• Home
  • Post a press-release
  • Visibility packages
  • Subscribe email updates
  • Event Calendar
  • Contact

For Immediate Release | Official News Wire for the Travel Industry

Where press releases are breaking news

  • Home
  • Post a press-release
  • Visibility packages
  • Subscribe email updates
  • Event Calendar
  • Contact

Arab Hotel Investment Conference is back: Why it’s so amazing

April 11, 2019 by Forimmediaterelease

Last year, the move of the 14th Arab Hotel Investment Conference (AHIC) from Dubai Jumeirah Madinat to the neighboring Emirate Ras Al Khaimah (RAK) was a huge challenge.

Ras Al Khaimah is where? It is one-hour drive from Dubai Airport.

Arriving at midnight at Dubai Airport, and driving  on a sheer endless straight highway through the desert, it certainly was an entirely new experience: no skyscrapers, no traffic jams, nothing but a totally  empty highwa  which is normally clogged up during the day, with only some camels walking along enroute during the night.

After the one-hour drive, all of a sudden there was a wake-up call as lights of a monumental building like a Fata Mogana (mirage) emerged from the horizon. Getting closer, it was not a Fat Mogana but the newly-opened Waldorf Astoria Hotel.

Photo © Elisabeth Lang

As the function rooms at the Waldorf Astoria hotel were not big enough to host the AHIC event with  nearly 2,000 delegates, a gigantic fully-airconditioned tent was built just for this event and only for the 3 days of the conference.

We are talking about a cost of nearly 2 million dollars set in the sand for a humongous fully-equipped tent with the latest technologies – Wi Fi, a TV broadcasting studio, and a revolving stage. Just amazing!

BBC Hard Talk presenter Stephan Sackur, who had just arrived from ice-cold Moscow, was interviewing Russia’s Foreign Secretary, Sergej Lavrov, and then found himself on the beach on a revolving stage the next day with a colorful audience and an outside temperature of 45 Celsius (113 degrees Fahrenheit).

Photo © Elisabeth Lang

A red carpet was rolled out for the rulers and dignitaries of Ras Al Khaimah and the entire region with people rushing towards the AHIC village on the beach.

Ras Al Khaimah is the most authentic and UAE’s second-smallest emirate and is quietly boosting its tourism, free zones, and real estate.

Despite being the second smallest emirate in the UAE with a population of just 400,000, strong real estate and hospitality sectors, as well as corporate giants such as RAK Ceramics and Gulf Pharmaceutical Industries (Julphar) have helped RAK avoid the oil-related economic crisis of its neighbors.

During AHIC 2019’s opening, the Ras Al Khaimah ruler launched a contest to create a “unique” resort.

The ruler, Sheikh Saud bin Saqr Al Qasimi of Ras Al Khaimah, launched the Grand RAK Project competition which is open to delegates registered at the event.

Photo © Elisabeth Lang

Sheikh Saud said: “We support projects and concepts that spark creativity and place Ras Al Khaimah at the forefront of the tourism sector which aims to create a new resort that is unique to the emirate.

“Sustained growth is already the hallmark of Ras Al Khaimah’s tourism industry, and we seek to ensure this continues by utilizing our strategic tourism plan to reach well-defined targets.”

Working in teams combining hotel designers and operators, entrants will have 3 months to prepare a preliminary concept vision supported by a high-level feasibility appraisal.

The winning project will be allocated a coveted beachfront location.

Photo © Elisabeth Lang

The judging panel for the Grand RAK Project includes Abdullah Al Abdooli, Managing Director and CEO, Marjan; David Daniels, Director of Architecture, SSH; Filippo Sona, Managing Director, Global Hospitality, Drees & Sommer; and Kevin Underwood, Principal, HKS Hospitality Group.

While the UAE remains RAK’s strongest market, representing about 40 percent of total visitors, Europe is gaining ground. The number of German tourists to RAK grew by 53 percent last year, followed by 28.5 percent growth from the UK, 25 percent from India, and 4 percent from Russia.

The Government of Ras Al Khaimah has an established history in the tourism sector commencing with the opening of the first internationally-branded hotel back in 2001 and is galloping forward on a large scale.

Photo © Elisabeth Lang

With the launch of the first Arabian Hotel Investment Conference last year, the spotlight shone on Ras Al Khaimah. The program, featuring more than 100 speakers from around the world, has been curated around this year’s theme with a focus on addressing the current tensions in the owner-operator relationship, uncovering innovative approaches to business, analyzing future market demand trends, and fostering harmonious relationships between all stakeholders in order to sustain growth and prosperity

In his speech, Jonathan Worsley, Chairman of AHIC, said:

“It is evident to me that we are going through transformational change within the Middle East’s hotel investment market. As more supply comes online and the market becomes increasingly competitive, the dynamic of the owner-operator relationship has shifted. As the landscape becomes more competitive it is key that all parties are working together towards the same goals. With this backdrop in mind, together with our advisory board and partners at Insignia, we concluded that evolution in 2019 is not about creating disruptive moves but about finding constructive steps that create an environment of clarity and collaboration. Hence, we came to our 2019 theme, Synchronized for Success.

“Synchronicity not just in relationships but in the alignment of business strategy with what is happening in the broader macro-economic environment as some of the most ambitious projects of our generation are announced and social transformations, technical innovations, and shifting consumer behavior are changing the hotel investment landscape at a staggering pace.”

How can business be synced with these new dynamics?

The visionary industry leader, Stardom Speaker Sebastien Bazin, Chairman & CEO of ACCOR, will address the AHIC community on “What is your compass during times of disruption, innovation, and global turmoil?”

Conference Chair Stephen Sackur will take a break from his day job as host of HARDtalk and head back to the beach as he has been assigned one job at AHIC 2019 – to ask the questions the industry wants addressed the most so that attendees walk away with the insights they need.

Synchronized for success? Three owners and three operators will sit down with Stephen Sackur to discuss how they are “Syncing for Success.” Never in the history of the hotel industry has there been such a rapid build-up of hotel rooms. How does the industry cope and what business models are evolving that will help retain and attract more owners and investors? Stephen Sackur will present these tough questions to the operators.

Who else is there? Among the speakers are:

The Managing Director & CEO of Marjan responsible for creating and designing Ras Al Khaimah’s key freehold master plans including the spectacular Al Marjan Island, a world-class tourism development offering excellent opportunities for investors.

Abdullah Al Abdouli, Head of Investment & Finance, The Red Sea Development Company which is creating an exquisite ultra-luxury destination within a pristine 28,000 km² area that includes an archipelago of more than 50 unspoiled islands, volcanoes, desert, mountains, nature, and culture.

Jay Rosen, Chief Executive Officer, Public Investment Fund, Amaala, and ultra-luxury development that is part of an integrated approach to developing Saudi Arabia’s Red Sea coast focusing on wellness, healthy living, and meditation. The development will cover an area of more than 3,800 sq. km. and will target more than 2,500 hotel keys.

The Chief Executive Officer of RAK Properties has drawn regional and global interest for launching state-of-the-art luxury hotels, resorts, and malls. With more than $540 million worth of available capital, the company is behind the Anantara Mina Al Arab, Ras Al Khaimah, and the 350-key InterContinental Ras Al Khaimah Mina Al Arab Resort.

The AHIC 2019 is taking place from April 9-11 at the AHIC Village, Ras Al Khaimah.

This copyright material, including photos, may not be used without written permission from the author and from eTN.

Travel News | eTurboNews

Share this:

  • Twitter
  • Facebook

Filed Under: Press Release Tagged With: amp, and, announced, April, Arab, arabia, Arabian, Arabian Hotel Investment Conference, Archipelago, Architecture, area, around the world, arriving, art, attendees, attract, audience, authentic, author, avoid, backdrop, BBC, beach, Beachfront, behavior, big, board, boosting, break up, Breaking Travel News, build, building, built, Business, business models, business strategy, camels, capital, caption, carpet, CEO, chair, Chairman, challenge, change, chief, chief executive, chief executive officer, clarity, class, coast, cold, collaboration, community, company, Compass, competition, competitive, concept, concluded, conference, contest, continues, COPE, corporate, cost, cover-up, create, creativity, Crisis, culture, current, day, Days, delegates, demand, desert, designers, Destination, development, director, Discuss, disruption, dollars, down, drive, driving, Dubai, Dubai airport, East, economic, economic crisis, emirate, empty, environment, estate, eTN, Europe, event, evident, Excellent, executive, experience, featuring, Finance, finding, first, followed, foreign, Forward, found, free, function, fund, future, German, German tourists, getting, Global, global turmoil, government, Grand, Grand RAK, ground, Group, Growth, Gulf, head, healthy, help, high, highway, history, Horizon, hospitality, hospitality group, host, hotel, hotel industry, Hotel Investment Conference, hotel rooms, Hotels, Hour, ice, ID, in, includes, including, India, Industries, Industry, innovation, innovations, innovative, Insights, integrated, InterContinental, interest, internationally, Investment, investors, island, islands, IT, job, Jumeirah, just, key, Keys, Khaimahs, km, landscape, last, LATEST, launch, launched, launching, leader, lights, like, Living, location, Luxury, luxury hotels, Managing, managing director, Market, Market demand, Master, May, meetings.travel, MICE Industry News, Middle, Middle East, million, mind, months, Moscow, most, most authentic, mountains, move, nature, nearly, need, neighboring, neighbors, New, new experience, newly, News articles, night, number, offering, officer, Oil, online, only, open, opened, opening, operator, operators, opportunities, order, out, outside, owner, owners, panel, parties, partners, People, percent, percent growth, permission, photo, photos, Place, plan, plans, population, preliminary, present, Presenter, program, project, projects, properties, prosperity, public, Public Investment, questions, RAK, Ras, Ras Al, Ras Al Khaimah, real, Real Estate, Red, red carpet, Red Sea, Red Sea Development Company, region, regional, related, Relationship, relationships, remains, representing, resort, resorts, responsible, rooms, Russia, s, said, sand, Saudi, Saudi Arabia. (, scale, sea, second, Secretary, sector, sectors, seek, Set, Sheikh, social, speaker, speakers, spectacular, speech, stakeholders, State, Stephen Sackur, strategic, strategy, strong, Studio, success, supply, support, supported, sustain, taking, talk, talking, target, targets, teams, Technical, temperature, tensions, The Spotlight, The World, theme, through, times, to, total, tough, tourism, Tourism Development, Tourism Industry, tourism plan, tourism sector, tourists, traffic, Travel & Tourism Organizations News, Travel Destination News, Travelwire News, Trends, turmoil, TV, UAE, UAE travel news, UK, ultra, unique, up, used, village, vision, visionary, visitors, volcanoes, walking, We, wellness, were, WHO, Why, Wi, working, World, world-class, worth, year

Destinations need new resources to tackle the “invisible burden” of tourism

March 25, 2019 by Forimmediaterelease

A report published today by the Travel Foundation, Cornell University’s Centre for Sustainable Global Enterprise and EplerWood International describes how destinations must uncover and account for tourism’s hidden costs, referred to as the “invisible burden,” to protect and manage vital destination assets worldwide. Failing to do so puts ecosystems, cultural wonders, and community life at increasing risk, and places the tourism industry on a weak foundation that could crack under its own weight.

The range of costs not currently accounted for include those needed to:

  • upgrade infrastructure beyond resident needs, to meet tourism demand;
  • manage and protect public spaces, monuments, the environment and natural habitats;
  • mitigate exposure to climate change risks; and
  • address the needs of locals affected by rising real estate prices, driven by the demand from tourism.

Either residents are left to pay these costs, or they are simply not paid, increasingly leading to environmental crises, spoiled tourism assets, and growing dissatisfaction among local residents. Destination authorities urgently need access to new resources, systems and expertise to ensure that, as tourism grows, the true costs of every new visitor are fully covered.

Amid increasing concern about “overtourism” and calls from within the travel industry for improved destination management, the report, Destinations at Risk: The Invisible Burden of Tourism, was commissioned by the Travel Foundation to better understand the challenges and constraints that national and municipal authorities face. It provides a thorough review of the risks that destinations face and the solutions urgently needed, including:

  • New local accounting systems that capture the full range of costs stemming from the growth of tourism, in place of an incomplete set of economic impact measures.
  • New skills and cross sector collaboration, underpinned by data and technology, to achieve effective spatial planning, manage demand for public utilities and services, and evaluate the availability of vital, local resources.
  • New valuation and financing mechanisms to redress debilitating underinvestment in infrastructure and local asset management and enable the transition to low-carbon destination economies.

Principal report author, Megan Epler Wood, said: “The Earth’s greatest treasures are cracking under the weight of the soaring tourism economy.  New data-driven systems to identify the cost of managing tourism’s most valued assets are required to stem a growing crisis in global tourism management.  With the right leadership, finance and analysis in place, a whole new generation of tourism professionals can move forward and erase the invisible burden while benefiting millions around the globe.”

Salli Felton, CEO of the Travel Foundation, said: “The invisible burden goes a long way to explain why we are now witnessing destinations failing to cope with tourism growth, despite the economic benefits it brings. It’s not enough to call on governments and municipalities to manage tourism better, if they don’t have access to the right skills and resources to do so. Destination managers need support to develop new skills and new ways of working that will enable them to move beyond tourism marketing.”

Dr Mark Milstein, co-author of the report, said: “This is a challenge of investing for the long-term health of a critical global economic sector. Future success will require collaboration among business, government, and civil society so that destinations are managed as the valuable, yet vulnerable, assets that they are.”

The authors conclude that some destinations are more vulnerable to the invisible burden and should be prioritised. For instance:

  1. Where there is a high risk of climate change impacts (which would disproportionately affect a visitor economy) – for instance, island states.
  2. Where the rise of the global middle class is driving tourism growth at unsustainable levels – for instance, in Southern and Southeast Asia.
  3. Where there is a high percentage of economic dependence on tourism – for instance, in the Caribbean.
  4. Where the ability of local government to manage tourism growth is low, in terms of budgets and human capital – a problem that has been found in both advanced and emerging economies.

The analysis draws upon academic literature, case studies, expert interviews and media reports, and provides a wealth of examples of the invisible burden.  Cases are drawn from Thailand, Mexico, and the Maldives, as well as Europe, Africa, and Latin America. The report also gives insights into types of data-driven systems, such as GIS mapping tools and the Smart Cities concept, which can address growth issues and facilitate new forms of investment.

The free report is available at invisibleburden.org.

Travel News | eTurboNews

Share this:

  • Twitter
  • Facebook

Filed Under: Press Release Tagged With: and, around the globe, Asia, assets, author, authorities, benefits, better, Breaking Travel News, budgets, Burden, Business, capital, carbon, Caribbean, case, Centre, CEO, challenge, challenges, change, cities, class, climate, Climate Change, collaboration, community, concept, concern, COPE, Cornell, cost, costs, crises, Crisis, critical, cultural, Cultural Travel News, currently, Data, demand, Destination, Destination Management, Destinations, dissatisfaction, Dr, driving, Earth, economic, economic impact, economies, Economy, ecosystems, emerging, emerging economies, enterprise, environment, environmental, estate, Europe, expert, expertise, face, failing, Felton, Finance, financing, forms, Forward, found, foundation, free, full, future, GIS, Global, global economic, global tourism, Globe, government, governments, greatest, Growth, habitats, HEALTH, hidden, hidden costs, high, impact, impacts, improved, in, including, increasing, Industry, infrastructure, Insights, International, Interviews, Investing, Investment, invisible, invisible burden, island, island states, issues, IT, Latin, Latin America, leadership, leading, life, literature, local, local government, locals, low, low-carbon, maldives, Manage, management, managers, Managing, Marketing, measures, media, media reports, meet, Mexico, Middle, middle class, millions, monuments, most, move, municipalities, national, natural, need, needed, needs, New, new data, new generation, News articles, paid, pay, percentage, Place, places, planning, prices, problem, professionals, protect, public, published, range, real, Real Estate, report, reports, require, residents, resources, Responsible Tourism News, review, right, rise, rising, Risk, risks, s, said, sector, services, skills, society, solutions, Southeast, Southeast Asia, Southern, spatial, states, STEM, studies, success, support, sustainable, Technology, term, terms, thailand, the Caribbean, to, TO DO, today, tools, tourism, tourism assets, tourism demand, tourism economy, Tourism growth, Tourism Industry, tourism management, tourism marketing, tourism professionals, transition, Travel, Travel Foundation, Travel Industry, Travelwire News, treasures, university, upgrade, visitor, visitor economy, Vital, vulnerable, way, ways, We, weak, wealth, weight, Why, wonders, working, worldwide

Search



Recent Articles

  • Minister Bartlett: Jamaica boosts COVID-19 testing capacity to meet increased demand
  • Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) situation in Thailand as of 22 January 2021, 11.30 Hrs.
  • Michelin-starred eateries shine bright in Bangkok’s new culinary normal
  • Jamaica Tourism Minister officially launches Kenya’s Global Tourism Resilience Satellite Centre
  • Going Green with Silver Eagle
  • Marriott International Signs Agreement With Mario Julen To Bring The Ritz-Carlton Brand To The Swiss Alps
  • Wine Not? American Airlines Launches Flagship Cellars, an at-home Wine Experience
  • TAT launches “Thailand Traveller Voice” online survey platform
  • Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) situation in Thailand as of 21 January 2021, 11.30 Hrs.
  • Seychelles Tourism Board appoints BRANDit as India Representative

Copyright © 2021 · Metro Pro on Genesis Framework · WordPress · Log in