Millennials love going on city trips, and, at least some, are willing to spend big on travelling, with now half of all luxury trips being made by Millennials. These are the findings of a special evaluation of the World Travel Monitor, conducted by IPK International and commissioned by ITB Berlin.
flydubai has inaugurated its new daily service to Helsinki becoming the first carrier for in the UAE to offer direct flights from Dubai. The inaugural flight departed from Terminal 2, Dubai International (DXB) and landed at Helsinki Airport just before midnight.
ONYX Hospitality Group, has signed an agreement with a joint venture company led by Panchshil Realty to launch OZO Maldives.
Scheduled to open in the third quarter of 2020, the 200-villa private island resort will occupy a secluded island in the Raa Atoll, located northwest of the Maldivian capital of Male.
The World Travel & Tourism Council (WTTC) released its annual Cities Report at the WTTC Asia Leaders Forum in Macau, SAR. The Report covers 72 of the world’s most important tourism cities, which together generated over USD625 billion contribution to GDP in 2017 (24,3 percent of global Travel & Tourism GDP).
The world’s top 10 cities in terms of tourism market size are: Shanghai (USD35 billion), Beijing (USD32.,5 billion), Paris (USD28 billion), Orlando (USD24,8 billion), New York (USD24.8 billion), Tokyo (USD21,7 billion), Bangkok (USD21,3 billion), Mexico City (USD19,7 billion), Las Vegas (USD19.5 billion) and Shenzhen (USD19 billion).
The world’s top 10 cities in terms of job creation are: Jakarta, Beijing, Mexico City, Shanghai, Bangkok, Chongqing, Delhi, Mumbai, Ho Chi Minh City, Shenzhen.
Gloria Guevara, CEO, WTTC, said that with 54 percent of the world’s population living in urban areas, cities have become global economic hubs, driving growth and innovation. They attract huge quantities of people who travel to experience their culture, do business, and live. This growth has also resulted in a rise in city tourism is trend which is forecasted to maintain momentum.
The report highlights the crucial importance of cities to Travel & Tourism worldwide, and likewise how vital this sector is to the economy. Over half a billion trips are made to cities annually representing 45 percent of global international travel.
Highlights from the Report include:
• Cairo was the fastest growing city in 2017 in terms of Travel & Tourism GDP contribution (34,4 percent), followed by Macau (14,2 percent).
• Four of the five fastest growing cities over the past 10 years are located in China: Chongqing, Chengdu, Shanghai, Guangzhou.
• Shanghai is ranked as the largest city by Travel & Tourism volume in 2017. By 2027, Shanghai is expected to be double the size of Paris in terms of Travel & Tourism’s direct contribution to GDP.
• Bangkok (50,4 percent), Paris (29,8 percent), Mexico City (24 percent) and Tokyo (20,2 percent) are the biggest contributors to their country’s Travel & Tourism GDP.
• In terms of domestic vs. international spend, New York sets an example as a city with a remarkable balance (52,7 percent versus 47,2 percent). Meanwhile, Paris relies heavily on international spend and Beijing on domestic.
Hamad International Airport (HIA) has welcomed a total of 9,68 million passengers and handled 57,031 aircraft movements in the third quarter (Q3) of this year, making this the busiest quarter of the year so far. HIA has also handled 538,551 tonnes of cargo in the Q3 of this year.
The number of Russian tourists travelling to the GCC is expected to increase 125 percent from 933,000 in 2018 to 2,1 million in 2023, according to data published ahead of Arabian Travel Market 2019 (ATM), which takes place at Dubai World Trade Centre from April 28 April –May 01, 2019.
On October 15 - 29, HalalBooking.com hosted a group of sales staff from 13 travel agencies from across the world including Germany, Denmark, Belgium, the Netherlands and France.
Ras Al Khaimah Tourism Development Authority, announced that the emirate of Ras Al Khaimah will be hosting the PATA Annual Summit 2020 from May 15 - 18,2019 which is organised by the Pacific Asia Travel Association (PATA).
Cape Town is the best host city in Africa announced by the World Travel Awards.
Following the success of the previous two events, one of the Middle East’s biggest slide and dance party ‘Aquaventure After Dark’ will return on October 26 for a spooktacular special ‘Haunted Edition’ fuelled by Coca-Cola.
