The world’s most successful travel and tourism brands have been recognised for their roles in spearheading the global travel and tourism recovery at the World Travel Awards 2012 Grand Final Gala Ceremony in Doha, Qatar.

Companies including American Express, Starwood Hotels, Lufthansa, Abercrombie & Kent, Royal Caribbean Cruise Line, Virgin Atlantic Airways, Europcar, Etihad and Incredible India all received awards at the ceremony on 11 January 2012.

The World Travel Awards Ceremony was held in partnership with Qatar Tourism Authority at Katara Cultural Village, Doha’s ground-breaking new arts and exhibitions complex.

Last night’s awards featured winners from the World Travel Awards’ five 2011 regional heats competing head to head.

India saw off the likes of London, New York, Cape Town, Rio de Janeiro and Sydney to win the World’s Leading Destination award in a year in which international arrivals edged closer to the target of one billion travellers by 2016.

One of the most prolific successes was for Etihad Airways, which was voted World’s Leading Airline for the third year in a row.

It was also an evening of celebration for Qatar, with Doha being voted “World’s Leading Business Travel Destination”, Qatar Airways named “World’s Leading Airline Business Class”, and Regency Travel & Tours winning “World’s Leading Travel Agency”.

Qatar Tourism Authority Chairman, Mr. Ahmed Al Nuaimi, said: “We are delighted to be honoured as the World’s Leading Business Destination by our peers in the global hospitality industry. This is a great achievement and solidifies Qatar’s premier position as a great place to do business as well as one with first class leisure, sporting and cultural attractions”.

Graham Cooke, President and Founder, World Travel Awards, said: “The past year has continued to challenge every strata of travel and tourism. However our Grand Final winners have all demonstrated their world-class pedigree over this period, and are currently spearheading the global recovery of travel and tourism. In doing so they are also reinforcing our industry’s role as one of the mainstays of the global economy.”

“Qatar in particular is playing a decisive role in generating new opportunities in travel and tourism, hence our decision to host our Grand Final in Doha. More than US $100 billion worth of infrastructure is due to be completed before the 2022 Fifa World Cup,” he added.

Established 19 years ago, World Travel Awards is committed to raising the standards of customer service and overall business performance throughout the international tourism industry.

The 2011 WTA nominations featured more than 5,000 companies in 1,000 categories across 162 countries. The winners were selected by more than 210,000 industry professionals and consumers worldwide.

WTA partnered with tourism marketing firm Phenomena to bring the ceremony to Qatar.

Photo: Brad West, Manager Middle East , Virgin Atlantic Airways at the World Travel Awards. The airline won the award for the World’s Leading Airline Inflight Entertainment.

Bookmark It

Orbitz Worldwide, Inc, has announced that it will be teaming up with Hawaiian Airlines in a multi-year partnership.

The two companies will join forces to launch a private label solution which will power both hotel and dynamic package bookings on the airline’s website – hawaiianairlines.com.

Hawaiian Airlines is the leading provider of travel within the Hawaiian Islands and serves over 8 million passengers annually on 190 daily flights.

According to breakingtravelnews.com, this new agreement between the two companies means that Hawaiian Airlines can leverage Orbitz Worldwide’s proprietary technology, which extends exclusive vacation package and hotel deals to customers on the Hawaiian Airlines site.

This will also allow customers who are travelling between Hawaii and Asia, Australia or the United States to have access to deals at tens of thousands of hotels worldwide when they book through the Hawaiian Airlines site.

The new partnership also allows Hawaiian Airlines to provide hotel suggestions to customers who would otherwise just use the site to book air travel.

Peter Ingram, Hawaiian’s chief commercial officer told breakingtravelnews.com: “We are excited to leverage the superior merchandising capabilities offered by Orbitz, and are delighted that our partnership will also enable us to further strengthen our relationships with many Hawaii hotels.

“We’re pleased to be offering our valued customers an expanded selection of products and destinations, as well as the Orbitz private label sales and service team to support them at every turn.”

Ronnie Gurion the president of Orbitz Worldwide Distrobution added: “Hawaiian Airlines is a very strategic partner for Orbitz due to the market it serves, its loyal online customer base, and its commitment to offering great value in vacation packages to its customers.

“Following a highly competitive review process to determine the ideal travel technology partner, we are thrilled to provide the most flexible solution and an ability to offer superior customer value through specially promoted pricing.”

Picture: Merfam

Bookmark It

The holiday and baggage handling arm of Emirates Airline, Dnata, has bought control of one of the largest online travel agents in Britain.

The company has been on a sort of buying spree of late, as they attempt to strengthen their position in the online travel market.

The company recently bought Travel Republic for an undisclosed fee, according to The National, and it has the potential to channel more UK traffic through the Dubai company.

Over two million people a year use Travel Republic’s website to book their holidays, and Iain Andrew, the divisional senior vice president of Dnata’s travel business, told The National: “Travel Republic will complement our existing leisure and corporate travel services in Dubai and internationally.

“The company has an impressive, dynamic management team and I can be confident that together we can further develop the business, in line with the outstanding service and quality for which Dnata is renowned.”

Dnata is part of the Emirates Group and has more than 20,000 employees, spread across 76 airports around the world, who are involved in ground handling, flight catering and IT services.

In the past six years the company has spread from being primarily focused on Dubai, to being a global aviation firm and it has managed to increase its revenues fourfold.

Travel Republic, which is now owned by Dnata, has an impressive reputation for building business around the demand from people to book their travel online, independent of traditional tour operators.

Since Travel Republic launched in 2003, it has continued to grow and is now one of a handful of travel agents to dominate the online market in the UK along with Expedia and Lastminute.com.

Kane Pirie, the managing director of Travel Republic, also spoke to The National saying: “We are excited that Travel Republic has joined the Dnata family. Dnata is forward-thinking and ambitious and will help accelerate our growth across Europe and beyond.”

Picture: Simon_sees

Bookmark It

The Ritz-Carlton Hotel Company L.L.C has announced plans for a new hotel in Vienna, its first in Austria.

As part of the hotel company’s global expansion, the Ritz-Carlton Vienna is owned by an investor represented by Verny Capital, who also completed the acquisition of the Ritz-Carlton Moscow.

The hotel, located on Schubertring, the historic and famous site of numerous monumental buildings built in the mid to late 19th Century, offers 202 rooms.

Home of the Vienna State Opera (pictured) and the Museum of Fine Arts, Vienna is well known for its essential role as a leading European Classical Music Centre. The Ritz-Carlton Vienna is located in two 19th Century palaces which are listed as culturally protected properties.

“We are honoured to have been selected by Verny Capital to assume management of this incredible hotel,” said Herve Humler, president and chief operating officer, The Ritz-Carlton Hotel Company, L.L.C.

“We have viewed many sites in Vienna over the years and believe this location will offer our sophisticated travelers an exciting new place to explore and enjoy. The Ringstrasse, as it is known, encircles the old city of Vienna.

“Constructed in the late 19th century this prime location, combined with the exemplary service for which The Ritz-Carlton is known, will produce memorable stays for all our guests when it opens in the second quarter of 2012.”

Timur Issatayev of Verny Capital said: “We are delighted that The Ritz-Carlton Hotel Company will be entering the Austrian market in association with us.

“Our selection of The Ritz-Carlton is based on a very strict assessment of the company’s renowned stature in the hospitality industry and our existing relationship with them.”

Asked about additional growth in the region for Ritz-Carlton, Humler added: “We continue to explore other opportunities and destinations in Europe. With the region’s strong travel and tourism industry, we see expansion in Europe, with the right hotels in the right locations, to be an essential part of our future strategy.”

Photo: David Jones

Bookmark It

The city council in Edinburgh has been discussing, in recent weeks, the possibility of introducing a ‘tourist tax’.

The controversial new tax would basically be a ‘bed tax’ where tourists would pay an extra £1 or £2 per night on top of the cost of their accommodation.

Tourist taxes, however, are not a new idea, and have already been introduced in major cities across the world, including Vancouver, and more recently, Venice.

Edinburgh is already a popular location for tourists as they travel to see the Royal Mile, Edinburgh Festival and the castle and this new taxation could increase revenue substantially.

Plenty of local officials are in favour of the idea, Green councillor Steve Burgess, a proponent of the tax, has argued that it would be ‘unlikely to discourage visitors or affect the hotel trade’.

He told the Daily Mail: ‘£1 or £2 will not make a big difference when most hotel rates in Edinburgh start at £50 or £60.’

The introduction of any new levy would require a change in law, which is something that the council has already acknowledged.

Records of the discussions on the possible tax note that ‘whilst agreeing with the concept in principle, it is noted that it would appear to require Scottish Parliament legislation to enable the City of Edinburgh Council to introduce a transient visitor levy’.

The change in law is far from impossible, however some hoteliers in the city have not been so keen on the idea.

Colin Paton of the Edinburgh Hotels Association, told the Daily Mail: ‘This is a lose-lose initiative, and is completely anti-business. It would certainly put people off coming to Edinburgh and coming to Scotland.

‘The City of Edinburgh wants to put itself at a competitive disadvantage to the rest of the UK. It is bad news for consumers, for business, for employees, for the city and for Scotland.’

Mr Paton also suggests that the introduction of the charge could lead to job losses.

Guy Parsons, chief executive officer at Travelodge, agrees with Mr Parsons’s concerns.

‘Tax on visitors staying in Edinburgh would cut tourism revenues and greatly impact the £4billion annual revenue channel that 20million tourists bring to the city,’ he says.

‘In addition, it would also put 200,000 tourism jobs at risk. We should be looking at ways to boost our economy, and not drive business away.’

It is yet to be seen if the tax will be introduced or not.

Picture: Stuart Caie

Bookmark It

This week, Thomas Cook is expected to confirm the closure of 200 of its 1,350 travel agency branches as part of its cost-saving UK restructuring.

The review of the business is to be unveiled on Wednesday, when the company delivers its delayed full-year financial results, and around 1,000 jobs are expected to be affected.

It is also expected the Thomas Cook’s airline fleet is to be trimmed to help work on a series of disposals including Spanish hotel chain HCV and a stake in its Indian foreign exchange arm.

The company is Europe’s second largest travel group and is looking to offer a more exclusive range of holidays. They will be offering couples-only and family-friendly trips and even “murder mystery” tours.

According to Travel Weekly, Cook was last month forced to arrange a new £200 million revolving credit facility with 17 lenders.

The Times reported Morgan Stanley analysts as saying that the restructuring costs and redundancy payments are expected to come in at around £100m.

Cook has described reports of the closure of 200 stores, which first emerged the weekend before it was forced to suspend its year end results announcement, as speculation.

Source: Travel Weekly

Bookmark It