Air Tanzania expects spare engine for grounded A220

Air Tanzania (ATCL) hopes to return one of its grounded A220-300s to service following the expected delivery before the month-end of a spare Pratt & Whitney PW1000 engine, says Chief Executive Officer Ladislaus Matindi.

He told The Citizen newspaper the airline was promised a spare engine following a meeting with Airbus. “We are currently making logistical arrangements with Airbus on how the spare engine will reach us,” he said. The existing engines were expected to be overhauled in Frankfurt Int’l, Germany, next month.

Airbus was not immediately reachable for comment.

Earlier this month, ATCL announced it was forced to temporarily cancel flights or reduce frequencies to address technical problems with the PW1524G-3 engines on its A220-300s.

According to the ch-aviation fleets advanced module and Flightradar24 ADS-B data, at least three of ATCL’s A220-300s are currently effectively grounded. The only operational aircraft, 5H-TCI (msn 55048), last flew on November 21 between Mwanza and Dar es Salaam, while 5H-TCL (msn 55130) last flew on November 5 on the same route. 5H-TCH (msn 55047) has been in maintenance at Maastricht in The Netherlands since January 3, 2022, and 5H-TCM (msn 55135) has been in storage at Dar es Salaam since August 27, 2022.

Meanwhile, the Tanzania Civil Aviation Authority Consumer Consultative Council (TCAA CCC) has urged airlines with technical or operational problems to consider leasing to normalise operations and avoid flight suspensions, cancellations, and delays. “We advise airlines to search for alternatives, including leasing, so that they can keep offering services in the aviation market that has been growing rapidly in the country,” TCAA CCC said in a statement.

Pratt & Whitney, in a statement to ch-aviation said a PW1500G full authority digital engine control (FADEC) software update could be accomplished on-wing and should not disrupt aircraft operations. The US Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) issued an Airworthiness Directive in October 2022 in this regard in line with a service bulletin issued by Pratt & Whitney in May 2022.

Source: ch-aviation

First RwandAir cargo plane arrives

National carrier RwandAir has received its first cargo, a 787-800 Boeing Converted Freighter (BCF), Yvonne Makolo, the airline’s CEO confirmed to The New Times.

“Today, we took delivery of our first dedicated cargo aircraft, B737-800SF as we expand our fleet, read part of a tweet put out by the airline on Thursday upon the arrival of the aircraft

In a previous interview with The New Times, Bosco Gakwaya, RwandAir’s senior manager of cargo services, said that the plane will start with Dubai and a few intra-African routes.

“For now, the rest will stay on existing passenger planes. As we assess the market,” he added.

According to him, the development will serve as an “import-export link” to Dubai and further UAE market.

“The aircraft has a capacity of 23 tonnes, suffice to say that, for our initial destinations, we are good to go in terms of the capacity, looking at today’s demand.”

If volumes shoot up, Gakwaya pointed out, that frequency is also expected to increase.

With up to 20 percent lower fuel use and CO2 emissions per tonne, B737-800BCF operators are carrying more payload with less fuel.

The aircraft features a large cargo door, a cargo handling system and seating for up to four non-flying staff or passengers.

Capacity, rates remain an issue

Players in the export trade sector expressed optimism about the upcoming cargo flights, but also raised concerns for a sustainable solution on the costly rates as well as capacity.

Rwanda’s main export and import market are Europe and the UAE.

The exporters say there is hope that the freighter increases their export volumes and reduces shipping costs.

“The current issue is limited space for our export produce,” Emmanuel Harerimana, the CEO of Garden Fresh, a company dealing in the export of fruits and vegetables, said in an earlier interview.

“Sometimes we book space for five tonnes and before departure we are told there’s space for only three tonnes, or in some cases, products can be offloaded while still at the airport to make room for passenger’s luggage,” Harerimana added.

“With the cargo plane, we will be able to increase our export volumes and we also hope they will reduce the cargo shipping cost.”

His company expects to increase exports to over 60 tonnes, up from the current 40-48 tonnes, every month.

Commenting on the concerns, Gakwaya told The New Times that prevailing challenges had been noted in the past, adding that there is a strategic plan for sustainable solutions.

Among them, he said, was capacity, which he believes is starting to take shape.

“It has strategically been solved. Especially if you look at the fact that we split the London, Brussels route. We don’t see an issue of space now.”

When pressed for details on the strategic plan, Gakwaya said, “Work is being done to find a sustainable solution.”

RwandAir now serves 29 destinations across East, Central, West, and Southern Africa, the Middle East, Europe and Asia.

Source: The New Times

KQ targets business travel in West Africa with new Ghana-Senegal route

Kenya Airways (KQ), the national carrier of Kenya, has announced that it will introduce a new service between Accra and Dakar effective December 11, 2022.  

KQ will become the only airline to operate a connection between Ghana and Senegal, the airline said in a statement.  

The new route “is expected to tap into the travel demand from corporate travelers, traders as well as leisure travelers,” between the two capitals, the airline added.  

The new route will be served by a B737-800 twice a week from Nairobi to Accra to Dakar and return to Nairobi via Accra. The new connection increases KQ’s flight options to Dakar to four times per week and nine times a week to Accra.   

Kenya Airways chief commercial and customer officer Julius Thairu said that the connection is part of a “bigger picture” to support connectivity across Africa. “The new connection will offer our guests more travel and connectivity options within West Africa. Strategically, the bigger picture is to support the Single African Air Transport Market and the African Continental Free Trade Area which are key pillars for Africa’s growth, by growing and deepening our network connections within the continent,” Thairu explained.   

According to KQ the new Nairobi-Accra-Dakar-Accra-Nairobi service will offer its passengers more flight options and choices within West Africa and in and out of East Africa, as well as provide seamless connections through Nairobi to the Middle East, India, China, Europe, and the United States.  

African airlines increase services and connectivity to West Africa  

With this new route Kenya Airways joins a range of African airlines that have opened new routes to West Africa or announced an intent to fly to destinations in the region.   

Air Tanzania will open new routes to West and Central Africa in 2023. TAAG Angola Airlines commenced three weekly flights to Accra from November 9, 2022. Ethiopian Airlines commenced three weekly passenger services to Washington DC via Lomé, Togo from June 1, 2022, and Uganda Airlines announced plans to commence its first-ever service to Nigeria before the end of 2022.  

Source: Aerotime Hub

Dubai reaches 85% of pre-Covid international tourist numbers

Emirate hosts 10.12 million overnight visitors from January to September, compared to 12.08 million in same period of 2019

Dubai has reached 85 per cent of the pre-pandemic number of international tourists to the emirate in the first nine months of this year as the emirate continues to rebound from the Covid-19 global crisis.

The city hosted 10.12 million overnight visitors from January to September, compared to 12.08 million in the same period of 2019 prior to the pandemic, according to the latest available government data.

“The ability of Dubai to bounce back and recover very quickly enabled us not to miss a beat, so whether you’re looking at tourism, trade or a financial hub, all three of them really flourished through Covid and out the other side,” Helal Al Marri, director general of Dubai’s Department of Economy and Tourism, said at DP World’s Global Freight Summit on Monday.

“One of the things we’ve learnt is having an environment that is digitally enabled … and has very strong data-driven decision-making — this is what’s needed in ever-turbulent times.”

Last week, the UAE announced a national tourism strategy aimed at attracting 40 million hotel guests, raising Dh100 billion ($27.23bn) in additional tourism investment and increasing the sector’s contribution to the country’s gross domestic product to Dh450bn by 2031.

Emirates, the world’s largest long-haul airline, reported a record profit in the first half of the current financial year on strong travel demand during the peak summer season as international borders reopened and coronavirus restrictions eased.

The airline swung to a Dh4bn profit in the April to September period, from a loss of Dh5.8bn in the same period last year, citing its ability to increase capacity in response to the surge in travel demand.

Maritime connectivity

In terms of global maritime connectivity, the industry has the “urgent task” to rebuild supply chains so global trade can better cope with future shocks, Sultan bin Sulayem, chairman and chief executive of DP World, said in a keynote speech at the summit.

The pandemic, geopolitical tension and global climate crisis have exposed the fragility of many parts of the supply chain infrastructure and the industry must work together to share information and data, he said.

Sharing information “enables us to track every step of cargo movement. With this kind of visibility, we are more agile and avoid costly delays and work together to ensure stable trading connections”, he said.

However, large swathes of world trade are bogged down by “legacy technologies” or there are too many digital platforms that do not work with one another.

“Wherever that happens, there is a bottleneck, a point of failure that weakens supply chains,” Mr bin Sulayem said.

“Instead of seamless trade, there is digital friction.”

More than half of freight-forwarders see inflation and geopolitical tensions as the main concerns for the global supply chain over the next five years, according to a DP World study released on Monday.

Some 63 per cent of the respondents said inflation is a main concern, while 56 per cent cited geopolitical tensions.

Two thirds of freight forwarders believe it is “impossible to say” when economic disruptions will subside.

However, three quarters of the respondents said they expected technology to be a significant factor in easing current supply chain woes. More than half said digitalisation would be the single biggest driver of reducing bottlenecks. Three in four said technology would lead to cost savings and better delivery to new and existing customers.

Concerns about international trade align with the latest forecasts from the World Trade Organisation for cross-border commerce to grow only 1 per cent next year, after a projected 3.5 per cent increase this year.

DP World reported a 2.1 per cent increase in gross container volumes in the third quarter of 2022 as global trade flows remain “resilient” but warned the near-term outlook was clouded by uncertainty.

“Looking ahead, the near-term outlook remains uncertain given the geopolitical environment, inflationary pressures and currency fluctuations but we remain positive on the medium to long term outlook for global trade,” Mr bin Sulayem said last month.

Source: The National

State targets travel agents to drive tourist numbers

Kenya is targeting travel agents in a renewed strategy to grow international tourist arrivals, with numbers projected to nearly double this year and triple next year.

Tourism, Wildlife and Heritage Cabinet Secretary Peninah Malonza on Wednesday said the government will collaborate with agents to drive the numbers.

“We can set targets collaboratively and provide market development while they provide actual and real time bookings for tourists,”Malonza said.

She spoke during a Kenya Association of Travel Agents (KATA) forum in Nairobi.

Malonza said the country must also create viable tourism circuits, adding KATA is best positioned to help develop new circuits and improve on the existing ones.

Kenya currently has seven key circuits, mainly on Safari and beach.

These include the Western Kenya circuit, Coastal Circuit, Southern circuit (Tsavo Amboseli regions), North Rift circuit (Laikipia-Marsabit-Turkana), South Rift Circuit (Mara-Lake Nakuru region), Eastern Circuit and Nairobi circuit.

“We need to leverage on KATA operators in targeting our key source markets , as South Africa does , let’s use KATA directly to drive numbers,” Malonza said.

There are over 400 registered travel and tours agencies in the country with more than 240 being members of the association, accounting for up to 70 per cent of travel and bookings.

Leveraging on the agents, the government believes, will help the country achieve its post-Covid recovery targets set at 1.4 million this year, from from 870, 467 recorded last year.

Tourism Research Institute (TRI), the sectors statistician, projects this year’s earnings will also grow by 81 per cent to Sh265.4 billion.

Total arrivals for the year to August were 924,812, up from 483, 246 international tourists who visited the country in the same period last year.

This came with a jump in inbound tourism earnings which more than doubled to Sh167.1 billion, compared to the Sh83.2 billion recorded in a similar period last year.

The government expects the sector’s earnings to further grow 35 per cent to Sh359.1 billion next year, and then Sh396.1 billion the year after.

Kenya forecasts to have 1.9 million international tourists next year with the number expected to grow to 2.2 million in 2024.

The country’s best year currently remains 2019 when arrivals hit a high of 2.04 million visitors with earnings of Sh296.2 billion.

To drive numbers, the Kenya Kwanza administration is seen to embrace the Open Skies Policy that industry players have been calling on, mainly allowing more commercial flights to the coast region.

“We should continue to adopt a liberal aviation policy through bilateral and multilateral Open Skies Agreements (OSA), to give airlines the flexibility to respond to market opportunities, especially within the African Continental Free Trade Area,”the CS said.

KATA chairperson Shazmin Manji said the association is keen on how both the government and private sector will collaborate in supporting recovery, even as she cautioned that current global factors remain a challenge to the industry. 

“As much as the outlook for air travel looks bright, at least for now, there are signs that the global economic outlook may get bleaker. That the industry’s recovery coincides with a looming recession, is a cause for concern,” Manji said.

The agents met to deliberate on the current trends and the future of the travel business.

According to the International Air Transport Association (IATA) Economics Aviation report released in September 2022, the travel and aviation industry has witnessed a continued recovery of passenger demand.

This was after the relaxation of the mobility restrictions in major business and leisure destinations worldwide.

This growth has been witnessed by the impressive sales performance of the Kenya travel agents.

Collectively, travel agents had generated over $380,000 (Sh46.5 million) in gross IATA sales as of October this year, which is 11 per cent below 2019 levels.

Travel Agents in Kenya contribute over 75 per cent of the passenger number bookings on national carrier-Kenya Airways and other multinational carriers operating in Kenya.

Source: The Star

Kenya, Rwanda among 15 states in new single air transport market

After minimal progress since its launch in January 2018, the Single African Air Transport Market (SAATM) appeared to reach a decision this week with 15 of the 35 signatory states launching a cluster to pilot the scheme in real life.

The announcement is a major boost to the proposed joint airline by Kenya Airways and South African Airways, which will have immediate and unlimited access to key markets on the continent as both countries will be participating in the trial runs.

It is also a signature achievement for the International Air Transport Association (IATA), which has been working behind the scenes to get SAATM off the ground in 2023.

Dubbed the SAATM Pilot Implementation Project, the landmark decision – which bands together some of Africa’s more significant air transport markets – was announced on November 14 by the African Civil Aviation Commission (AFCAC). 

Meeting in Dakar, Senegal, to mark the 23rd anniversary of the Yamoussoukro Decision, ministers from Kenya, Ethiopia, Rwanda, South Africa, Cape Verde, Côte d’Ivoire, Cameroon, Ghana, Morocco, Mozambique, Namibia, Nigeria, Senegal, Togo and Zambia, agreed to launch SAATM flights between their territories.

Align agreements to SAATM

The 15 states are expected to cement their decision further by aligning their respective air service agreements to the SAATM regime when they again meet during this year’s International Civil Aviation Organisation (ICAO) Air Services Negotiation in Abuja on December 5.

According to the African Civil Aviation Commission, the pilot markets were selected based on their willingness to participate and possession of key enablers for fully liberalised skies on the continent.

The benefits

According to a recent study by the African Union on the potential benefits of SAATM implementation, the continent would gain an additional $4.2 billion in GDP, 596,000 new jobs and a 27 percent reduction in air fares.

“The study also assessed the level of the Yamoussoukro Decision (YD) implementation and the efficacy of SAATM operationalisation for each member state and arrived at a “preparedness” rating using the SAATM enablers. These 15 states met the favourable environment for successful SAATM implementation,” AFCAC says.

The commission says 35 member states have committed to unconditionally implement SAATM while 21 states have signed the memorandum of implementation for its operationalisation.

The 35 states are estimated to account for over 85 percent of intra-African traffic and over 800 million of Africa’s 1.2 billion population.

Although SAATM’s predecessor, the Yamoussoukro Decision, has theoretically been in force since July 2000 when African heads of state and government endorsed it during their meeting in Lomé, Togo, African skies have remained largely closed, with countries opting for bilateral air services agreements.

Improve connectivity

The major objective of the Yamoussoukro Decision was to improve connectivity and integration of Africa through liberalisation of scheduled and non-scheduled air transport services and removing all restrictions on traffic rights, capacity and frequency between city pairs for all African airlines. But the continent has struggled to actualise it.

AFCAC Secretary General Adefunke Adeyemi says the commission is now expecting member states to align their respective air service agreements and for eligible airlines to begin to expand operations across the continent.

“The launch of SAATM as the first flagship project of the AU Agenda 2063 on January 28, 2018, is considered as a turning point towards the full liberalisation of air transport market on the continent,” Adeyemi said.

The pilot is expected to demonstrate the benefits and build the confidence of bystanders to fully open their air transport markets.

“With the unveiling of this pilot project of ready and willing African states that have requisite SAATM implementation enablers and with the overall benefits associated with the liberalisation of the African air transport through the YD, including air transport’s contribution to the AFCFTA to facilitate intra-African trade, this will elicit the commitment of member states that have not yet signed the Solemn Commitment to sign up,” Adeyemi added.

Lift African aviation traffic

Speaking on the side-lines of Aviation Africa 2022 summit in Kigali in September, IATA vice president for Africa and the Middle-east Kamil Al Awadi said he had committed the bulk of his resources for 2023 to getting SAATM off the ground and lifting African aviation traffic to at least three percent of the global total.

Opening up intra-African air travel and connectivity would not only boost domestic air traffic but have a knock-on effect on international traffic as well, he says.

At only 1.9 percent of global traffic in 2019, Africa’s aviation contributed $63 billion to the continent’s GDP and 7.7 million jobs, half a million of them direct.

“I want to see these numbers next year jumping a percent at least. If it goes up it means we are going the right direction; if it goes down, we are going the wrong direction.

“IATA is going to pour as much resources as it can afford into the region to get it up and running,” he says.

Kamil says given Africa’s population and resources, the continent’s share of global aviation should be closer to 15 percent.

Build consensus

His plan revolves around getting at least 15 countries to build consensus around the problems and fears that are holding back liberalisation of the air traffic market, and to come up with a corrective plan of action.

The conversation will revolve around demonstrating to participants how removing constraints to travel such as capacity caps and reducing taxes on the industry can boost traffic and result in a much better overall picture.

“Every trip I make into Africa, I can’t get into any country directly; I have to go through another country. It is a continent that is so disconnected that it is easier to jump out and then back in to make it to the country next door,” Kamil said.

“I am pushing and hopefully by January 2023, we are starting to push all stakeholders with the intention to first of all get some routes open internally so that you can move within African easily.”

Source: The East African

IATA finds convenience is passengers’ top priority

According to IATA’s 2022 Global Passenger Survey (GPS), simplification and convenience are the top concerns in travelers’ minds since the Covid-19 pandemic.

The organization found that passengers want convenience when they plan their travel and when choosing where to depart from. Proximity to the airport was passengers’ main priority when choosing where to fly from (75%). This was more important than ticket price (39%).

Travelers were satisfied with being able to pay with their preferred payment method which was available for 82% of travelers. Having access to planning and booking information in one single place was identified as being a top priority. Additionally, 18% of passengers said that they offset their carbon emissions, the main reason given by those that did not was that they were not aware of the option (36%).

The research also found that most travelers are willing to share their immigration information for more convenient processing. According to the survey, 37% of travelers said they have been discouraged from traveling to a particular destination because of the immigration requirements.

Process complexity was highlighted as the main deterrent by 65% of travelers, 12% cited costs and 8% time. Where visas are required, 66% of travelers want to obtain a visa online prior to travel, 20% prefer to go to the consulate or embassy and 14% at the airport. Alongside this, 83% of travelers said they would share their immigration information to speed up the airport arrival process. While this is high, it is slightly down from the 88% recorded in 2021.

Nick Careen, senior vice president for operations, safety and security at IATA, said, “Travelers have told us that barriers to travel remain. Countries with complex visa procedures are losing the economic benefits that these travelers bring. Where countries have removed visa requirements, tourism and travel economies have thrived. And for countries requiring certain categories of travelers to get visas, taking advantage of traveler willingness to use online processes and share information in advance would be a win-win solution.”

Finally, passengers were reportedly willing to take advantage of technology and re-imagined processes to improve the convenience of their airport experience and manage their baggage. In particular, 44% of travelers identified check-in as their top pick for off-airport processing.

Immigration procedures were the second most popular ‘top pick’ at 32%, followed by baggage. Furthermore, 93% of passengers are interested in a special program for trusted travelers (background checks) to expedite security screening.

Surveyed passengers were also interested in more options for baggage handling – 67% stated that they would be interested in home pick-up and delivery and 73% in remote check-in options. Moreover, 80% of passengers said that would be more likely to check a bag if they could monitor it throughout the journey, and 50% said that they have used or would be interested in using an electronic bag tag.

The survey also found that passengers see value in biometric identification, with 75% of passengers wanting to use biometric data instead of passports and boarding passes. Over a third have already experienced using biometric identification in their travels, with an 88% satisfaction rate. However, data protection remained a concern for about half of travelers.

Careen continued, “Travel during Covid-19 was complex, cumbersome and time-consuming due to government-imposed travel requirements. Post-pandemic, passengers want improved convenience throughout their trip. Digitalization and use of biometrics to speed up the travel journey is the key. Passengers clearly see technology as key to improving the convenience of airport processes.

They want to arrive at the airport ready to fly, get through the airport at both ends of their journey more quickly using biometrics, and know where their baggage is at all times. The technology exists to support this ideal experience. But we need cooperation across the value chain and with governments to make it happen. And we need to continuously reassure passengers that the data needed to support such an experience will be safely kept.”

Muhammad Albakri, senior vice president of financial settlement and distribution services at IATA, said, “Today’s travelers expect the same online experience as they get from major retailers like Amazon. Airline retailing is driving the response to these needs. It enables airlines to present their full offer to travelers. And that puts the passenger in control of their travel experience with the ability to choose the travel options that they want with convenient payment options.”

Source: Passenger Terminal

KQ starts Dubai-Mombasa direct flights

Kenya Airways has announced the start of direct Mombasa-Dubai flights during the December festive season, a boost to tourism on the Coast.

In a statement, the national carrier said it will begin flying from Moi International Airport to Dubai during the tourism high peak period.

Hoteliers lauded the move, saying it will boost the sector that has been ailing from the Covid-19 pandemic, amid their calls for an open-skies policy to allow international airlines to land at the Coast region’s largest airport.

Tourism investors, led by Kenya Tourism Board director Bobby Kamani, welcomed the announcement, saying it will boost the sector.

“The announcement of KQ’s direct flights from Mombasa to Dubai from 1 December 2022 is a welcome change and brings us a step closer to the open skies policy that all tourism stakeholders are strongly advocating for,” he said.

“We are thankful to Kenya Airways, the Kenya Airports Authority and the Ministry of Tourism.”

He said the national airline has resumed the flights at an opportune time.

“It is well in advance of the festive period. The tourism fraternity looks forward to the resumption of flights to Mombasa by Turkish Airlines, Lufthansa and the introduction of FlyDubai, to continue the momentum,” Mr Kamani added.

He was confident that the new government and the incoming administration at the helm of the Ministry of Tourism will see the value of the open-skies policy.

“It is not just for tourism by way of lower air fares but for the economy as a whole with lower freight costs and an increased interest by international investors to invest in Kenya as they see the country being more accessible than ever before,” he added.

Mohammed Hersi, the chairman of the Diani Hospitality Owners Association, lauded Kenya Airways for resuming the Mombasa-Dubai direct flights.

“To our national carrier, Kenya Airways. If what I heard is true, then it is the way to go. The Dubai-Mombasa four times a week flight is progressive,” Mr Hersi said.

“We can’t wait for the following London-Mombasa, even three times a week is good enough, Amsterdam-Mombasa, Milan-Mombasa to serve Malindi and Watamu and Paris-Mombasa flights.”

He urged Kenya Airways to fly directly from Mumbai to Mombasa and Johannesburg to Mombasa.

“There is finally some light at the end of the tunnel. As always, I choose to remain an optimist,” he said.

New Tourism and Wildlife Cabinet Secretary Penina Malonza was urged to work with her counterpart in the Ministry of Transport to implement the open-skies policy to allow direct international flights to Kisumu and Mombasa to fill the over 40,000 beds in Coast hotels.

Some of the airlines that have been begging for licences to fly directly to Mombasa are KLM, Qatar, Turkish, Fly Dubai and Emirates.

“If these airlines fly to Mombasa, we will have traffic to fill our beds and further create employment,” said Kenya Coast Tourism Association (KCTA) chairman Victor Shitakha

In 2021, KLM announced direct flights from Amsterdam to Mombasa. But the plans were ‘halted’ after the airline failed to get rights to fly directly to the destination.

The region now enjoys more than 60 percent bed occupancy.

Source: Nation

Kenyan Safari firm-Twiga Tours named the best in the world

Twiga Tours is basking in glory after it was named as the World leading Safari company during the World Travel Awards (WTA), 2022 held in Muscat, Oman on Saturday night.

The Kenyan company emerged the best among other world best hospitality industries during the 29th anniversary Grand Tour – an annual search for the finest travel and tourism organisations in the world.

Founded in 1980, the firm which prides itself on offering highly personalised African Safari experiences in Kenya and the East Africa region, has stood the test of time, winning prestigious awards in the global arena.

“This is a great achievement for the company and the entire team. Winning this award on a global level is a testament to what our company stands for-quality and unique experiences. We take this opportunity to thank our amazing guests and partners across the globe for their confidence in us,” the company’s Chief Executive Officer Minaz Manji told the Nation.

” It has been a hard journey since our company’s inception 42 years ago but sheer hard work, dedication and the passion to create and provide the highest level of personal service has seen the growth of the company. We are proud of our achievements on the global platform,” he added.

Other winners in the ceremony include Maldives which claimed the ultimate honour of ‘World’s Leading Destination’ with Maldives Marketing and Public Relations Corporation (MMPRC) taking the title of ‘World’s Leading Tourist Board’.

Vietnam also claimed the headlines winning five major honours:. ‘World’s Leading City Break Destination’ went to Hanoi, ‘World’s Leading Nature Island Destination’ was presented to Phu Quoc, ‘World’s Leading Town Destination’ was won by Tam , ‘World’s Leading Regional Nature Destination’ was awarded to Moc Chau, with Vietnam winning ‘World’s Leading Heritage Destination’.

Other big destination category winners included Jamaica which took a hat-trick of honours, winning ‘World’s Leading Cruise Destination’, World’s Leading Family Destination’ and ‘World’s Leading Wedding Destination’. 

Saint Lucia, Dubai took the title of ‘World’s Leading Business Travel Destination for honeymoon

Abu Dhabi won ‘World’s Leading Sports Tourism Destination’ and Oman claimed top honors for ‘World’s Leading Nature Destination’. ‘World’s Leading City Destination’ went to Porto with the exciting title of ‘World’s Leading Emerging Tourism Destination’ being awarded to Batumi.

Speaking during the award ceremony World Travel Awards founder Graham Cooke told all the winners and hospitality industry to continue raising the benchmark in the industry.

Voting audience

“I would like to personally thank all of the winners tonight. You have been recognised by our global voting audience as the leaders of tourism excellence. I know that your commitment to becoming the very best will in turn serve to drive up standards across the industry and will raise the collective benchmark.” Mr Cooke said.

In the aviation sector, Qatar Airways  was named as the ‘World’s Leading Airline’ while Emirates took the title of ‘World’s Leading Airline Brand’ together with ‘World’s Leading Airline to the Middle East’, ‘World’s Leading Inflight Entertainment’ and ‘World’s Leading Airlines Rewards Programme.

Oman Air claimed the awards for ‘World’s Leading Airline – Business Class’, ‘World’s Leading Airline Lounge – Business Class’, and ‘World’s Leading Airline – Customer Experience’.

‘World’s Leading Airline – Economy Class’ was presented to Etihad Airways which also won the prize for ‘World’s Leading Airline Lounge – First Class.’ Oman Airports claimed a double honour by taking the awards for ‘World’s Leading Regional Airport 2022 (Salalah Airport), and World’s Leading Airport – Customer Experience (Muscat International Airport).

Sandals Resorts International were once again crowned ‘World’s Leading All-Inclusive Company’ with Beaches Resorts awarded ‘World’s Leading All-Inclusive Family Resort Brand’. The title of ‘World Leading All-Inclusive Resort’ went to Sandals, Grenada.

Source: Nation

Dubai to attract 40 million new hotel guests under Sheikh Mohammed plan

Dubai tourism looks set to boom amid plans to attract 40 million new hotel guests by as early as 2031.

His Highness Sheikh Mohammed Bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Vice-President and Prime Minister of the UAE, and Ruler of Dubai, has announced the new national strategy.

He said: “We are among the top 10 tourist destinations in the world and our goal is to accelerate our competitiveness by attracting Dhs100billion in additional tourism investments to this vital sector and receiving 40 million hotel guests in 2031.”

HH Sheikh Mohammed stressed the importance of tourism to the UAE economy – and hopes the new plan will see the sector’s contribution to GDP rise to Dhs450billion overall.

If that is to be achieved, tourism’s contribution must increase by Dhs27billion annually.

According to the plan, 25 initiatives and policies will be introduced to support tourism.

Investment will also be encouraged in the travel, aviation and hospitality sectors with the hope of attracting international companies.

HH Sheikh Mohammed continued: “Tourism is an important part of diversifying our national economy and an important tributary to consolidating our global competitiveness.

“Our airports received 22 million passengers in the first quarter of this year alone.

“Our goal is that the tourism sector’s contribution will be Dh450bn of our GDP in 2031.”

The UAE has enjoyed a surge in tourism numbers this year, with revenue exceeding Dhs19billion during the first half of 2022.

The total number of hotel guest numbers reached 12 million – a 42 percent increase.

In a Cabinet meeting last week, HH Sheikh Mohammed said: “Our indicators today are stronger than our indicators before the pandemic, and our economic growth is faster than before the pandemic, and our tourism, commercial and development sectors are larger than before the pandemic.”

This was particularly clear in Dubai, where a 182 percent year-on-year increase in international visitors was reported.

And this looks likely to increase dramatically over the coming weeks, too.

Hotels in Dubai and Abu Dhabi expect occupancy levels to rise by 80 to 100 percent, with demand surging due to the proximity to tournament hosts Qatar.

Source: Time Out Dubai