Qatar Airways enhanced its presence in Southern Africa with the launch of a new linked service between Doha and Lusaka, Zambia and Harare, Zimbabwe. To mark this milestone, the new linked service was inaugurated by the airline’s state-of-the-art Airbus A350-900 featuring 36 seats in the award-winning Qsuite Business Class and 247 seats in Economy Class.   Qatar Airways now operates to Lusaka’s Kenneth Kaunda International Airport (LUN). The country’s largest city and commercial centre, Lusaka is the gateway to experiencing Zambia’s legendary tourist attractions from the Victoria Falls which it shares with Zimbabwe, to game reserves and a variety of wildlife. Meanwhile, Harare, the capital of Zimbabwe, will be served via Robert Gabriel Mugabe International Airport (HRE) is also a destination with rich culture, World Heritage–listed archaeological sites, and diverse natural landscapes. The aircraft was greeted in Lusaka and Harare by traditional water cannon salutes upon arrival.   The airline has demonstrated its steadfast commitment to Africa throughout the pandemic having significantly grown its network by adding four routes to Accra, Abidjan, Abuja, Luanda and restarting services to Alexandria, Cairo and Khartoum bringing its footprint to 27 destinations in 21 countries. Earlier this month, Qatar Airways also signed an interline agreement with RwandAir giving customers greater access to the combined networks of both airlines.   Qatar Airways Group Chief Executive, His Excellency Mr. Akbar Al Baker, said: “We have ambitious plans for Africa which is one of the fastest-growing economic regions of the world, with rising consumer demand and an abundance of natural resources. We see enormous potential in not just outbound travel from Zimbabwe and Zambia, but also inbound traffic from India, UK, and Americas. We look forward to …

As demand for travel picks up, greater digital integration between airline and package holidays ecosystem aims to streamline booking process to increase inbound tourism to the Sultanate, consistent with economic objectives set out in Oman’s Vision 2040 strategy. Oman Air Holidays unveiled its revamped brand, complete with a new wordmark logo and refreshed visual identity. Developed in-house, the new look and feel supports a shift in the company’s strategy towards facilitating in-bound tourism in the Sultanate through integrated ‘Fly & Stay’ package holidays available on its website. Aligned closely with Oman’s Vision 2040 strategy, which aims to develop a diversified and sustainable economy through opportunities that strengthen the country’s global competitiveness, Oman Air Holidays is redoubling efforts to broaden its integrated offering of flights, hotels, excursions and travel experiences which caters to growing local and international demand. Also unveiled were Oman Air Holidays’ refocused vision and mission statements, which champion ambitions to become one of the top tourism operators in the Middle East by leveraging Oman Air’s flight frequencies into the Sultanate from international source markets, and position Oman as a uniquely different holiday experience to travel trade globally. “The timing is right for Oman Air Holidays to foster closer ties with local and international travel trade,” said Mundher Al Shaikhani​, Senior Manager Oman Air Holidays. “As vaccine roll-out ramps up, we’re seeing renewed interest for package holidays and custom stays from locals inquiring about quick getaway options, as well as international guests in the early stages of planning their next overseas holiday. Our refreshed brand, vision and mission statements, and booking platform encapsulate our strategy to develop and offer exclusive ‘Fly & Stay’ packages here in Oman and everywhere …

Gulf Air restored its flagship double daily direct passenger flights to London Heathrow in line with the latest decision by the British authorities to add the Kingdom of Bahrain to their Amber List as of 8th of August. Being on the amber list will mean that citizens and residents of Bahrain will be able to quarantine at their choice of residence for 10 days as opposed to institutional quarantine for arrivals from red list countries. Commenting on restoring double daily direct passenger flights to London, Gulf Air’s Acting Chief Executive Officer Captain Waleed AlAlawi commented: “London is one of our main destinations in Western Europe and we’ve been connecting both Kingdoms since 1970. It has also been a destination that we maintained scheduled operations to throughout 2020. Thanks to the great efforts by The National Taskforce for Combating the Coronavirus (COVID-19), the Kingdom of Bahrain is now moved from the red list to the amber list in the UK colour coding entry system.” He added: “Gulf Air is known for its morning and night flights to and from London and we’re happy to bring these back to offer more flexibility and convenience to our passengers”. Gulf Air began the summer season with flights to 80% of its pre-pandemic network and it continued to resume operations and restore services to cities of its original 2019 destination network. The airline has also announced that it has successfully launched all of its seasonal destinations for the summer of 2021 with direct flights to Mykonos and Santorini in Greece, Malaga in Spain and Alexandria and Sharm El Sheikh in Egypt as well as recently resuming Tbilisi in Georgia. The airline currently flies to and …

Al Rostamani Travels recently announced their digital transformation with the launch of their new E-Commerce portal (alrostamanitravel.ae) Bimal Jain, General Manager stated, “Al Rostamani Travels has predominantly been known as a Corporate TMC, even though we have a strong presence in Retail, Leisure and UAE Inbound verticals. We identified areas we could grow and diversify in and one segment that we realised needed a lot of focus, was our technology offering. Therefore, we decided to invest heavily in developing an end-to-end web-based booking system in a fully integrated single-platform ecosystem, not only for our B2C customers but also for our B2B market segment. We have also revamped our Social Media channels to ensure our customers can get the latest promotions and most relevant information directly from us” One of the leading travel companies in the UAE since 1979, Al Rostamani Travels provides services including Corporate & MICE Travel, Outbound Leisure packages and UAE Inbound packages. They are the appointed “Preferred Sales Agents” for globally renowned leisure brands such as Globus, Cosmos, Monograms & Avalon River Cruises, Rail Europe, Interhome, Norwegian Cruise Line, Thomas Cook India and are also the Authorized Ticket Reseller of Dubai EXPO. Jain concluded, “Our extensive experience under the Al Rostamani corporate brand is an established reputation that has been developed through the knowledge and expertise of our people.  In a competitive environment, our leading edge remains to be our customized approach in rendering travel counseling, enabled with seamless personalized service that is supported by a committed work force. Our decision to embark on an exciting journey to restructure and transform our business through heavy investment in digitalization was a strategic one. Even when markets around the …

Dubai’s Department of Tourism and Commerce Marketing (Dubai Tourism) has launched its latest global campaign, featuring superstars Jessica Alba and Zac Efron, as it continues to drive global travel recovery and growth. Dubai Presents – filmed by Director’s Guild award-winning director Craig Gillespie of recent Cruella movie fame – takes a unique perspective to global destination advertising, using a highly stylised movie trailer approach to create engaging content, backdropped by some of Dubai’s most iconic landmarks and unique hidden locations. Kicking off with the high adrenaline Spy Action genre, the campaign will see a series of exciting new content launching in sequence to keep audiences guessing and anticipating. Building on the hugely successful campaign film, ‘A Story Takes Flight’ released by Dubai Tourism in 2019 and featuring Gwyneth Paltrow, Kate Hudson and Zoe Saldana; this new campaign will see more than 2,000 assets released in 27 countries across 16 languages via cinema, print, broadcast, out of home, digital and social media channels. Dubai recently marked a year since it reopened its doors to international travellers. Data from Dubai Tourism shows that the city welcomed 4.1 million overnight visitors in a 12-month period from July 2020 to June 2021. This figure underscores the leading role that Dubai continues to play in global tourism recovery offering a safe, appealing, and memorable experience for travellers. Dubai’s approach since the start of the global pandemic has been one of preparedness, agility and consistency. It was one of the first cities globally to reopen its markets and businesses, and continues to stay open. This was achieved through a prudent and staggered approach to the reopening of sectors while ensuring strict compliance with globally benchmarked health …

Emirates and Aeromar have announced that they have entered into an interline partnership which will provide seamless connectivity for customers between destinations in Mexico and United States via Mexico City to Emirates’ global network. Through this interline partnership, customers will now be able to book tickets to fly to and from 12 destinations in Mexico and the United States covered by the interline agreement via Mexico City, connecting to Emirates’ flights EK 256/255 between Mexico City, Barcelona and Dubai. Customers can then journey to Emirates’ network of more than 120 cities across the world. The interline agreement allows customers the convenience of booking their entire journey on a single ticket with uniform baggage policy and fare conditions. Tickets can be booked online on emirates.com or through travel agents. “Emirates is delighted to enter into this interline partnership with Aeromar. The strength of Aeromar’s regional flight network will allow us to connect a large number of travellers from cities in Mexico and Texas, United States to our global network via Mexico City, Barcelona and Dubai. Customers will not only have the opportunity to experience Emirates’ signature hospitality and flight experience but will also have the convenience of booking their journey from Mexico on a single ticket available online on Emirates’ website or through their travel agents,” said Adnan Kazim, Emirates’ Chief Commercial Officer. “Aeromar is very proud to partner with Emirates, globally recognized for its excellence of service and unrivaled Dubai hub. The agreement is a testament to Aeromar´s high quality standars and further enhances our strong interline cooperation portfolio, which includes several industry leading international airlines serving Mexico,” added Fabricio Cojuc, Aeromar’s Executive Director, Network Strategy and Alliances. The destinations …

Oman Air, the national carrier of the Sultanate of Oman, will resume flights to Jeddah on 11 August, 2021. The twice-weekly flights will operate on Wednesday and Saturday as WY 1675 from Muscat (MCT) and WY 1676 from Jeddah (JED). Flights from Muscat will depart at 15:25 and arrive in Jeddah at 17:40. Flights from Jeddah will depart at 19:40 and arrive in Muscat at 23:45. No quarantine required for fully vaccinated travellers, with proof of second dose administered 14 days prior to arrival. Oman Air will maintain its comprehensive safety program throughout all elements of the travel journey to ensure that guests fly confidently. Masks are required when guests are on board the aircraft and in Oman’s airports. Distancing is maintained while guests board and exit the aircraft, which are carefully cleaned after each flight and at the end of every day. Cabin crew all wear a full set of personal protective equipment, meal service has been modified to further ensure safety, and a number of other measures have been implemented to ensure that the airline’s guests and crew are safe at all times. Guests who are planning to travel to Muscat should visit the Civil Aviation Authority website, caa.gov.om, to ensure they are prepared to comply with requirements to enter the Sultanate. Guests travelling to Jeddah should ensure they are aware of official requirements to enter or transit through the country. Guests travelling for Umrah should be aware of the latest conditions for travel, as well as other relevant Umrah measures and restrictions, available on omanair.com Guests departing from Oman should also ensure that they are aware of all pre-departure requirements and requirements during their flights, which are …

Ishraq Hospitality, part of Mohamed & Obaid AlMulla group has announced the appointment of Joseph Karam as Cluster General Manager for Crowne Plaza Dubai Jumeirah and Crowne Plaza Dubai-Deira. Joseph’s role will see him utilize his wealth of hospitality experience to spearhead the direction for both hotels.   Hailing from Lebanon, Joseph has a lifelong love for hospitality, ignited by playing as a child in the historic Belmont Hotel. With over two decades of hospitality experience, Joseph trained as a waiter and quickly found he loved talking to different types of people. He has strong commercial acumen, with vast experience of implementing creative and effective change initiatives. Joseph holds a bachelor’s degree in Hotel Management and Tourism with an MBA major in Human Resources Management.   Prior to his current position, Joseph has extensive global experience working in multi-branded hospitality companies across the world, including Lebanon, Thailand, Qatar and of course, the UAE. His diverse experience in all areas of hospitality – including a stint working as a HR Director for the InterContinental Hotels Group (IHG) – means Joseph has a hands-on, personable attitude. His hospitality journey has come full circle, having worked initially as a waiter at Crowne Plaza Abu Dhabi, at the beginning of his career.   Joseph will be responsible for leading Crowne Plaza Dubai Jumeirah & Crowne Plaza Dubai-Deira as prime destinations in the UAE. “With the hospitality industry finally getting back on its feet, it is a pleasure to be opening the Crowne Plaza brand in the Jumeirah 1 area. Globally we are completely transforming the brand as we build hotels of the future with flexible design and innovation that modern travellers crave. The location …

Abu Dhabi International Airport (AUH) has welcomed two new weekly flights between Abu Dhabi and Baghdad, the capital of Iraq. The inaugural flight, operated by Iraqi Airways using Boeing 737-800 aircraft, landed at Abu Dhabi International Airport (AUH) on Saturday 7 August at 17:00 Local Time (LT). Iraqi Airways will start by operating one flight per week and will then increase its number flights to two per week. Flights will be operating on both Saturdays and Tuesdays, upon the recovery of the travel demand. Francois Bourienne, Chief Commercial Officer at Abu Dhabi Airports said: “The introduction of the new flights connecting Abu Dhabi and Baghdad will support the Iraqi community in the UAE, facilitating a smoother travel experience for them. We consistently expand our network at Abu Dhabi International Airport, meeting the travel requirements of all who live in the UAE as well as international tourists looking to visit our leading destinations. “Abu Dhabi Airports continues to identify and leverage areas of demand for both passengers and airlines. At Abu Dhabi Airports, we remain committed to providing our customers with the best travel experience, while ensuring their health and wellbeing, which is our main priority,” Bourienne added. Captain Kifah Jabar, Chief Executive Officer of Iraqi Airways said: “Iraqi Airways is proud to commence operations between Abu Dhabi and Baghdad. We believe that connecting the two capitals will strengthen the relations between our countries, delivering greater corporation to enable successful operations in this sector.” Outbound flights will depart from Abu Dhabi International Airport on Saturdays and Tuesdays at 18:00 Local Time (LT), landing in Baghdad at 19:15 LT. Return flights will depart from Baghdad International Airport on Saturdays and Tuesdays at …

The first hotel to open outside of Europe 25hours Hotel One Central is set to debut by Q4 2021 in Dubai. The very first 25hours hotel to launch in the Middle East, the highly anticipated Dubai outpost will celebrate and champion individuality, reverberating the mantra that 24 hours is simply not enough! It is a fun and vibrant property with a wonderfully welcoming aura- a real place, intended for real people to come as they are! 25hours will make your stay one to remember, transporting you to an exhilarating playground that feels like it’s almost home. Overlooking the Museum of the Future and boasting 434 rooms and suites, 25hours Hotel One Central tells the region’s story through its interiors, combining the ancient traditions of the Bedouins with a progressive, forward-thinking design and a nod to the future. Impactful, breath-taking and phenomenal design awaits at the UAE outpost.   Masterminded by interior design firm, Woods Baggot, elements of tales where the traditional meets the modern are intricately woven and exhibited floor-by-floor, creating an entirely contemporary narrative, promising a truly one-of-a-kind experience. Prepare to be electrified!   Offering a unique take on co-working spaces, 25hours Hotel One Central provides an inviting space fully equipped with a modern ‘open’ pantry concept to encourage a community feel, allowing local heroes to connect with the well-travelled. A paint and pottery studio, podcast recording room and record decks also add another stellar dimension to the offering in true 25hours style.   Additionally, 25hours Hotel One Central has partnered with MINI to allow guests with a sense of adventure the opportunity to get out and explore the city on their own terms.   If an epic culinary …