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  • St. Regis Hotels & Resorts opens Mauritius property

    St. Regis Hotels & Resorts, portion of Starwood Hotels & Resorts Worldwide, has celebrated the highly-anticipated official opening of The St. Regis Mauritius Resort, marking the brand’s first hotel in Africa and the 30th St. Regis hotel on the earth. 

    The official opening ceremony was inaugurated by the prime minister of Mauritius, Navinchandra Ramgoolam within the presence of Ashok Uttamchandani and Ashish Nurani, owners of The St. Regis Mauritius Resort, Frits van Paasschen, president and chief executive of Starwood Hotels & Resorts, Hassan Ahdab, vp Africa & Indian Ocean and Bernard de Villèle, general manager.

    The celebration was attended by greater than 350 influencers and guests from Mauritius.

    Hosted on the exclusive St. Regis Mauritius Resort across the Manor House, the festivities were designed to celebrate St. Regis hotels from 1904 to 2013 and opened with a dance performance and speeches by the prime minister and van Paasschen.

    The evening event included cocktails and an epicurean tour, followed by a spectacular fireworks show and live musical performances. 

    The St. Regis Mauritius Resort follows recent openings in Hainan and Shenzhen in China; Doha and Saadiyat Island, Abu Dhabi inside the Middle East; and Bal Harbour inside the Country, all in the last yr.

    Having greater than doubled its portfolio in precisely five years, St. Regis continues its dynamic global growth, further strengthening Starwood’s lead in luxury hospitality, offering guests exceptional levels of service and delightful experiences in exciting destinations around the globe.

    “As we add new, must-visit destinations to our global portfolio of hotels and resorts, the hole of The St. Regis Mauritius Resort truly marks a great milestone for the logo,” said Paul James, global brand leader St. Regis, The posh Collection, and W Hotels Worldwide.

    “Celebrating Mauritius’ rich and various cultural heritage, we glance forward to welcoming guests to the precise address at the island, offering bespoke service and refined elegance both befitting of the destination and true to the St. Regis legacy.”

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  • News: Amadeus signs content agreement with IAG

    Amadeus has signed a brand new long-term content agreement with International Airlines Group, one of many world’s largest airline groups.

    The agreement, which covers British Airways, Iberia, and Iberia Express, allows Amadeus subscribers to continue to learn from accessing an identical level of fares, availability and functionality as previously.

    “Reaching a brand new content agreement with IAG was a transparent commercial priority for Amadeus for it slow, so one can guantee that our subscribers can continue to access British Airways, Iberia and Iberia Express flights,” said Holger Taubmann, senior vice chairman, distribution, Amadeus. 

    He continued: “To this end we’re delighted to have reached agreement with IAG and we glance forward to continuing what was an extended and successful relationship for a lot of more future years.”

    Amadeus plays a critical role within the distribution space ensuring global reach to travel agencies internationally.

    Today 80 per cent of Amadeus bookings worldwide are made on airlines with which Amadeus has a content agreement.

  • Strength of buck remains top priority for Australian tourism

    The strength of the Australian dollar remains the pinnacle concern of Australia’s tourism operators, the most recent edition of the TTF-MasterCard Tourism Industry Sentiment Survey has found.

    With the dollar averaging US103.9 cents throughout the quarter – making it costlier for international visitors coming to Australia and less expensive for Australians to travel internationally – it’s no surprise the exchange rate remains the tourism industry’s primary concern.

    However, with the date of the federal election announced during quarter one among 2013 – the period to which the survey applies – the survey also notes rising concern about government policies affecting the sphere.

    TTF chief executive Ken Morrison said various policy frameworks affect tourism.

    “Taxes and fees on tourists are ranked because the second biggest impediment to tourism operators, while government support to win business events bids is ranked third,” Morrison said.

    “While the industry understands that government has negligible control over the exchange rate, governments do determine fees and costs levied on visitors and the extent of support provided for business events bids.

    “The TTF-MasterCard Tourism Industry Sentiment Survey notes an increasing appetite to place tourism at the public and political agenda inside the lead as much as September’s federal election, in addition to continuing concern about labour shortages – both skilled and unskilled.

    “The survey also shows that two thirds of respondents identify an absence of convention and exhibition space and the adequacy of land transport links to airports as having a medium to high impact on their business.

    “These are areas through which government policy could make an important difference through investment admired-driving infrastructure, helping to secure business events which are a magnet for high-yield visitors, and reforming policy frameworks to aid fill the estimated 36,000 tourism job vacancies nationwide.

    “With greater than half one million direct jobs nationwide and spending by tourists of $107 billion a year, the tourism industry deserves a prominent place at the national agenda within the lead as much as September’s federal election.”

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  • News: Donetsk to host Routes CIS 2013

    Routes has announced Donetsk Sergey Prokofiev International Airport has officially been appointed because the Host for the 3rd Routes CIS event, to turn up on July 21st-23rd.

    Routes CIS is the one route development forum for the full CIS region and the 2013 event is predicted to draw around 250 delegates.

    The event will offer the region’s airlines and airports, in addition to those from outside the region with an interest in increasing air connections to the CIS countries, the ideal platform to do business and improve air transport networks.

    “We are delighted to announce Donetsk International Airport because the Host of Routes CIS 2013,” said Katie Bland, future hosts director for Routes.

    “The Event will offer the Routes community the chance to determine the primary-class airport facilities on the newly built airport, in addition to experience the cosmopolitan city of Donetsk and the thriving and various region of Donbass.

    “We await working with the dynamic team at Donetsk Airport to deliver a terrific event.”

    With a population of over 1000000 inhabitants, Donetsk is without doubt one of the largest cities within the Ukraine and is the executive centre for the region which has a population of over four million people which makes up ten per cent of the final population of the rustic.

    The Donetsk region may be the country’s largest industrial centre incorporating metal, coal and chemical industries in addition to heavy machinery.

    Donetsk was also among the many host cities for the eu Football Championship 2012 and according to the plan for Euro 2012 a brand new airport terminal and runway was constructed in 2011.

    This new runway is ready to land all types of aircraft without exception and the terminal has a capacity of three,100 passengers per hour.

    The airport is now capable of serve as much as five million passengers per year, making it the second one busiest airport within the Ukraine.

    Located seven kilometres clear of town centre, Donetsk Airport has a catchment area of 6.5 million potential passengers and flies to 29 international and domestic destinations

    Kirill Osypov, chief executive of S.S. Prokofiev International Airport Donetsk emphasises that his team is able to do their best to organise the development to the very best level: “We appreciate that the organisers of Routes CIS have expressed confidence in our team and to become the Host of one of these high level aviation event is a large honour for us.

    “Widening the reach of our air transportation is definitely one of the main priorities not just for our airport development strategy, but in addition for regional and government politics for the modernization of the aviation industry.

    “Thus, on behalf of International Airport Donetsk I ensure that forum participants can have essentially the mostsome of the most comfortable conditions for productive professional discussions besides which, we can prepare a terrific sightseeing tour for the Routes CIS 2013 guests, that enables them very quickly to look each of the tourist attractions within the Donbass region”

  • News: Delta partners with nine Major League Baseball teams for 2013 season

    Delta Air Lines begins the 2013 baseball season enjoying relationships with nearly 1/2 the league’s 30 teams.

    Delta serves because the official airline of the Atlanta Braves, Cincinnati Reds, Detroit Tigers, Minnesota Twins, The big apple Yankees, Manhattan Mets, Pittsburgh Pirates and St. Louis Cardinals and is a proud partner of the San Diego Padres. Delta also operates team charters for the Braves, Reds, Twins, Yankees, Mets, Pirates, Padres and Cardinals in addition to the Baltimore Orioles, Boston Red Sox, La Angels of Anaheim, Philadelphia Phillies and Tampa Bay Rays.
    “Delta’s customers include millions of baseball fans world wide and we’re pleased so that you can work with such a lot of teams,” said Tim Mapes , Delta’s senior vp – Marketing. “Our MLB partners are a key component to how we support and reflect the eagerness of our customers.”

    Delta was partnering with Major League Baseball teams for greater than 40 years, beginning with its longstanding partnership with the Atlanta Braves.
    In addition, Delta served because the official airline of the 2013 World Baseball Classic. Delta was the tournament’s preferred carrier for the greater than 3,000 commercial flights needed for players, team personnel and tournament staff and provided 15 charter flights to move teams between each round of the tournament.