The Emirates is one of the most easily accessible countries in the world, and every year hundreds and thousands of UAE residents undertake international journeys. While we may all be fans of last-minute, impromptu bookings it might not always seem feasible. But we can make it possible for you. Want to catch a quick break and sneak away for a vacation? Here are the 7 countries that are easily accessible from the UAE, where all you will need is a flight ticket and minimal pre-travel preparations. Oman UAE’s neighbour is one to reckon with when it comes to selecting a country for your international trip. It surely surpasses the expectations of every visitor with its grand mosques, spectacular mountain views, vibrant souks and white-sand beaches. Due to their proximity, non-stop flights are easily available to and from Oman, operated by Emirates, Etihad, Oman Air, Air Arabia and more. The flight duration is just one hour, while connecting flights could take longer. Roundtrip tickets from the UAE to Oman are readily available starting from AED 797. In a historic agreement, both countries have signed a deal to establish a rail network between Oman and the UAE, which will further facilitate travel. The passenger trains are expected to reach 200 kph, running between Sohar and Abu Dhabi in 100 minutes, and between Sohar and Al Ain in 47 minutes. Saudi Arabia Another country sharing land borders with the Emirates is the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, which is frequently visited by millions every year for what Saudi has to offer for every type of traveler all year round. Multiple direct flights are available every day, starting from airfares as low as AED 1,300. …

IHG® Hotels & Resorts announced the signing of a management agreement with the Owners of Carlton Al Moaibed Hotel in Al Khobar, that was founded by the late ‘Abdulrahman Al Moaibed and the late George N. Frem back in 1977, in order to transform the hotel into Saudi Arabia’s first Vignette Collection Hotel. The new property will be refurbished and is scheduled to be rebranded by 2024. The Vignette Collection is a family of one-of-a-kind, exclusive hotels curated for guests seeking rich and varied stay experiences. Promising luxury with purpose, Vignette Collection hotels weave responsibility, community, and locality together, and exist to make a positive impact in every way possible. The brand also gives owners of world-class independent hotels the opportunity to retain their distinctive identity, while benefitting from IHG’s global scale and luxury and lifestyle expertise. The rebranded Vignette Collections Hotel in Khobar will join existing Vignette properties across countries including Portugal, Austria, Thailand and Australia. The signing of the 150-key hotel in the Eastern Province capital also marks another milestone in IHG’s over 40-year presence in the Kingdom and brings a fresh and compelling luxury experience to the most discerning of guests. The rebranded Vignette Collection Hotel will be a part of a luxury community village with entertainment facilities, 5 food and beverage outlets, sophisticated experimental spa and health club. The community village will offer an Olympic-sized outdoor pool among other premium sporting facilities. Business guests will be able to take advantage of the hotel’s five multi-purpose meeting rooms and convention spaces, as well as other MICE (meetings, incentives, conferences and exhibitions) facilities that will accommodate up to 1,500 guests. The hotel is also strategically located just a …

Membership Collective Group opens its doors to The Ned Doha in Qatar, its third Ned hotel and members’ club and its first location in the Middle East. Founded in London in 2017, The Ned expanded in the summer of 2022 to include The Ned NoMad in New York, and now The Ned Doha opens in time for the 2022 FIFA World Cup. Set over five floors in the former site of the Ministry of Interior, overlooking the Arabian Gulf and Doha’s skyline, The Ned Doha features 90 bedrooms and suites, six public restaurants, a pool and club lounge, a health club with spa, salon, and fitness center, and a new 775sqm (8,350sq ft) event space for large-scale conferences, events, and receptions. “Five years after launching The Ned in London, we are excited to open in Doha. We are really excited to occupy one of the city’s most architecturally significant buildings, comprising of a hotel, multiple restaurants and its own private members’ club” said Gareth Banner, Group Managing Director, The Ned. “We look forward to providing our guests and members with a distinct experience, welcoming them to stay, connect, eat and have a good time.” Originally designed in the 1960s by Lebanese architect William Sednaoui, the building has been redesigned by David Chipperfield Architects of London with interiors by Soho House Design. Drawing inspiration from The Ned’s original address in London, there is a live performance stage beneath an atrium surrounded by a collection of restaurants and rich green marble sourced from the Greek island of Tinos. Set across five floors and facing the Al Corniche Waterfront, the arrival experience showcases a water feature, contemporary sculptures, as well as a striking, …

His Royal Highness Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman bin Abdulaziz, Prime Minister and Chairman of the Council of Economic and Development Affairs (CEDA), Chairman of the Public Investment Fund (PIF), announced the masterplan for King Salman International Airport which will boost Riyadh’s position as a global logistics hub, stimulate transport, trade and tourism, and act as a bridge linking the East with the West. The airport project is in line with Saudi Arabia’s vision to transform Riyadh to be among the top ten city economies in the world and to support the growth of Riyadh’s population to 15–20 million people by 2030. King Salman International Airport is expected to be one of the world’s largest airports covering an area of approximately 57 km2, allowing for six parallel runways and including the existing terminals named after King Khalid. It will also include 12km2 of airport support facilities, residential and recreational facilities, retail outlets, and other logistics real estate. The airport aims to accommodate up to 120 million travelers by 2030 and 185 million travelers, with the capacity to process 3.5 million tons of cargo, by 2050. It will become an aerotropolis centered around a seamless customer journey, world-class efficient operations, and innovation. Riyadh’s identity and the Saudi culture will be taken into consideration in the airport’s design to ensure a unique travel experience for visitors and transit travelers. With sustainability at its core, the new airport will achieve LEED Platinum certification by incorporating cutting edge green initiatives into its design and will be powered by renewable energy. The announcement comes as part of PIF’s strategy which focuses on unlocking the capabilities of promising sectors to enhance Saudi Arabia’s efforts in diversifying …

German National Tourist Office GCC will be hosting a webinar focusing on medical tourism in Berlin on Wednesday 7th December 2022 at 12 noon, UAE time. This webinar will bring to light the many new offerings for the visitors who need expert medical care and attention. Speaking to TTME Yamina Sofo, Director, German National Tourist Office GCC shared that she will start off the webinar with the importance of the GCC market and its impact especially the last summer, then move on to share insights on the current campaigns that focus on sustainable tourism. Sofo stated, “the webinar is two fold, first our focus is on the Feel Good campaign which is to demonstrate our commitment to promote sustainable tourism ensuring that all players and stakeholders are involved and benefitted long term. Sustainable tourism is not a mere PR exercise, but a campaign that will add value to the traveller whilst granting them an opportunity to explore a truly authentic experience. Travellers can explore wide open spaces, natural forests, springs, lakes and rivers across Germany. Secondly, we will be promoting medical tourism with our capital Berlin, Michaela Kehrer, Medical Tourism Manager visitBerlin, will be sharing her expertise on what can be expected when on medical travel.”

The World Travel & Tourism Council’s (WTTC) 22nd Global Summit opened its doors in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, in what is set to be the largest event in its history. The global tourism body’s highly anticipated Global Summit, which is the most influential Travel & Tourism event in the calendar, kicked off today in Riyadh with an estimated 3,000 people expected to attend. Addressing media from around the world, Julia Simpson, WTTC President & CEO, announced that the event taking place this week is set to break all records, with more international business leaders and foreign government delegations attending than ever before. Simpson also revealed over the next five years, WTTC Members are set to invest more than $10.5 billion dollars in the Kingdom. Julia Simpson, WTTC President & CEO said: “Our Global Summit will be our biggest ever in terms of business leaders, international media and governments from around the world. Our event is bringing together many of the world’s most powerful Travel & Tourism business leaders to discuss and secure its long-term future, which is critical to economies, jobs, and livelihoods around the world.” His Excellency Ahmed Al Khateeb, Minister of Tourism for Saudi Arabia, said: “The Kingdom is proud to welcome the 22nd WTTC Global Summit to Riyadh. “With more government ministers and world leading CEOs than ever before, it will be a true display of the future we want to create. A future founded in public and private sector partnership, with sustainability and innovation at its core.” Under the theme “Travel for a Better Future” the event will focus on the value of the sector, not only to the global economy, but to the planet and communities …

Dubai Calendar, the official listing platform for events in the city, has curated a range of the best live entertainment, cultural, lifestyle and sporting events that will take place in Dubai during December 2022. The epic line up of events includes the BudX FIFA Fan Festival, Emirates Airline Dubai 7s, Dubai Shopping Festival and the Christmas Concert at Dubai Opera, and much more. As the sporting season moves into top gear with the FIFA World Cup Qatar 2022TM, Dubai is pulling out all the stops to add to the excitement with a host of football-themed fan zones, sports lounges, and family-friendly destinations to welcome sports enthusiasts. These destinations include the BudX FIFA Fan Festival at Dubai Harbour which will be one of only six international flagship FIFA Fan Festivals worldwide. Additionally, there will be fan-zones dotted throughout the city, from the football-themed Fan City at Expo City Dubai, Fanzone by McGettigan’s at the Dubai Media City Amphitheatre, Press Play at Precision Football and many more. Emirates Dubai 7s is one of the largest sports and entertainment festivals in the Middle East. This year is set to be bigger and better than ever before, with international music headliners such as Gorgon City and Craig David making for an epic celebration of music and the best international men’s and women’s rugby teams from 1st – 3rd  December. Get ready to see the region’s most skilled horses and talented jockeys go head to head for a grand prize at the Racing at Meydan. The action continues this winter with races scheduled from 4th November to 19th February with the first race starting at 6pm. Feel patriotic and full of life at the Skechers …

Emirates officially opened its ‘Emirates World’ retail store experience in the heart of Jumeirah, one of Dubai’s most vibrant communities. Located in Jumeirah Town Centre, the airline’s redesigned 3,000 square foot retail store is an open and fluid space for customers to shop for all of their travel needs in a lounge-like environment. It will also offer customers the ability to literally immerse themselves in Emirates’ signature products via VR/ AR technologies. Emirates World was officially inaugurated with a special ribbon cutting by His Highness Sheikh Ahmed bin Saeed Al Maktoum, Chairman and Chief Executive, Emirates Airline & Group. Also in attendance was Sir Tim Clark, President Emirates Airline, Adnan Kazim, Emirates’ Chief Commercial Officer, senior Emirates commercial and sales executives, in addition to government representatives, industry guests, corporate customers and members of the media. Adnan Kazim, Emirates’ Chief Commercial Officer said: “Emirates World sets a new standard for the travel retail store experience and embodies our commitment to provide customers best-in-class products and services across every touchpoint. The opening of this latest concept store is an expression of our retail vision for the future and marks the first of several stores we’ll be opening in the coming years across our network. It’s also part of our larger retail strategy to make the store experience more convenient, engaging and personal.  We’ll employ a mix of the latest technology coupled with personalised one-to-one service from our highly knowledgeable travel consultants. Our open, welcoming, and functional space will also allow customers to discover our products like Premium Economy seats, in addition to a host of other elegantly displayed experiences.” The Emirates World store features a free-flowing open floor plan that allows customers …

The special one-off concert will take place at Dubai’s Coca-Cola Arena on Friday 27 January 2023 and will feature two and a half hours of new and reimagined arrangements from the Oscar-winning composer’s stellar back catalogue, all spectacularly recreated on stage by Zimmer himself, together with a large orchestra and complemented by Hans Zimmer’s magnificent live band and dancers. Hans Zimmer Live is being brought to the United Arab Emirates by Dubai’s Department of Economy and Tourism (DET) as part of its Dubai Presents series and will be one of the closing shows of the Dubai Shopping Festival (DSF), which runs across the city from December 2022 to 29 January 2023. Hans Zimmer commented: “I’m thrilled to bring Hans Zimmer Live to Dubai for the very first time. As one of the world’s most exciting and dynamic cities that’s home to over 200 nationalities, this is a great opportunity to speak to a multicultural global audience in the universal language of music. It seems fitting to bring our show to such an extraordinary city, and treat its people to an unforgettable evening of music and entertainment!” Issam Kazim, CEO, Dubai Corporation for Tourism and Commerce Marketing, commented: “Hans Zimmer is one of the all-time music greats and it’s an honour that Dubai will be the first place in the Middle East to host his renowned live show. Hosting this concert further reinforces Dubai’s position as a global events hub for award-winning international artists to perform and we will continue to work with our stakeholders to further enhance our event offerings in line with the vision of His Highness, Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, UAE Vice President and Prime Minister …

The fifth edition of the Commercial Strategy Conference by Hospitality Sales Marketing Association HSMAI Middle East kicked off with TravTalk ME, TravelTV MiddleEast and Tourismbreakingnews as media partners. Almost 300 participants attended the opening day from all the leading hotel chains in the Middle East. In her opening remarks Mona Faraj, Managing Director of HSMAI ME welcomed everyone for the event, “this year we have created two stages – one the main stage for topical events and the other focused on trends and insights with topical content on marketing and communications. Last year, I was told Mona you’re not covering enough topical content across commercial disciplines, specifically marketing and communications, you know we are all marketers here whether we know it or not, but we don’t have the skills for it and what we did is that we created or formed the most active marketing advisory board that have put a lot of the content over the past two years. Every single year we listen to your feedback and try to deliver educational content that is more meaningful to you. We also did a lot of new content this year, so you will see later on we have a new rock star later on and you will hear why, we brought in the lightning round, now please make sure you attend all six of them, your up for a treat. 2022 was a year full of educational webinars, activities, events and exposure because it is important to maintain that social element within our regional organisational members.” She concluded saying that over the past year 29 events were hosted by HSMAI ME and that they look forward to make it 50 …