Ballooning in the desert
One of the world’s most experienced balloon companies, with operations in Germany, New Zealand and Hungary, has come to Abu Dhabi offering hot air balloon expeditions into the heart of the emirate’s pristine desert.
Balloon Adventures Emirates says its ‘magic carpet ride’ expeditions give passengers a unique view of a landscape which takes in huge red sand dunes, the emerald green oases of Al Ain, the emirate’s second city and heritage capital, and the chance to spot Arabian gazelles and wandering camels in their natural habitat.
Mena Travel Awards on hold
The seventh edition of the awards ceremony which recognises travel industry excellence across the region has been put off for a year and will now take place in 2011.
Announcing the change Dr Sam Saker said: “Being a non-profit event, conducted with nothing but passion, after careful consideration of the current economic conditions and after discussions with many of you, our Mena colleagues, and the event sponsors we felt it would be more appropriate to postpone the ceremony to 2011. Though it was a difficult decision, we believe it is the correct one.”
ATP signs UAE franchise deal
ATP International Group has consolidated its position in the Middle East by signing a franchise agreement with leading UAE company, Orient Travel.
The deal will see ATP, a long-established travel management company, open and operate corporate travel offices in Dubai, Abu Dhabi and Sharjah.
Orient Travel will also have first option on extending the partnership to all other nations in the Middle East, Pakistan and Afghanistan.
Bahwan switches to Galileo
Travelport, one of the world’s leading providers of global distribution systems (GDS), has successfully migrated Oman’s Bahwan Travel Consortium to its Galileo platform in what was the single-largest migration for the GDS provider in 2009.
As the general sales agent for 16 major air carriers, Bahwan Travel Consortium has developed a strong foothold in Oman over the last 35 years, with a network driving approximately 25 per cent of the travel and tourism business in the sultanate.
In a major feat for both Travelport and Bahwan, all of the group’s reservation and ticketing systems were switched seamlessly from the previous GDS to the Galileo platform in less than 24-hours.
New partners for GlobalStar
GlobalStar Travel Management has signed-up three new partners to its network: Travel Point in Oman, Dadabhai Travel in Bahrain and Shakh Travel in Kazakhstan.
With these latest additions GlobalStar continues growing its presence in the Middle East region after the joining of Royal Manta Travel from Egypt in September 2009 and the company hopes to announce at least four more partners in the region by the end of January.