Top Stories
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Dubai’s newest contribution to tourism excess: an ice lounge
DestinationsHoneymooners and other tourists from the Gulf are heading to the throbbing heart of Dubai to beat the summer heat by cooling off at the first “ice lounge” in the Middle East. The interior decor of Dubai’s Chillout cafe is made entirely of carved ice, with frozen picture frames, ice curtains and frosty seats covered [...]
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Saudi Arabia to relax visa rules for religious pilgrims, allow additional tourism
DestinationsSaudi Arabia will relax visa rules to allow foreigners to visit certain Islamic and historical sites as tourists, the country’s most senior tourism official said. Prince Sultan bin Salman Al Saud, chairman of the Saudi Commission for Tourism and Antiquities, said that from this year Saudi would issue ‘Umrah-Plus’ visas, which would permit supervised tours [...]
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Egypt’s private commandos are doing well during current instability
DestinationsAs angry protesters rampaged through Cairo in early 2011 and fought with police, Hesham Samy was dispatched with fellow naval commandos to guard upscale residential compounds. In what he saw as “awful” security, Samy spotted an opportunity. The officer, who had spent more than a year training with U.S. Navy SEALs, quit last year to [...]
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Iraq lays out plans to rebuild its devastated rail network
DestinationsIn a shabby, rusty train that had just left Baghdad for the southern city of Basra, Riyadh Saleh moved restlessly from carriage to carriage, searching for a comfortable, air-conditioned seat. Saleh was one of about 200 passengers taking a 25-year-old diesel train to Basra last week; he was enticed by fares as low as 7,500 [...]
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Saudi Arabia to get over 200 new hotels over next two years
DestinationsA total of 214 new hotels will be built in the Kingdom over the next two years, according to an official from the Saudi Commission for Tourism and Antiquities (SCTA). Salah Al-Bukayyet, deputy president of the SCTA, said the future looks “promising” for the industry and that an estimated SR 144 billion will be pumped [...]
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UK investors make last-minute bid to buy iconic cruise liner QE2
DestinationsUK investors aiming to bring the QE2 cruise liner back to London have not given up hope of making it part of a tourist attraction on the banks of The Thames. Recent reports suggest the ship is to leave for Singapore in September but sources in the UK claim they are still in contact with [...]
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Infographic: Middle East is the new aviation hub, data show
TransportSaudi Arabia and the UAE rose as the leading countries in the region in terms of air traffic volume, with Qatar demonstrating the strongest growth. These three countries together stand for over 53% of travellers, representing more than 52 million of the 99 million passengers whose point of departure originated from the Middle East in [...]
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Egypt to live stream from tourist destinations to show it is safe
DestinationsEgypt’s Minister of Tourism, HE Hisham Zaazou has revealed that the Egyptian Government is attempting to attract Arab Families with special offers in a bid to boost tourism figures. Speaking at a satellite event scheduled for the ATM at Raffles Dubai, Zaazou also explained that live camera streams had been set up in popular tourist [...]
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Now Sharjah has Dubai envy: Launches big island tourism project
DestinationsThe Sharjah Investment and Development Authority, or Shurooq, on Tuesday unveiled plans for its latest project — Sir Bu Nuair Island — at the Arabian Travel Market (ATM 2013). The first integrated tourism project within the islands in the Emirate of Sharjah, and one of the most important marine protected areas in the UAE, the [...]
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Dubai focuses on families and events to drive vision for tourism in 2020
Destinations“Dubai has mastered the art of the comeback”. That was the verdict of experts at the Arabian Hotel Investment Conference (AHIC) as HE Helal Al Marri expanded on Dubai’s Vision 2020 plans, which he stated was both “possible and achievable.” Following the statement that Dubai’s Department of Tourism and Commerce Marketing (DTCM) aims to triple [...]
