 82% occupancy, opens new property

Xclusive Hotel Apartment, an upmarket Bur Dubai hotel apart-ment, has been enjoying “quite reasonable occupancy rates of 82 percent,” said Mr. Nishchay Dheer, Xclusive Group of Hotels (XCG) general manager for op-erations and projects.

“This year has been quite en-couraging and we are currently achieving quite reasonable oc-cupancy rates of percent,” Mr. Dheer told Travel Arabia News. “Definitely, our focus in 2013 is to achieve better and higher rate of occupancy in comparison to 2012,” he added.

The high occupancy rate re-flects on, among other things, travellers’ preference for hotel apartments instead of hotels, es-

pecially those staying in the city for the long haul.

“I think hotel apartments make travellers feel they are at home due to the facilities like equipped kitchen, and the space,” Mr. Dheer said.

Moreover, he said, Xclusive Hotel Apartment has a “guest-oriented,” multilingual team providing customers with per-sonalized service. This, he said, “has helped us achieve repeat business.”

XCG recently opened Xclu-sive Maples Hotel Apartment, a 91-key property.

Xclusive Maples is equipped with modern health club facili-ties and a multi-cuisine café.

Mr. Dheer said the company

is looking to open more hotels. “Xclusive Hospitality is eagerly looking forward to expand in various emirates of UAE. We are definitely looking forward to add more properties in the group be-fore the end of 2013,” he said.

Tarek Lotfy Nishchay Dheer

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Ritz-Carlton to open 25 hotelsExclusivEs

The Ritz-Carlton, a luxury hotel and resort chain which al-ready has 77 properties across major cities in 25 countries, will open 25 more in the next three years, Bob Kharazmi, global of-ficer for operations, told Travel Arabia News.

“Majority of them will be in Asia while a good number will be in the Middle East,” he said, adding that in the last two years, 10 Ritz-Carlton hotels have also been opened.

The 25 new hotels are seen to create some 10,000 new jobs to be added to Ritz-Carlton’s cur-rent 40,000 employees, Kharazmi said.

Among the hotels that have

just recently opened is the Ritz-Carlton Riyadh in the AlHada area along Mekkah Road—a sprawling 52 hectares of pala-tial accommodation for royalties, visiting dignitaries and heads of state.

The Ritz-Carlton Riyadh was inline with the company’s thrust towards localization, said Kharaz-mi. “We listen to our guests and so…the hotel was built to reflect the local design,” he said.

Ritz-Carlton Riyadh has 49 lavish and exquisitely appointed two-bedroom Royal Suites and 50 one-bedroom, opulent Execu-tive Suites. It also has over 5,800 square meters (62,000 square feet) of conference space com-

bined, including two colossal

ballrooms in a separate wing.

Meantime, Kharazmi said

Ritz-Carlton has also consider-

ably invested in providing the

latest IT technology in its hotels

to befit today’s digital-savvy trav-

elers.

“We are using the digital

world to communicate with our

customers. There will be a time

when our guests will dining and

using their mobile devices to

order,” he said, adding that Asia

by far has the most digital-savvy

customers.

Globally, around 20 percent

of Ritz-Carlton bookings are

done online, Kharazmi said.

Bob Kharazmi

‘Majority of them will be in Asia while a good number will be in the Middle East.’

MEETMEMIDEAST_BTAEAWADOUTLINE.indd 1 4/18/12 1:51 PM

Thai Smile seen to further boost tourism

Thai Smile, a low-cost airline by Thai Airways International (THAI) which started operations in July this year, is expected to further boost the inflow of tour-ists into the country’s numerous travel destinations as it fills in the gap between a huge amount of inbound international flights and not as many connecting do-mestic flights.

“The demand for air travel to domestic Thailand is huge due to the large inflow of tourists, the country is vast with different tourist destinations,” Somchai Sukkhasantikul

Thai Airways general man-ager for the U.A.E and Middle East told Travel Arabia News.

The plan to create Thai Smile

was announced by the Thai Air-ways board on May 20, 2011.

The airline flies to Bangkok, Chiang Mai, Krabu, Phuket and Surat Thani, as well as to the

Macau International Airport. It has a current fleet of four Airbus A320-200 aircraft with plans to expand to 11 by 2015.

Plane fare for a Thai Smile flight include seat selection and check in counter service with no additional charge, on-board snacks and drinks, and baggage allowance of 20 kg in line with Thai Airways. Passengers also enjoy the Royal Orchid Plus mileage points system that Thai Airways has.

THAI helps increase visitor arrivals to Thailand through the Tourism Authority of Thailand (TAT). “We in the Middle East, as partners, always work closely with TAT, having frequent joint campaigns, promotions, mar-keting and sales activities to enhance the visibility in the re-gion,” Sukkhasantikul said.

THAI operates daily from Dubai to Bangkok. The airline also flies the Muscat-Bangkok route thrice weekly.

The Dubai-Bangkok flight recorded a healthy cabin factor which is about an 82-percent mark during the first half of 2012, according to Sukkhasanti-kul, adding that THAI operates Airbus A330 to Dubai with 35 business and 263 economy class seats with advanced in-flight en-tertainment.

Somchai Sukkhasantikul

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The Rotana chain of hotels is

scheduled to open the 428-room,

five-star Al Ghurair Rayhaan ho-

tel, and the 192-room deluxe Al

Ghurair Arjaan hotel apartments

by end-December this year, ac-

cording to Mark McCarthy, the two properties’ general manager.

Both properties are linked directly to a newly-expanded mall, the Al Ghurair Center, and, as well, located right in front of a Metro station.

“This is going to be land-mark,” McCarthy said.

Two highlights of the 20-sto-rey Al Ghurair Rayhaan Hotel’s opening are the Zen the Spa and Shayan—both will be introduced for the first time in Dubai. More-over, Shayan is the Rotana hotel chain’s first Iranian restaurant.

Other features of the hotel are the Al Khor Ballroom, which can accommodate up to 210 people for special occasions or business functions, and six Murjan meet-ing rooms, which are equipped with state-of-the-art facilities.

The hotel will introduce spe-cial opening rates starting from AED 625 a night that also covers breakfast, internet and a 20-per-cent discount on all treatments at Zen the Spa.

Likewise, the hotel will be launching a MICE promotional

package of AED 699 a room per

night for a minimum booking of

eight rooms. This will include

breakfast, complimentary wifi, a

meeting room, two coffee breaks, an LCD projector and a 20-per-cent discount on all Zen the Spa treatments.

The hotel has four food and beverage outlets. Three of them are in the lobby—Liwan, the international all-day dining restaurant which has a bakery, tandoori ovens and lava stone grills; Yasmine Lobby Lounge, and Shayyan Persian restaurant. The fourth outlet, Buzz, is on the ground floor of the mall.

Al Ghurair Rayhaan and the mall are connected in such a way that the latter is on the first two floors of the building housing the hotel. This makes it easy for guests to tend to their shopping needs as they only have to take a lift from the lobby of the hotel to go down to the mall.

McCarthy said filling up the rooms will not be so much of a challenge because the Rotana chain can share rooms. For ex-ample, Al Bustan Rotana, which is across from Dubai Airport

Terminal 3 and has large busi-ness venues, can share guests with Al Ghurair Rayhaan when there are big events.

Furthermore, he said Al Murooj Rotana can now ac-cept a bigger group because Al Ghurair Rayhaan can provide the rooms.

Al Murooj Rotana, which is on Sheikh Zayed Road, has a grand ballroom that can accom-modate 1,000 people. It also has five smaller ballrooms.

Rotana officials have gone the rounds among business execu-tives to promote the property.

“We have done three blitzes now, so we have a databank of close to 2,000 that we’re in touch with. I think we are going to be very, very popular the minute we open our doors because every-body will want to check out the new hotel,” McCarthy said.

The two properties are ex-pected to go full swing by Janu-ary next year.

Two new Rotana properties seen to make Deira livelier ‘This is going to be a landmark.’ —Mark Mccarthy, GM

To be introduced for the first time in Dubai with the openings are Rotana’s Zen the Spa, as well as the hotel chain’s first Iranian restaurant, Shayan.

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covErstory

WTM tackles travel barriersCites visa rigmarole as impediment

In an apparent effort to stir action among national gov-ernments to enact measures easing restrictions on the

right to travel, this year’s World Travel Market will convene a special body of tourism minis-ters that would draw a roadmap that would, at the least, reduce visa constraints, simplify entry processes and develop policies improving connectivity across borders.

“While important steps have been taken over the past few years to facilitate travel, millions of people continue to face un-

necessary barriers to travel such as overly complicated and expen-sive visa processes,” said UNWTO Secretary-General Taleb Rifai.

“These obstacles are not just barriers to travel; they are barri-ers to economic growth at a time

when we need it most,” he added, citing a UNWTO and WTTC re-search which showed that facili-tating visas among the G20 coun-tries would create an additional five million jobs by 2015.

“The Ministers’ Summit is our chance to push ahead with the necessary travel facilitation measures that will allow tourism to continue generating jobs and prosperity worldwide,” he said.

Confirmed panelists include ministers of Azerbaijan, Bahrain, Indonesia, Mexico, South Africa and the United Kingdom as well as the CEO of the World Travel & Tourism Council (WTTC) and the chairman of the executive board of travel group TUI. Join-ing them in the debate will be 100 tourism ministers from around the world.

The tourism ministers will be meeting at the annual UNWTO and World Travel Market (WTM) Ministers’ Summit with discus-sions taking off from the historic G20 Leaders’ Declaration, which

commits to work on “travel fa-cilitation initiatives in support of job creation, quality work, pover-ty reduction and global growth.”

The summit will be held un-der the theme, “Open Borders and Open Skies: Breaking Bar-riers to Travel,” and will seek to shed light on how countries can work together to ease entry pro-cedures for tourists as a means to stimulate economic growth and create jobs.

Fiona Jeffery, Reed Travel

Exhibitions (RTE) chairman for WTM, noted that the summit “has played a central role in the past six years in bringing private and public sector together to dis-cuss the key issues of the global sector.”

“This year will be no different with some leaders speakers from both ministers and industry to debate the key issues and plot a path for the future.”

The international tourism event was organized by RTE.

‘these obstacles are not just barriers to travel; they are barriers to economic growth at a time when we need it most.’ —UNWTO Secretary-General Taleb Rifai

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157 new WTM exhibitors this yearThe 2012 World Travel Mar-

ket has 157 new exhibitors, or-ganizers said.

Tourism boards, technology companies, hotel chains, attrac-tions and tour operators are all hosting their own stands for the first time from Nov. 5-8, 2012 at ExCeL - London.

Europe leads the way in new exhibitors with 41 exhibitors making their début as Main Stand Holders. They include tourism boards and offices from as far apart as San Marino, Lille and Belarus – as well as the Eco-nomic Development Ministry of the Republic of Komi, in North Western Russia. Hoteliers taking their first exhibition stands in-clude Palladium Hotel Group of Spain, and Germany’s Steigen-berger Hotels.

Technology and Online Trav-el region has the second highest number of new exhibitors, with 36 technology companies taking their own stands. The continued growth in the technology section reflects the burgeoning impor-tance of hi-tech and web devel-opments in travel. Companies making their débuts come from a wide range of disciplines, and include well-known names such as online travel agency Travel Re-public and e-learning specialist Online Travel Training. Software firms are represented by the likes of Hotelogix and Intuitive, while the rise of social media and mo-bile is reflected in the appearance of specialists such as Revinate and Voiamo Group. Other sup-pliers to the sector exhibiting for the first time include payment firm Worldpay and technology services company Wizie.

The Global Village region will see 18 exhibitors from all parts of the industry appearing for the first time, representing the unrivalled diversity of sup-pliers at World Travel Market. They include the K+K boutique hotels chain, wholesaler Adonis, Autorent Car Rental and Chic Outlet Shopping in Europe.

Meanwhile, Asia offers a to-tal of 13 first-time exhibitors at this year’s World Travel Market, which demonstrates the growth in China’s travel industry – such as China Southern Airlines – and the emergence of newer destina-tions such as Vietnam, Uzbeki-stan and Kyrgyzstan, represented by the likes of Victoria Vietnam Group, Saigontourist, Uzbek-tourism and the Kyrgyz Associa-tion of Tour Operators.

India has its own dedicated stand-alone region at WTM 2012, with 12 new exhibitors in-cluding; Brys Hotels, Inbound

Tour Operator Council (ITOC) - West Ben-gal, hotel company ITC Limited and Odisha Tourism.

The UK also has 12 exhibitors to make their first appearance, hoping to capitalise on an unprecedented year for the country af-ter the Diamond Jubilee and Olympics. New exhibitors include household names such as English Heritage and the National Trust, plus London attractions such as The View From the Shard and Ripley’s Believe It Or Not.

A further ten new exhibitors will attend

the show in the Africa region highlighting the continued development of African tour-ism, especially as the continent emerges from last year’s Arab Spring. Those making their débuts include the Libyan Export Promotion Center and Airkenya Express.

The Americas and Caribbean will welcome eight new exhibitors to the event including Cuba Direct, Cuba Select Travel, Harlequin Hotels and Resorts, the Falkland Islands Tourist Board and Discover Ecuador.

The Middle East welcomes seven new

main stand holders including Iraqi Tourism Board and Marta Consulting.

Reed Travel Exhibitions Director World Travel Market Simon Press said: “World Trav-el Market is delighted to welcome 157 new ex-hibitors for WTM 2012. The number of new exhibitors at this year’s event demonstrates the importance of WTM for generating busi-ness for exhibitors. WTM 2011 generated a massive £1,653 million of travel industry contracts with even more business expected to be conducted in at WTM 2012.”

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Travel Arabia News: Ramada Hotel & Suites Ajman is organiz-ing a fashion show for persons with disabilities to be held Nov. 3, 2012. Could you tell us more about this?

Iftikhar Hamdani: The Ajman Club for the Disabled approached for financial support. I told them, ‘Look, I can give you AED5,000. But that won’t be enough. What if we do an event? We can take the lead. We will contact people.’ So, we approached 16 companies;

eight confirmed, including Pepsi who agreed to be main sponsor, and gave AED15,000. Our target was AED50,000 and we reached that before deadline.

TAN: What’s the update on your Zero Landfill project?

IH: Three companies have started to follow suit. Cove Rotana has bought its own decomposing machine, as well as Emirates Air-lines and Abu Dhabi Agricultural Department.

TAN: How is your property doing MICE-wise?

IH: We have the largest prop-erty in Ajman. We have 400 rooms and well-equipped with the prop-er facilities. We have very big con-ference room. We have the biggest hall—Majestic that can accommo-date 1,000 pax.

This hotel is very popular in terms of occupancy. Our Revpar was AED200-plus during this pre-vious summer.

TAN: Road shows?

IH: That is what I need to re-quest to our tourism board here in Ajman: play a role to get us in road shows at the emerging mar-kets. I am asking the board to take the initiative to start this because it’s almost a year since the board was established. Now is really the time where we need to start some-thing.

I think the China market is very important for a road show. This is a new emerging market. India, too, and the GCC.

Also, there are three new prop-erties to open—Fairmont, the Aj-man Palace and Bab Al Bahar.

Like Dubai, we need to do it as a government action because the board has the legal authority to bring all the hotels together and promote Ajman as a destination. I think it’s time to go together to promote our destination. Ajman is not anymore like it was.

TAN: How do you see Ajman come 2013?

IH: I think Ajman is really

getting its own business especially with these three new big properties. We will also have a better ability in the market with the establishment of the Ajman Tourism Board.

I believe that in 2013, the board will be very aggressive in selling the product, Ajman, as a destination.

TAN: Expansion.IH: We have plans to expand.

We have already added 60 rooms. We will be opening a spa facil-ity and a third food and beverage outlet. We are doing 60 percent profitability

The owner, R Hospitality, is interested in opening a new prop-erty. We will also be having a beach property here in Ajman. As R Hos-pitality, we are in the pipeline to get some hotel soon. The target area is Dubai

The most important thing is the hotels are really doing excellent and that gives us the confidence to go and manage other properties So any other hotel that will come and asked to be managed, we will do it.

How is The Address Dubai Marina different from other hotels ?

Travel Arabia News: Twenty-five years you’ve worked as an hotelier starting out as rooms manager in a career that has so far spanned half your life to cov-er five countries and eight hotels. How do you find your current post as general manager of The Address Dubai Marina? What is the appeal?

Antony Francis Treston: The Address Dubai Marina is a key hospitality asset in The Address Hotels + Resorts portfolio of Emaar Hospitality Group. Like all The Address hotels, the property is distinguished by three key char-acteristics – a unique location, su-perior service standards and our commitment to deliver tangible guest benefits. I find the responsi-bility of managing the hotel a true honour.

TAN: Is the property any different from the other hotels you’ve touched? If so, how?

AFT: I believe the key dif-ferential of The Address Dubai Marina are the values and opera-tional ethos it upholds. “Where Life Happens” defines the hotel’s philosophy—and a commitment to deliver tangible guest benefits means our valued clients are as-sured of a truly rewarding lifestyle experience. The hotel’s unique lo-cation in Dubai Marina is another added attraction.

There are very few hotels in

Dubai that have been able to bal-ance its outlook as a leisure-cum-business hotel, and The Address Dubai Marina has successfully carved its niche in both.

TAN: What are the chal-lenges? How are you addressing them?

AFT: All hotels in Dubai face the challenge of staying competi-tive given the strong growth in the number of hotel projects. We address this through our three-

pronged approach: One, offering our guests the advantage of being part of a vibrant neighbourhood in close proximity to a lifestyle mall—Dubai Marina Mall; two, the service standards we uphold; and three, ensuring that our guests receive tangible benefits in-stead of being provided standard hotel features that add little to the overall guest experience.

TAN: The Address Dubai Ma-rina is at the heart of what is now being hyped as the “New Dubai.” What’s in the hotel that’s not in other properties thereabouts?

AFT: With 200 luxurious rooms, five superb restaurants and lounges, a relaxing spa, spectacu-lar infinity pool and state-of-the-

art meeting and event facilities, the hotel ensures that guests are constantly refreshed and inspired.

The hotel has also demon-strated its excellence, winning a number of industry awards in-cluding “Dubai’s Leading Meet-ings & Conference Hotel” at World Travel Awards 2011, and the hotel’s spa being adjudged as the first runner-up for “Best Spa Design” at the Middle East Spa Awards 2011.

TAN: The hotel’s local appeal. Other properties have something they are popular for. What would it be for The Address Dubai Marina?

AFT: In addition to its creden-tials as a five-star premium hotel, The Address Dubai Marina has two aspects that are extremely popular. The first is its award-winning Spa, offering an assortment of treat-ments to ensure total relaxation of the body and mind.

The other is the extensive con-ference facilities at the hotel. The 900-square-metre Constellation Ballroom with floor-to-ceiling win-dows benefits from extensive natu-ral light and can accommodate up to 1,000 guests in reception style, and is the largest ballroom in Dubai Marina.

veteran hotelier Antony Francis Treston, who also is the property’s general manager, says his piece.

oNE oN oNE ‘r Hospitality will open another property in Dubai.’—Iftikhar HamdaniGeneral Manager, ramada Hotel & suites Ajman

Hamdani urges the Ajman Tourism Board, formed last year, to start the ball rolling and organize road shows.

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Travel Arabia News: Let’s start with what most people would want to know about your ho-tel— occupancy figures for the year so far compared to year-ago levels.

Ghassan Farhat: During 2012 we have witnessed a growth of more than 10% in comparison to last year and we are certain that this will continue to increase and flourish.

TAN: What efforts are being done to increase this?

GH: There are continuous ef-forts to further promote the hotel and its destination through con-sistent presence in road shows, exhibitions, trade events and more on both a domestic and an international level.

TAN: Are there any road shows planned? Exhibitions?

GH: Yes, we have plenty in the pipeline. We will be visiting GCC (Qatar and Kuwait) during Oc-tober, followed by WTM London and EIBTM Span in November this year. We recently came back from Moscow where we attended the Leisure Exhibition.

TAN: Which markets are your biggest? (GCC, China, etc.)

GH: We count the European corporate segment as one of our main feeder markets, followed by another prominent one which is the GCC market on both a cor-porate and leisure level. We have recently attended the China Sum-mit which took place in Dubai to further enhance our appeal to-wards the Chinese market which is obviously rapidly growing in Dubai

TAN: What is the trend so far in

‘The hospitality sector in Dubai is very dynamic.’—Ghassan FarhatDirector of Sales and Marketing, Grand Millennium Dubai hotel.

the Dubai tourism industry?GH: I believe it has always

been and continues to be adopt-ing an extremely positive trend since Dubai is prominently re-nowned for its safety, modernity and highly entertaining nature with all the services it has to of-fers for travelers from all over the world, whether it be for business, leisure or a small family holiday. TAN: MICE-wise, has your property been attracting busi-ness guests for seminars or con-ferences for instance?

GH: Grand Millennium Dubai is strategically located in the heart of new Dubai with easy access to the city’s most promi-nent business districts. The ho-tel’s banquets and meetings facil-ities are remarkable in terms of the prime location, space, state-of-the-art technology and up to standards business venues.

TAN: Any plans to further im-

prove your MICE facilities?GH: Since the hotel’s opening

in 2008 we have been witness to an interesting increase in demand within MICE segment, hence ex-panding our facilities and meet-ing space and offerings in the last year. As we continue to embrace this growth, we are looking into further expanding in the near fu-ture.

TAN: How do you see 2013, mar-ket-wise?

GH: The hospitality sector in Dubai is very dynamic and I am sure that it will continue to de-velop into new emerging markets and 2013 is expected to follow the success accomplished in 2012.

TAN: Plans ahead.GH: Currently we are work-

ing on an attractive marketing plan that would highlight our uniqueness and enhance our ser-vices towards our local market.

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Travel Arabia News: What are your key source markets for MICE business, i.e. sectors and geo-graphical?

Anders Dimblad: Local UAE and GCC is our targeted primary market, we have welcomed compa-nies from the neighboring emirates, who host incentive and meetings from business sectors such as bank-ing, consulting, government and group leisure stays. As the emirate of Ras Al Khaimah is growing we have seen numerous international countries contributing to incentive and meeting stays.

Tailored events are our special-ty and having international experi-ence and a meticulous approach is what makes all the difference to the services we provide. Local tour op-erators and companies of all ranges have turned to us for their corpo-rate events, conferences, meetings, advisory board meetings, incen-tives, product launches and team building events.

TAN: What are being done to at-tract business travellers?

AD: Our great uniqueness of having100 hectares of land allows us to tailor to guest requirements, resort infrastructure, unique group activities and a dedicated desert dining area in “Khan Za-man” meaning once upon a time, located within the nature reserve, surrounded by vast sand dunes and indigenous ghaf trees. Set amidst astonishing landscape, this venue offers an authentic dining experi-ence in traditional Bedouin style.

Whether you want rustic or luxu-rious, we can tailor your event to your every need and accommodate up to 225 people.

We understand that it’s not al-ways about having full day meet-ings within the conference facilities. With our private nature reserve at Banyan Tree Al Wadi, groups can partake in breath taking interactive falconry shows, horse riding, camel strolling and Dune bashing. We also offer a 60-minute Rainforest Experience-hydrothermal circuit and numerous indulging and reju-venating treatments in our award winning spa.

TAN: Are there any promotions?AD: We have just launched

tempting and irresistible packages for our desert and beach resorts.

For Banyan Tree Al Wadi, book a minimum of six pool villas and enjoy one of the following: 30-min-ute pre-dinner drinks, one hour entertainment during dinner, one tea or coffee break with compli-mentary use of a secretariat room or an hour-long yoga session.

For Banyan Tree Ras Al Khaim-ah Beach, book a minimum of six beachfront pool villas and enjoy one of the following: a 30-minute pre-dinner sunset cocktail or an upgrade of your meeting package including a themed coffee break.

The offers are placed on our website, our Banyan Tree homep-age is now growing in stature espe-cially as we have developed a sepa-rate webpage for our beach resort.TAN: The MICE promotions are

for GCC?AD: Our primary focus is

within the region and within the GCC because we want to continue to build on the markets that are already coming to us. We got phe-nomenal feedback from all guests using our facilities for meetings and incentives in the last year.

We have been building much more of a loyal customer base but we also want to expand to guests who are not necessarily aware that we have these offerings.

TAN: Banyan Tree Al Wadi was named the “Leading Desert Spa Resort in the Middle East” by the World Travel Awards. Could you tell us more about this?

AD: As the first Banyan Tree property in the UAE, Banyan Tree Al Wadi is a destination property that perfectly complements the rich heritage of Ras Al Khaimah. In specific, the resort’s location within Wadi Khadeja, a tranquil and eco-rich enclave of ghaf trees is the per-fect site for the resort, tying in with the company’s philosophy of sus-tainable hospitality and providing an environment of rejuvenation and tranquility amidst luxurious settings.

The World travel Award is the Oscars of the travel industry. We are very, very privileged. It showcased all the hardwork that the team has put together to develop the prop-erty and to bring it to the next level, allowing more consistency in our service levels and offering guests unique experiences. We are abso-lutely thrilled by it.

TAN: What are the highlights of the property and what makes it stand out to corporate compa-nies? How different is Banyan Tree? What is its edge?

AD: We offer a unique desert and beach combinational stay; as a Banyan Tree both properties have all pool villas and are very distinct to their surroundings.

Banyan Tree Al Wadi has much to offer all market segments; from popular outdoors activities includ-ing an interactive falconry show, horse riding, guided nature walks, archery, desert safaris, bike trails and a wide range of water activi-ties at Banyan Tree Ras Al Khaimah Beach.

A dedicated Kids Club offers our young guests, aged 4 years and above, an array of exciting, fun and educational activities.

Spa lovers can be pampered at

our award winning Banyan Tree Spa Al Wadi, with 10 spa pavilions our signature Rainforest Experi-ence is a favorite amongst guests: Imagine an experiential journey of stirring tropical showers, gushing water jets, and a relaxing hammam sessions.

Our dedicated conference block is fully equipped with the latest au-dio visual equipment, LCD projec-tors and complimentary internet access, the stylish Banyan Hall can accommodate up to 140 guests and is the perfect location for meetings and group private dinner events. For small intimate meetings Najah 1 & 2 has the flexibility to be par-titioned into a space seating up to 60 persons.

Alternatively smaller meetings and incentives can be held at Ban-yan Tree Ras Al Khaimah Beach, where guests are sailed in on a private boat from the main shore-line to the 32 tented-pool villa re-sort, guests also have access to the dedicated Banyan Tree Spa with six treatment pavilions, Sands Res-taurant and Terrace, an expansive infinity-edged swimming pool and a water sports centre with various activities for those seeking marina adventures.

There is just so much for the guests to do, our edge is we design our own properties with the guests in mind. We have a strong team base of associates. We focus on training and excellence, and on giv-ing individual personalized service.

TAN: What does Banyan Tree and Ras Al Khaimah offer MICE visi-tors that other emirates do not?

AD: Ras Al Khaimah itself is a destination. It’s very unique and is renowned for its pristine natural attractions. From the breathtaking desert greenery, to the majestic Al Hajjar mountains, coupled with the charm of the quaint town cen-tre, Ras Al Khaimah offers a deeper sense of escapism and relaxation. The multitude of activities; desert drives, dune buggy rides, wadi sa-faris, horse-riding, sailing, scuba diving and charter-fishing, all easily available within this Emirate makes Ras Al Khaimah an attractive des-tination for adventure and activity seeking travelers. TAN: Does Banyan Tree have tie-ups with companies such that these companies go to your resort for rest and recreation or business functions?

AD: Whilst developing our key market segments, UAE is a

local targeted market that is eas-ily accessible from the resort. We have a dedicated MICE team out in the market sourcing out MICE requirements from local corporate companies, event organizers, lo-cal and overseas tour operators. In doing so this drives business to our two unique properties.

TAN: How would you assess UAE’s MICE market? How big is Ban-yan’s share?

AD: I believe the UAE in gener-al is a continuously growing market both tourism and business. For us, it’s a great opportunity to tap into it. Ras Al Khaimah as an Emirate in itself is a growing destination. There are always an opportunities to grow and to look for new leads and new developments and offer something unique and different.

TAN: Average length of guests’ stay?

AD: Most of the groups aver-age between two to three nights, in addition we have some groups that will come in for a tailored day event such as having a meeting in the morning followed by, recre-ational activities, lunch and then wind down at our award winning spa prior to departing back to a neighboring Emirate.

TAN: What are the plans from corporate headquarters?

AD: Banyan Tree has a lot of developments worldwide. We are focusing a lot now on projects in China. We are also looking in Eu-rope and Middle East where we have a few projects under discus-sion.

We want to be very specific on where we go and want to ensure that it is the right fit for a Banyan Tree Resort.

TAN: You’re now on your ninth month as Banyan Tree’s area general manager for its two Ras Al Khaimah properties. How has it been so far?

AD: So far so good, I enjoy it, I think it is a great challenge and is a phenomenal opportunity. I love the fact that we have such beautiful properties and both have unique-ness to them. Ras Al Khaimah is the only place where we have two Ban-yan Trees in one city. Nowhere else in the group across the world do we have this benefit of cross-selling a desert and a beach resort, the sky’s the limit for us and for our valued guests.

oNE oN oNE‘The packages are tempting and irresistible.’—Anders Dimblad, Area General Manager, Banyan tree ras Al Khaimah Beach and Banyan tree Al Wadi, on MicE at the two properties.

In this interview, Anders also touches on key issues including source markets and corporate plans.

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Travel Arabia News: What does Dubai offer event organizers that other destinations don’t?

Hussein Hachem: Dubai showcases a very long list of choic-es in terms of meeting spaces, a multicultural roster of event pro-fessionals, high-end technology, safety and security, continuous

infrastructure development and welcoming atmosphere complete with cost-effective rates. I do not think there is anywhere else where you can find all this in one place.

TAN: Why do organizers choose Al Bustan and Al Murooj Rotana Dubai for their event venues?

HH: Al Bustan Rotana and Al Murooj Rotana are two distinct five-star properties in Dubai. Both hotels have their own unique char-acter in addition to the renowned Rotana hospitality that both prop-erties offer, which I must say is ap-preciated by MICE organizers.

Al Bustan Rotana is a mere five-minute drive from the Dubai International Airport, making it highly convenient for all business travelers, particularly for inter-national MICE clients. The hotel also features its own Al Bustan Rotana Convention Centre, which is one of the largest in-hotel ban-queting facilities in the city. The Grand Rashidiya Ballroom can accommodate up to 1500 guests while 12 meeting rooms are also available to accommodate various sizes of meetings and other events. In addition to that, each conven-tion, conference, meeting or social

gathering is executed by our pro-fessional Catering & Events Team. Our reputation also speaks for itself, with the property winning several awards as a convention ho-tel.

Al Murooj Rotana Dubai, on the other hand, is famous for its exquisite exterior design and its superb location. Situated on Dubai’s main highway, Sheikh Zayed Road, the hotel is directly opposite Dubai Mall, the world’s largest mall and very close to Burj Khalifa, the world’s tallest build-ing. All the major attractions of the city are really close by, making it the ultimate choice among event planners that include prime loca-tion in their requirements. Addi-tionally, our award-winning prop-erty features six meeting rooms as well as the Al Yasat Ballroom that can be partitioned into five meet-ing spaces. It is needless to say that

the renowned professional and ef-ficient service have always been a key factor in securing the events business for the hotel.TAN: What does the future hold for events in Dubai?

HH: Dubai has a very bright future in terms of hosting events. With the full support of the gov-ernment in all aspects plus the continuous development of meet-ing spaces combined with excel-lent service, the city will continue to be one of the top event venues of choice of the international mar-ket.

‘Dubai has a very bright future in terms of hosting events.’—Hussein Hachemcluster General Manager, Al Bustan & Al Murooj rotana Dubai

‘We foresee Pullman Dubai Deira City Centre, our upscale business hotel brand, to become one of the most preferred five-star hotels in the Deira district.’—Jean-Philippe BittencourtGeneral Manager, Pullman Dubai Deira city centre Hotel

How’s it been? How far is the ren-ovation from done?

We are excited to offer a pres-tigious new address to our upscale guests who will soon see the beau-tiful changes in the hotel, and ex-perience the novelty of staying in the fully modernized rooms. The Pullman Dubai Deira City Cen-tre hotel boasts of 317 rooms and suites, an executive lounge which is entirely renovated, a new spa-cious lobby together with a con-nectivity lounge, and its unique Pullman Welcomer concept. The Café offers a relaxed atmosphere where guests can enjoy delectable snacks with a cup of tea or coffee with close friends or wind down with business associates after a long meeting. The new décor per-fectly reflects a plush and modern feel which our young and trendy customers will certainly love.

For the food and beverage out-lets at Pullman DCC, we offer a medley of choices - from the new all day dining restaurant which is simply awesome. We foresee that it will please even demanding cli-ents. La Fabrique, a new destina-tion sport bar and wine bar, is al-ready setting its pace in the area as the new trendy place to be and to be seen.

The Soma Spa at Pullman DCC

will offer a haven of relaxation and well-being, with its array of treat-ments and services. Pampering at its best. The hotel, also has a fan-tastic pool and lounge area that is entirely upgraded to offer guests the luxurious look and feel of the Pullman brand.

What lies ahead?We foresee Pullman Dubai

Deira City Centre, our upscale business hotel brand to become one of the most preferred five-star hotels in the Deira district.

It makes sense for us to grow this brand in Deira where there is clear demand for quality interna-tionally-branded hotels aimed at the corporate and upscale leisure markets.

The refurbishment is part of our global expansion of the brand in the region and comes at a time when the brand is launching signa-ture hotels in other major centres around the world. Pullman is al-ready a major brand in key source markets across Asia and Europe, and it is anticipated that there will be some 150 Pullman hotels and resorts by 2015.

Pullmans are designed primar-ily as business hotels, and the latest addition features an entire floor catering to business travellers.

Occupancy?Pullman DCC is running over

70% occupancy for the year, given that our Pullman brand is gain-ing recognition from travelers in the region.We are doing quite well in Dubai in general. Our strategic location, being five minutes away from the Dubai International Air-port and providing easy access to the business districts, shopping malls, tourist attractions and the beach, makes the hotel a top choice to spend a leisure weekend stay or a business stay.Guests also love the fact that they can play a round of golf at the nearby Dubai Creek Golf and Yacht Club. The hotel is therefore very convenient for any guests that have business transac-tions in Dubai, or simply wish to sightsee and shop.

It is conveniently attached to the Deira City Center mall, one of Dubai’s largest malls, which of-fers leisure travelers a good variety of shopping possibilities, with an abundance of all the major design-er & luxury brands on offer.

Pullman DCC has loyal guests who have been staying at our hotel for many years now. With the re-furbishment, they will be pleased to find that we have fully modern-ized the hotel in every aspect to

reflect the upscale brand values of Pullman. We are confident that we will be able to attract new guests.

What are being done to compli-ment the opening? Will there be promotions?

We will be offering a host of exciting promotions such as at-tractively-priced room packages, coupled with new F&B and spa offerings. We are also planning to host Art events. With winter around the corner, we expect for more guests coming to Dubai for a visit to stay with us.

We are also strengthening our online presence and guests can certainly make direct online book-ings through our website:http://www.pullmanhotels .com/gb/hotel-2022-pullman-dubai-deira-city-centre/index.shtml

We have also partnered with select travel agencies which can drive traffic online and help us in-crease sales.

Could you tell us more about your guests? Are there new markets you are now tapping into?

Our segmentation over 2012 is 60 % business and 40 % leisure. The client mix is as follows: Europe with over 32 % of our clientele, followed by the GCC, particularly

Saudi Arabia and Kuwait; and from other countries in the Middle East it stands at 25 %. Interestingly, we are now also receiving more and more clients from Asia, around 6% and Australia/Pacific at almost 10%. Our distribution channels throughout our Accor web site and our partner online travel agents are helping increase sales.

We are also tapping new mar-kets such as Eastern Europe, Rus-sia the CIS countries, South Africa, South America and Far East Asia. We would like to encourage tour-ists coming from America to go for short stays or have an ideal stop-over destination in Dubai; with Pullman DCC’s close proximity to the airport this can be a good strategy for us.

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Travel Arabia News: Let’s begin with how you think is Towers Rotana different from other hotels on the Zayed strip. Why would visitors prefer to stay at your hotel?

Mrad El Khoury: Towers Rotana Dubai is a very vibrant, well known and established ho-tel. It opened 11 years ago. Today, it has its own market share and its own reputation. The hotel also has famous outlets like Te-atro, which for several years now has consistently been an award-winning restaurant.

Moreover, we have a team who works hard to offer the qual-ity of services that exceeds the guests’ expectations. At the same time, the price versus the quality that we offer is very competitive and at the moment very accept-able in the market.

In addition to that, it’s the loyalty of our guests. As we have

a lot of competition, we compli-ment their trust by always look-ing into creating different ways to offer high-end quality service and high-end quality food, to stand out taking into consider-ation the need to maintain Ro-tana standards that guests are satisfied with.

TAN: That said, would you say then that Towers Rotana is pretty much in the comfort zone?

MEK: It’s not in the comfort zone. You always need to do your work and to have your interna-tional affiliates. You always need to know the recent market infor-mation and update. Your team should be everywhere in terms of corporate affairs, MICE*; and be aware, up-to-date and ready for any new challenges. Rotana has very good presence interna-tionally, it has offices in Germa-ny, UK, Russia, and India.

TAN: How is the occupancy?MEK: The first six months

were excellent. We were run-ning an occupancy average of 85%. The business was good and healthy. Comparing to last year, we achieved a five to seven per-cent increase.

TAN: What is the projection for the next half of this year?

MEK: We are looking to achieve very positive results, as business will start picking up again due to the exhibitions go-ing on during the coming sea-sons.**

Also, it is very important to note that Dubai’s infrastructure is ready to host huge internation-al events. This all goes to the in-frastructure that the government has put in place; the government has also planned well and creat-ed a system, in terms of facilities and easy procedures, that go very smooth—all these keep Dubai

an attractive city for big investors which then make it possible for huge investments to be done.

TAN: Could you tell us more about the hotel’s occupancy per nationality?

MEK: The source of business is very big. Dubai is an interna-tional cosmopolitan city. But the main producers (in terms of visitor arrivals) are the Rus-sians, British, Germans, and the GCC***. This year, GCC was number one. Before, it was be-tween the British and Germans. Not only for Towers Rotana but for the city in general.

So we see now a bit of chang-ing in the rankings.

TAN: Towers Rotana is part of the Rotana chain. A part of the family, so to speak. How does this factor in?

MEK: It’s a strength because we have all types of brand that suit all budgets—from five-star to four-star, hotel apartment and budgeted hotel. We can cater to all markets, to all demands, to all budgets. This is very important.

TAN: MICE-wise what is Towers Rotana’s edge?

MEK: MICE-wise as well be-ing a part of a big company, we have a big ballroom in Al Bustan (Rotana) and Murooj (Rotana). We get MICE—medium- to small-scale—because we have meeting halls, we have seven meeting rooms. We don’t have big ballrooms for big conferenc-es. So the big conferences go to Al Bustan and Murooj.

We work on packages.

TAN: How do new hotel open-ings impact on your occupancy projections?

MEK: We are taking into con-siderations all these openings and we are prepared. You need to be ready for any newcomer in order

not to lose your market share. So there’s marketing, tying up with our operators, improving servic-es, and making new packages to enhance our business.

TAN: Are there plans to improve on the hotel’s infrastructure?

MEK: Sure, there are lots of things happenings. We renovat-ed the hotel last year to meet the guests’ standards and to be com-petitive.

TAN: What are your future plans?

MEK: To increase our market share by targeting new markets. Rotana have offices in Asia—new sales offices in India and China. These are our emerging markets.

We have an office in Moscow and we are increasing our rela-

tions with them to as well in-crease our market share.

TAN: But of course it is all tied up to airlines and tour opera-tors. So how are your relation-ships with them doing?

MEK: We have excellent rela-tions with the local DMCs and tour operators and the interna-tional ones. So, either we package with them or with the interna-tional ones. For the tour opera-tors, the most important thing is that you deliver what you prom-ised; otherwise, they will leave

you.There are corporate packages

and there are individual pack-ages. We sometimes tie up with packages between Rotana Dubai and Rotana Fujeirah or packages between Rotana Dubai and Ro-tana Ras Al Khaimah. So we do packages like stay three nights in Dubai and four nights in Ras Al Khaimah. This is very, very active and very in-demand because the leisure travelers love this, they like to explore more cities.

TAN: What are challenges ahead?

MEK: We see a lot of open-ings and the main challenge is to maintain market share and increase it. We are ready for any challenges and we will always be present in the market.

* Meetings, incentives, conven-tions and exhibitions market.** Among exhibitions is the Gitex Technology Week (Oct. 14 – 18, 2012), a coming together of the biggest brand names in tech-nology.**** GCC refers to the six mem-ber countries of the Gulf Coop-erating Council-- Bahrain, Ku-wait, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, and United Arab Emirates. The organization for formally estab-lished in Abu Dhabi on Nov. 11, 1981 to function as a regional economic bloc.

The main challenge is to maintain market share and increase it. Rotana is ready for any challenges and will always be present in the market. —Mrad El KhouryGeneral Manager, towers rotana Dubai.

With business hotels along the Sheikh Zayed’s financial centre strip competing to get a share of the market , how does the towering Towers Rotana Hotel manage to keep its side and stand tall?Mrad El Khoury, general manager, bares all.

Mrad El Khoury joined the Rotana family back in 2003 as Area Director of Sales & Marketing for Dubai and Northern Emirates. His hard work and dedication paved the way for his promotion to General Manager of Burjuman Arjaan by Rotana in 2006, followed by his successful transfer to the stunning Fujairah Rotana Resort and Spa in 2009.

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trAv-tEcH

Travelport, the global travel services provider which has been in the Middle East for over 20 years, is comprised of the Global Distribu-tion System (GDS), which includes the Galileo and Worldspan prod-ucts, and Airline IT, which provides business and data analysis solution for airlines

Present in 16 countries across the Gulf region, Travelport’s global GDS systems include nearly 400 participating airlines, over 25 car rental companies and more than 90,000 hotel properties – all of which ensure it maintains a firm grip on the travel industry and its latest developments.

Travelport’s operations in the Middle East are headed by Rabih Saab, President and Managing Director, Middle East and Africa (MEA).

The following is excerpt of a Travel Arabia News (TAN) inter-view with Saab.

What are the latest develop-ments in travel technology in the Middle East?

Travelport has developed a range of services and solutions for the travel industry, servicing travel agents, online travel agencies, cor-porate travel departments, travel management companies and travel IT developers with the goal of en-abling travel on a global scale.

For travel agents, Smartpoint

– our powerful upgrade to Galileo Desktop – is changing the way they book and aggregate content by of-fering agents greater flexibility to integrate richer content from our airline partners.

We are also creating more value for our customers through lead-ing-edge hospitality products such as Rooms & More, which currently makes 14 hotel aggregators and almost 350,000 hotel properties available to travel agents through a single online portal.

How does your relationship with airlines shape the technol-ogy you provide to travel agents?

Airline content is what GDS is traditionally based on – over 309 million air segments are booked annually in the Travelport system around the world. In one day, this is enough segments to completely fill 1,586 Airbus A380 aircraft.

As I see it, Travelport’s success in the airline industry is driven by our in-depth understanding of the aviation business, our strong rela-tionships in the region, and our in-novative technology.

This year alone, nasair, RAK Airways and Kulula.com became participants in Travelport. We also saw flydubai extend its ticketing capabilities, which to date only supported interline bookings with Emirates, to cover point to point services.

In addition, we reinforced our traditional carrier content through full content agreements with Egyp-tair, Gulf Air and a number of im-portant carriers from outside the region such as South African Air-ways and Lufthansa.

Our close relationship with air-lines also allows us to understand their future needs. We know, for example, that maximising revenue through ancillary sales is a prior-ity and we have therefore created ways for them to do this through the GDS. In fact, earlier this year Travelport completed its first live booking of a KLM Economy seat using the new industry standard electronic miscellaneous document (EDM). Since June, Delta Airlines is also selling its Economy Comfort seats through Travelport GDS.

What are the latest develop-ments in airline distribution?

Travelport recognises that air-lines need a complete marketing and retail partner to deliver ancil-laries in a powerful way across all their distribution channels. As air-line websites become richer, so too must travel agency retail channels.

Airlines and hotels are already heightening their merchandising efforts with the support of a robust GDS platform. The system now gives travel suppliers the flexibility to offer ‘unbundled’ or optional services including priority board-ing, WiFi and extra baggage, as well as target agents through value-add marketing services.

At present, Travelport is already distributing ancillary products for British Airways, Air Canada, easy-Jet, KLM and Delta. Going forward, we will continue to work with each airline to distribute the services they want in the way they want.

What are the main travel trends that you are currently see-ing across the Middle East?

The rate at which Internet and mobile technology are currently growing in the region is unprec-edented.

With the rapid growth of smartphones and broadband tech-nology, the GDS industry is now also presented with a unique op-portunity to interact with custom-ers in real time. And travel agents are responding to this demand, leveraging GDS mobile technology

to relay travel information to their customers via mobile phones.

Travelport therefore contin-ues to invest heavily in our mobile technology do develop solutions such as Travelport Mobile Agent, which is an application allow-ing agents to access their Galileo Desktop on iPad, iPhone and iPod Touch. Our View Trip Mobile tool provides the traveller with flexible itinerary management throughout their entire journey and includes useful features such as flight alerts, weather forecast, events guide and others.

Considering the growth in mobile technology, do you see more travel agents in the Middle East moving online in the next few years?

The online trend is firmly es-tablished in the Middle East and is set to continue well into the fu-ture. Travelport is at the forefront of enabling online travel bookings by providing a range of B2B solu-tions that support and empower travel agencies, OTAs (online travel agencies), corporates, TMCs (trav-el management companies) and

developers to expand online. What do you expect to be the

biggest developments in travel technology in the Middle East in near future?

I firmly believe that the full strength of the GDS still remains untapped and will continue to en-sure that our services and solution remain at the cutting edge of the industry. Third party applications and merchandising, which I talked about before, are just some of the exciting opportunities that the new generation systems can bring.

ViewTrip Mobile – our mobile itinerary management and plan-ning tool – has been successfully rolled out across the Middle East and this will soon be followed by Travelport Mobi, our new mobile booking tool.

Universal Desktop, our next-generation booking solution, is currently undergoing trials with select clients in the Middle East and we continue to refine this in-novative solution for the regional market.

Bright days ahead for online booking‘With the rapid growth of smartphones and broadband technology, the GDS industry is now also presented with a unique opportunity to interact with customers in real time.’ —Rabih Saab, Travelport President and Managing Director, Middle East and Africa (MEA).

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British Airways is currently in the thick of a multi-billion pound improvement project aimed at enabling the airline to get a bigger slice of air travel market.

This, according to Sir Martin Broughton, the airline’s chairman, who, in a press briefing held Oct. 10, 2012 in Dubai to announce BA’s 80th year of service in the Middle East, also disclosed that efforts are underway to secure partnerships with other airlines to expand BA’s reach.

“We are looking at any part-nership, be it an alliance. It’s a strange world of aviation,” he told reporters.

On Oct. 7, 1932, British Air-ways touched down in Shar-jah, UAE on its first flight to the Middle East under the banner of

Imperial Airways, a predecessor to airline.

The Handley Page HP42 air-craft took off from Croydon, just south of London, on 2 Oct. 2, 1932 and took six days to reach Sharjah following stopovers. The aircraft travelled at just 160kmh and car-ried fewer than 20 passengers.

Today, 80 years later, a Brit-ish Airways flight from London Heathrow to Dubai on a Boe-ing 747-400 takes approximately six and a half hours, travels at 988kmh and can carry up to 345 passengers across four classes.

At the press briefing, which was held at Madinat Jumeirah, Broughton said the growth of the aviation industry has been one of the most significant developments in travel “and we are especially

proud to have been a part of it in

the Middle East.

“British Airways has always

been committed to using our ex-

pertise, experience and knowledge

to make flying an enjoyable and

exciting experience for customers.

We’ve pioneered many aviation

firsts and are currently two years

into a £5 billion investment plan

that includes new aircraft, smarter

cabins, elegant lounges and new

technologies.”

Since the first flight in 1932,

the Middle East has been a key

market for British Airways. Cur-

rently the airline flies to eight

cities in six GCC countries with

68 flights per week during the

winter schedule, including three

daily flights between Dubai and

London Heathrow. Lebanon and

Jordan were also recently added to

the network.

Sir Martin Broughton, British Airways chairman, left, answers queries during a press conference held to announce BA’s 80th year in the Middle East. Looking on are Ms. Laila Ali Bin Hareb, Executive Director of Strategy and International Affairs at General Civil Aviation Authority (GCAA), and Paolo De Renzis, Area Commercial Manager, Middle East and Central Asia.

British Airways upgrades fleet‘We are currently two years into a £5 billioninvestment plan.’ —Sir Martin Broughton, chairman.

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