Dubai continues to climb the ranks as a world travel destination, in accordance with MasterCard’s third annual Global Destination Cities Index. The UAE’s travel hub has consistently advanced its position because the inception of the Index in 2011, ranking ninth in its launch year, eighth in 2012 and seventh within the 2013 edition. 
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Dubai seventh premiere destination in World
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Autograph Collection makes UK debut
The Autograph Collection, Marriott International’s portfolio of upscale, independent hotels is expanding in Europe with the introduction of 2 new travel experiences this spring.
Threadneedles, within the heart of London’s financial district, and The Glasshouse in central Edinburgh, Scotland, will represent the Autograph Collection’s first hotels within the Uk.
The additions are set to expand the exclusive portfolio of upscale, independent lifestyle hotels to incorporate greater than 40 hotel experiences within the Usa, Europe, Caribbean, and South America.
“This is an exhilarating time for the Autograph Collection in Europe as we add experiences in two of the United Kingdom’s most significant destinations,” said Amy McPherson, president and managing director for Marriott International in Europe.
“Autograph Collection offers an enviable range of artistic, culinary and cultural adventures for our guests and these two iconic hotels might be valuable additions.”
The Autograph Collection currently offers various passionately independent hotel experiences throughout Europe, including the spectacular Fontecruz Lisboa Hotel in Portugal, Hotel De Bourgtheroulde within the historic city of Rouen and the Hotel L’Hermitage Gantois in Lille.
Last month, the Autograph Collection revealed its entree into Germany with the outlet later this year of the Hotel am Steinplatz, routinely recognized as one in all Berlin’s most iconic gathering places.
The vision behind the Autograph Collection is to present an evolving group of independent, upscale hotels that every fall under distinct categories of travel experience including Culinary Delight, Artistic Getaway, Historic Exploration or Sporting Adventure.
Each independent hotel is thoughtfully chosen for its quality, originality, bold character and capacity to provide guests more than a few unique and unexpected experiences suited for their individual sense of favor and adventure.
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News: Europcar Complete takes the unknown out of vehicle hire
Europcar the leader in car hire services in Europe, is launching Europcar Complete, giving holidaymakers one price on car hire, up-front, for hassle free travel. Customers just should top off the tank when returning the vehicle.
Europcar Complete is designed to make it even easier to budget for holidaymakers, with 10% off standard car hire rates and one easy price to pay.
Ideal for the family get-away whether for a protracted weekend or per week or two, Europcar Complete comes with zero excess and theft and damage waivers, offering peace of mind for families travelling on unfamiliar roads. Now they’ll benefit from the journey, knowing they’re covered, should the worst happen.
Europcar Complete also offers one free additional driver, ideal for Mothers and fathers to the stress of driving in holiday traffic – at no extra cost.
Explaining the newest initiative from Europcar to make the auto hire experience even simpler, Ken McCall, Managing Director, Europcar UK Group said: “We know that consumers aren’t always sure what extras they could need when hiring a car. So with Europcar Complete we’re aiming to make booking car hire simple and stress-free. Not just do customers make the most of 10% off our standard hire rate and pay one price; they may be able to also add a second driver free of charge in order that the time behind the wheel may be shared.
“Our all-inclusive offering also includes damage and theft waivers, in addition to zero excess, ensuring customers are covered within the event of an accident or theft. Customer feedback has identified that car hire insurance may be gave the impression to be a confusing afterthought for some travellers. Europcar Complete includes the proper cover as standard.
“With one price to pay once they book, plus a number of added benefits, all customers should budget for on top is their fuel. This indicates they are able to relax and luxuriate in their holiday, knowing they won’t face any additional costs once they return the vehicle.”
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News: Dubai World Central to open in October
Dubai Airports has announced Dubai World Central will open its doors to passengers on October 27th, 2013 when launch carriers nasair and Wizz Air commence operations into the emirate’s second airport.
nasair plans to function over 50 flights every week between Dubai and numerous destinations in Saudi Arabia.
The Saudi-based carrier already operates 950 weekly flights to twenty-eight destinations with a fleet of 21 aircraft constituted of Airbus A320s and Embraer E190s.
Wizz Air, which gives low-cost air transport across 30 countries with 16 bases across Europe, will provide non-stop services linking Dubai World Central to Central and Eastern Europe.
Wizz Air has a fleet of 40 Airbus A320 aircraft operating over 1,500 weekly flights to 93 destinations.
Construction of Dubai World Central’s passenger terminal building was completed in 2012.
Upon opening, the brand new facility will offer full retail in addition food and beverage amenities.
It is serviced by one A380 capable runway, 64 remote aircraft stands and has capacity for as much as seven million passengers per year.
The terminal will undergo a whole testing and trial programme over the arriving months to verify a unbroken opening.
“A new era in Dubai’s already proud aviation story is determined to start out,” said Dubai Airports chief executive Paul Griffiths.
“The introduction of passenger services from Dubai World Central is step one within the long run development of the airport and should provide an exquisite alternative to travellers.
“We are equally thrilled to welcome our launch airlines Wizz Air and nasair.
“We sit up for announcing additional airlines and services within the months to return.”
Dubai World Central first opened for cargo operations in June 2010 and has quickly established itself as an emerging cargo airport within the region with 36 airlines (scheduled and chartered) handling 219,092 tonnes of air freight on 16,317 aircraft movements during 2012.
Dubai Airports launched general aviation operations at DWC on April 28th, 2011 following the overall Civil Aviation Authority’s regulatory acclaim for flights carrying as much as 50 passengers and crew on February 24th, 2011.
Upon completion, Dubai World Central turns into the world’s largest airport with five runways and an ultimate capacity of 160 million passengers and 12 million tonnes of cargo each year.
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Dubai seventh optimal destination in World
Dubai continues to climb the ranks as a world travel destination, per MasterCard’s third annual Global Destination Cities Index. The UAE’s travel hub has consistently advanced its position because the inception of the Index in 2011, ranking ninth in its launch year, eighth in 2012 and seventh within the 2013 edition.
Dubai is determined to be the seventh finest city globally when it comes to inbound international visitors in 2013, outranking cities equivalent to Hong Kong, Barcelona, Milan and Rome. At 10.9 percent, Dubai (in conjunction with Bangkok) shows the strongest growth in arrival numbers a number of the top ten global markets, with 9.89 million overnight visitors expected this year.
Dubai also ranks eighth globally by international overnight visitor spend, with an estimated US$10.4 billion to be spent within the city during 2013. The Index indicates that if all top 10 destination cities maintainside their current rates of growth in the following couple of years, Dubai will surpass Singapore and Long island in 2016 and Paris in 2017 on the subject of international visitor arrivals.
The top five origin cities for Dubai are London, Kuwait, Paris, Frankfurt and Doha, and all of those are expected to grow strongly in visitor numbers in 2013. London visitors are expected to extend by 26.3 percent in 2013, followed by those from Paris (16.9 percent), Kuwait (12.4 percent), Doha (9.5 percent) and Frankfurt (9.4 percent).
“While the center East and Africa’s top ten cities lineup is precisely similar to in 2012, there’s a striking difference in how far Dubai is earlier than the alternative cities. Its international arrival number is nearly twice that of Riyadh in second rank, and about four times as high because the third-ranked Johannesburg,” said Dr. Yuwa Hedrick-Wong, Global Economic Advisor for MasterCard and the writer of the report.
The Middle East and Africa’s top five destination cities by international overnights visitors are Dubai (9.9 million), Riyadh (5.0 million), Johannesburg (2.5 million), Amman (2.4 million) and Lagos (2.2 million).
Among the center East and Africa’s top ten, Abu Dhabi (ranked seventh with 1.7 million visitors) showed the strongest growth rate, with an anticipated 16.1 percent increase in arrivals. The Index highlights that, if these rates are maintained within the coming years, Abu Dhabi will overtake Lagos in 2016 and match Johannesburg by 2017. The UAE’s capital also ranked sixth a few of the global top 20 with reference to growth rates of international visitor arrivals between 2009 and 2013, with growth of 96.8 percent in this period.
Within the center East and Africa, Dubai ranks first by international overnight visitor spend, followed by Riyadh and Beirut. Beirut’s position on this ranking is remarkable, seeing that Lebanon’s capital seriously is not one of several top ten cities inside the region by visitor arrivals. The US$2.8 billion expected to be spent inside the capital this year reflects the attraction that the town holds for more affluent consumers.
“The inauguration of the Index in 2011 has helped us record Dubai’s remarkable growth story, and the Index has proven to be a trusted barometer of the market’s performance within the global landscape. Home to the world’s second busiest airport, Dubai has gone from strength to strength, and continues to develop its offerings because it plans to attract much more visitors within the coming years,” shared Raghu Malhotra, Division President, Middle East and North Africa, MasterCard.
“The global travel sector have been supported by the numerous developments within the electronic payments sphere, and we see more consumers profiting from programs and provides that make international travel more achievable and bother free. At MasterCard, we’re going to continue to work with our partners to bring travelers safe and meaningful payment options to fit their lifestyle needs as we continue to contribute towards the expansion of worldwide economy,” Malhotra concluded.
Globally, Bangkok outranked London as 2013’s no 1 destination city with only about 25,000 visitors separating the 2 – a difference of about one percent. The Index predicts that Bangkok will draw the best international visitor numbers in 2013, previous to London, Paris, Singapore, and Long island.
The MasterCard Index of worldwide Destination Cities ranks cities with regards to the selection of their total international visitor arrivals and the cross-border spending by these same visitors within the destination cities, and offers visitor and passenger growth forecasts for 2013.
This Index and the accompanying reports aren’t in line with MasterCard volumes or transactional data.