Josh Corder

Israel's tourism minister hopes that his industry could pave the way for normalization with Saudi Arabia. Looking at neighboring Gulf states, it will take more than air routes and visas to shift sentiment.

Always keen to outdo itself, Saudi Arabia raises its visitor targets before it has even hit them.

Hyatt CEO Mark Hoplamazian is finally seeing his valuable corporate guests returning. He says bookings everywhere but Asia are "booming."

Chinese travelers are gradually returning to Dubai. Numbers are good, but if the tourism authority wants them be great, it needs to shift away from 'one-hit wonder' strategies.

"Back to basics". That's the new focus of Chris Nassetta, as he launches a self-described 'unsexy' growth strategy. Spark and Project H3 are all part of a new vision to turbo-charge Hilton's development.

Marriott International is the latest operator to show confidence in Trojena, an upcoming development where Saudi Arabia says it will be able to host winter sports and open top ski chalets.

There has long been speculation that hotels in Saudi Arabia would need to relax its restriction on alcohol to attract global tourists.

Saudi Arabia's Vision 2030 is already promising $500 billion cities, winter sports events atop mountains in the desert and a complete transformation of the national economy. Not ambitious enough, says the crown prince, let's work on Vision 2040.

It's been little over a week since the earthquake in Morocco. The hospitality and tourism industries are staying strong, both in terms of business and in mind-set.

Dubai shows no signs of slowing down when it comes to building new hotels. Even if the emirate runs out of prime plots along the beach, it can simply resurrect man-made projects previously brought down in the '08 financial crash.