Dubai is hoping to double its number of tourists to 20m by the end of the decade as it attracts visitors from new markets and cultivates return guests to the seventh most popular travel destination in the world, write Simeon Kerr and Camilla Hall.
The city’s sun, sea and shopping offering has been central to Dubai’s economic revival since its debilitating debt crisis in 2009, helped by its haven status since the Arab revolutions. Continue reading »
Chinese tourists flock to Thailand thanks to hit comedy film
After sending tourists flocking to Japan two years ago with a hit rom-com, Chinese film-makers now seem to have done a similar favour to Thailand.
The country has become the the top foreign destination for Chinese tourists during the current May Day holiday, thanks to Lost in Thailand, a low-budget road comedy turned box-office success. Continue reading »
S Africa: tourism from Brics on the rise
Many of South Africa’s economic indicators have lagged recently on Europe’s downturn. And China’s economic slowdown could also take its toll on sub-Saharan exports to China.
But one indicator is up for Africa’s largest economy: tourism. And specifcally from the Bric nations. Continue reading »
Shanghai tourism: bird flu worries
The new strain of avian influenza, known as H7N9, which has killed 23 people in China, is also starting to take it’s toll on tourism in the Shanghai region.
There has been a noticeable decline in tourists since the outbreak of the bird flu in late March – at Shanghai Spring Tour, one of the city’s three largest travel agencies, the number of travellers to the city has slumped by around a third in late March and around a quarter in the first week of April. Continue reading »
Corporate watch: Azalai Hotels, a Malian multinational
A multinational from Mali sounds like a contradiction in terms. But the Azalai Hotels chain is just that.
Businessman Mossadeck Bally got into hotels 20 years ago. He now presides over a chain of six landmark properties in four countries, with a sheaf of expansion plans. He’s not yet Africa’s Conrad Hilton. But he has built a thriving group recently valued at over €60m, employing 800 people in some of the world’s poorest states. Continue reading »
Playboy in Goa: party off
Goa may be a land of beautiful beaches, national heritage and ecotourism. But it is better known for cheap booze, beach parties and illicit substances.
In spite of this fun-loving, free-loving attitude, local authorities have decided Goa is not the place for Playboy. Continue reading »
Tourism in Colombia: riding the magic
“Magical realism” will be familiar to many as the Latin American 20th century literary movement perhaps most typified by Colombian novelist Gabriel García Márquez and his international bestseller, One Hundred Years of Solitude.
Literary globetrotters are already familiar with the Colombian town of Cartagena, home to the first overseas offshoot of the UK’s Hay Festival of Literature. So perhaps the Colombian government thought it wasn’t stepping too far beyond the bounds of literary taste to choose “magical realism” as a new advertising slogan for its tourism industry. Continue reading »
Downhill from here? Slovenia ski resorts cash in on late winter
Given that the new Slovenian prime minister has had to talk down suggestions that the country is the next Cyprus, Slovenes could do with a boost.
Perhaps in the form of a few extra days skiing this year? The unseasonal arctic conditions have brought fresh snow to the Alpine slopes – and a late boost to ski centres. Continue reading »
India tourism: violence to women knocks visitor numbers
India was once the first stop on any twenty-first century equivalent of the Grand Tour – a country famous for an abundance of ancient temples, dramatic mountainsides and sandy beaches.
The country is still a hot topic for travellers – but for a far less positive reason. Since the brutal rape of a 23 year-old student in Delhi in December, tourists are concerned about safety in India – and visitor numbers reflect that. Continue reading »
Egypt tourism: climbing back
Despite the Arab spring and the toppling of the Mubarak regime, followed by bouts of political and economic crisis, Egypt hasn’t dropped off the tourist map.
In fact, numbers were up sharply in 2012 compared to crisis-hit 2011, although they were still below the pre-revolution days of 2010. Can the country continue to get the tourists back? Continue reading »
Hilton goes to Myanmar as tourism takes off
You know that a country’s tourism industry is really taking off when a Hilton hotel moves in – particularly when that country has faced years of US sanctions. The buzz on the sidelines of Myanmar’s first tourism industry conference this week in Yangon was about Hilton Worldwide’s landmark deal to manage a 300-room hotel in the tallest building in central Yangon: Centrepoint Towers. Continue reading »
SAA: the latest last-ditch rescue plan
It’s been billed Africa’s “best airline” for a good ten years running now but South Africa’s troubled SA Airways (SAA) has little to celebrate nowadays, with news that it could slash more flight routes to save money. Continue reading »
Tourists are mixed blessing for Taiwan
Photo: Bloomberg
Taiwan’s exports in January may have stalled but at least one important source of income has continued to show strong growth: mainland Chinese tourists.
The number Chinese tourists visiting the island during last week’s Lunar New Year, a key holiday in the Chinese world, rose 32 per cent from last year’s new year festival. Those mainland visitors, banned until as recently as 2008, are an important support for Taiwan’s weak economy, even if not everyone is happy with how newly-crowded some of Taiwan’s top tourists sites now are. Continue reading »
Guest post: marketing to Muslim tourists
By Shelina Janmohamed of Ogilvy Noor
In cold, wintry London, Ahmed and his wife have recently returned from their honeymoon in the Maldives. In their late twenties, this British Muslim couple had dreamed about an archetypal paradise island escape, but they were also looking for some extras: halal food, and a place that would be accommodating of their Muslim sensibilities.
“We didn’t want the headache of worrying about what to eat and looking for halal restaurants”, says Ahmed. He also wanted to ensure that his wife could enjoy swimming while observing her modest dress. Continue reading »
Thailand tourism: hitting record highs
The hoardes of tourists flocking to Bangkok’s temples and bars and to island resorts beyond tell the story of Thailand’s remarkable comeback from the impact of devastating floods in 2011 and violent street clashes in 2010.
So, too, does the charmed performance of Thailand’s stock market, among the best performing markets in Asia last year, as well as record inward foreign investment, roaring bond market and robust economic growth after a miserable zero per cent growth in 2011. Continue reading »
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