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Dubai Tourism supports Hotel Show

DUBAI Tourism was announced as the Supporting Partner for The Hotel Show Dubai 2021’s Hospitality Leadership Forum, from May 31 to June 2, 2021. Dubai Tourism worked closely with stakeholders across the public and private sectors to create the foundations first to restart tourism, and then to recapture the growth of recent years. The leadership panel at the Forum was strengthened by a keynote address by Issam Kazim, CEO of Dubai Corporation for Tourism and Commerce Marketing. The Hotel Show Dubai also welcomed the support from the Hospitality Asset Managers Association (HAMA) MEA.

Dubai Tourism is guided by the ultimate vision of positioning Dubai as the world's leading tourism destination and commercial hub, a mission that has become even more important during the challenges of Covid-19. Efforts have judged to be successful. STR figures showed that Dubai’s hotels ended 2020 with occupancy rates at around 71 per cent.

 

Priority Pass adds more airport lounges

PRIORITY Pass, the leading global airport lounge programme, has announced it will add over 150 new luxury airport lounges across the world in 2021. Alongside 100 new premium dining and relaxation experiences and railway and seaport lounges, this represents 20 per cent growth for the network. This announcement comes at the same time that evidence mounts that travel is set to return, with encouraging growth in domestic travel in the US, China and Russia, as well as recent announcements such as the EU saying that vaccinated travellers will be welcomed without restrictions.

Priority Pass has already added 32 new airport lounges this year – including Lufthansa Business lounges in New York Airport (JFK), Newark International Airport (EWR) and Washington Dulles Airport (IAD), and 14 lounges in China alone.

The Priority Pass network is a mix of partnerships as well as lounges owned by its sister company, Airport Dimensions, both owned by Collinson Group. Airport Dimensions has continued opening new lounges and sleep and rest experiences during the pandemic and is positioned to achieve a 483 per cent growth in locations since 2015.

 

InAfrica launches online travel marketplace

LAUNCHED as the premier marketplace for African experiences, the inAfrica team unveiled their global platform to an international audience of travel professionals and media during a virtual event on
April 19.

During the launch phases, inAfrica is a free online directory aimed at supporting adventure, tour and experience operators to maximise their bookings in the domestic and regional market.

The platform offers a safe, efficient, and user-friendly experience where people from all walks of life can find a variety of tours and activities to meet their tastes, interests and budgets and book them in real-time, online.

“As someone who has travelled over 30 countries myself, I knew that the experiences being offered would appeal to many like-minded travellers all over the world. I could also see the reality of how much local communities and guides relied on tourism income for their survival.” explains Phakamile Hlazo, the founder of inAfrica.

 

IMTM 2021 to be postponed

THE IMTM 2021 will be postponed to October as most exhibitors from around the world are not allowed to enter Israel.

Eyal Shmueli, one of the initiators of the exhibition: "The State of Israel has partially and limitedly opened its gates to inbound tourism, while most of the countries participating in the fair do not meet the conditions of the Ministry of Health, Out of 50 countries that were supposed to attend the IMTM International Tourism Exhibition, only a few will be able to enter, so we are forced to postpone the exhibition until the end of October 2021. The virtual exhibition currently taking place will continue until October 27, 2021."

The IMTM International Tourism Exhibition, which is expected to be attended by business people, hotel owners and airlines, is expected to be a major milestone to the return of the tourism routine.

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