TravTalk Middle East Online Magazine
ITB Berlin is undoubtedly the foremost business platform where all stakeholders from around the globe gather to showcase their products and offerings. Leading hospitality and other stakeholders from the United Arab Emirates share with their focus for 2017.
SHEHARA RIZLY
In line with Ajman’s Vision 2021 and ATDD’s strategic plan, we will be focusing on increasing brand awareness by promoting our different tourist destinations, activities and events through our destination website www.ajman.travel and mobile App. We will be discussing tourism investment opportunities and sign major marketing agreements with leading German tour operators to attract more tourists and investors. Germany is one of the most important European markets for Ajman. Europeans contribute 17 per cent to room nights and Ajman welcomed around 52,000 tourists from Europe making it overall a very important market with further potential.
Faisal Al Nuaimi, General Manager, Ajman Tourism Development Department
We look forward to generate contractual business with German, European operators and to get an insight on the latest trends developed from a marketing aspect. European and in specific German visitors are a major market feeder for our properties holding more than quarter of the leisure market followed by Scandinavian countries.
Mohamed Awadalla, CEO, Time Hotels
We will be promoting our new 179-key property, Wyndham Garden Ajman Corniche, at this year’s ITB. The new hotel will be part of Ajman Tourism Development Department (ATDD) stand. We seek to strengthen our presence in the Balkans, Baltic, East Europe, and West Europe, particularly Germany, which are the stronghold in our two existing properties in Ajman; and these will be also be our key markets for Wyndham Garden Ajman Corniche.
Iftikhar Hamdani, Cluster General Manager, Ramada Hotel & Suites Ajman, Ramada Beach Hotel Ajman and Wyndham Garden Ajman Corniche
Ramada Downtown Dubai will highlight its location which has always been its USP. Germans are champions of world travel and are loyal tourists. Once they like the destination, they keep visiting and we aim to capture this. The German and West European market share in our property was at 14 per cent and we seek to boost this percentage, alongside the overall European segment. There has been a decline in tourists but the numbers are gradually increasing. The cruise business is also gaining momentum, which will help us to develop this market further.
Shahzad Butt, General Manager, Ramada Downtown Dubai
The main focus will be for both hotels – Ramada Plaza Jumeirah Beach and for Ramada Sharjah. Especially for Ramada Sharjah as the conversion of the hotel has been completed now with an inventory of 343 units we will focus on the hotel and all its benefits and new facilities available. The European market is very important for both the hotels. The business mix is very important and for UAE the variety in the incoming market is big, but one of the main market has always been the European market.
Angela Christodoulopoulou, Cluster Director of Sales and Marketing, Ramada Plaza Jumeirah Beach & Ramada Sharjah
We are rolling out our loyalty scheme to our guests and expect to see good results not only for 2017 but also the future. We will update our website, ensuring that it is easy for guests to book and also offer special deals to our loyalty members. We will continue to focus on our key markets, working closely with our partners. However, we are also focusing on growing markets as well. Golden Sands continues to participate at key exhibitions as it is important to meet with decision-makers from our partner companies to discuss contracts, as well as market feedback and trends. It is also a good platform for networking. Our must-attend exhibitions currently are; SATTE, ITB, ATM & WTM.
Mohammed Khoori, General Manager, Golden Sands Hotel Apartments
Latest product developments and openings including Centara’s first properties in the Middle East, opening in Qatar and Oman in mid-2017. Europe is a major source market contributing a fifth of total business. For the Middle East properties, Europe will remain a crucial market due to location convenience and myriad choices of airline carriers.
Paul Wilson, VP Sales, Centara
ITB Berlin will be the first exhibition for us to officially introduce our new property, MGallery by Sofitel, at the global stage. Located in Palm Jumeirah, it will be the first health and wellness resort in the GCC. There is an increased demand in wellness tourism, not just in Europe, but across the globe, and we aim to take full advantage of this trend. With all the travel trade professionals under one roof, this is an ideal opportunity for us to promote our product, including the treatments and retreat packages.
Samir Arora, General Manager, MGallery by Sofitel
ITB is an important platform to promote our hotels where we have German guests who like to stay in our properties for leisure and to enjoy our hotel activities and the beach. During ITB, we will meet with all our partners based in Europe and will discuss any additional services they may provide us to increase business opportunities. We will meet travel agencies, DMCs and tour operators for the leisure business and inbound travel to Abu Dhabi and discuss the rates that we would offer to book them mainly from Europe and to meet new TPIs to broaden our online GDS’ channels.
Manoj Kanwal, Operations Director, Danat
With its proximity to the beach, Hawthorn Suites by Wyndham JBR will be targeting the European markets seeking the year-long sunny weather which Dubai has, especially the family travellers. We’ll highlight our kid-friendly facilities and offers, including the Junior VIP check-in, the spacious family suites, etc. Our property’s main feeder market remains leisure and family travellers from the GCC, but we’ve seen an increase in German and European markets last year, with five per cent in the total nationality mix and we aim to strengthen our presence in these segments.
Mohamed Saad, Director of Sales & Marketing, Hawthorn Suites by Wyndham JBR
