In brief

Travco acquires stake in Alfastar

IN a bid to reinforce its commitment to the Egyptian tourism industry, Travco Group has bought shares off a Polish tour operator to ensure steady influx of tourists from that promising source market.

Travco Group announced it has signed an agreement with Poland-based tour operator, Alfastar, to acquire 30 per cent stake in it. Alfastar is one of the successful mid-sized Polish tour operators specialising mainly in Egypt and other countries.

Hamed El Chiaty, founder and chairman of Travco Group International announced, “This marks a steppingstone for expanding our business in the Eastern European source market, thereby enhancing tourism arrivals from Poland to Egypt. We strongly believe in a very positive future and together we will work on increasing Alfastar’s capture of the outbound travel market as we restore confidence to the Egyptian market.”

“We are very pleased by this acquisition as it will also pave the way to further expansion in neighbouring countries. We are excited to partner with Alfastar and believe this transaction speaks to the strong financial track record and growth prospects of Travco Group. We are confident that this partnership will benefit our customers and employees as we continue to expand Travco Group’s footprint into new source markets.”

In the medium-term, Travco will continue focusing on the Egyptian market. Egypt’s tourism sector is expected to benefit from increased travel demand and heavy infrastructure investments as the country channels all its resources towards the economic growth. In the long-term, Travco Group may seek to expand into other European markets.

ATO signs deal with Exceed Hospitality

ACCORDING to UNWTO’s long-term forecast, Tourism Towards 2030, the tourism industry in the Middle East will continue to grow. In 2030, arrivals to the Middle East are expected to reach 149 million, an average annual increase of 4.6 per cent compared with a world average of 3.3 per cent.

Arab Tourism Organisation, a leading voice and authority on travel and tourism in the Arab region, has continually played a vital role in supporting Arab countries to develop its ambition in achieving a steady growth for the coming years. On track with its plans, the organisation signed an agreement with Exceed Hospitality to develop a hotels classification system in the region. The classifications will standardise the hotel offerings for the customer and the agent.

Based on recent trends, a growing demand from all types of travellers, such as short- or long-haul, business or leisure, have resulted in a creative introduction of several type of accommodations. For instance, boutique hotels have sprung up in the region, with varying scales and quality, heritage hotels, resort hotels both large and luxurious, business hotels and so on. In addition to this, there are theme hotels, hotels within mixed-use buildings and properties focusing on the environment. 

World Islamic Travel Summit goes halal

THE World Islamic Travel Summit (WITS15), the largest showcase of halal travel and tourism solutions, has changed its name to The World Halal Travel Summit & Exhibition: the location and dates remain the same.  

The conference and exhibition will run over two halls at the state-of-the-art Abu Dhabi National Exhibition Centre (Adnec), from October 19 to 21, 2015. Sponsors are a sell-out and include some major brands such as Jannah, Etihad Airways and R Hotels. More than 1,300 delegates have already registered to attend. TTN, the region’s oldest, most-established travel trade publication has been made official media partner.

GloSanté opens with three clinics in Dubai

THE niche space of preventive and travel healthcare sees the launch of an integrated chain of clinics, GloSantée, which offers travellers a one-stop-shop for mandatory and general medical services including vaccinations, travel advisory and health screening.

“At GloSanté, we help travellers with preventive care for travel, coping with health conditions and administration of specific vaccinations if any, prior to travel. We aim to capture 15 to 20 per cent of travel health care market in major cities wherever we will be present,” said Dr Raman Sodhi, the chief executive.