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Seychelles present at Access Luxury Travel Show Workshop in capital city of Czech Republic

April 11, 2019 by Forimmediaterelease

The Seychelles Tourism Board (STB) was present at the seventh Edition of the Access Luxury Travel Show Workshop held on Monday March 11, 2019, at the Kaiserstejnsky Palac in the city of Prague.

The opportunity gave the STB team the chance to meet major partners on the Czech market, which is one of the strongest economies in Central Europe and has shown growing interest in luxury travel over the past few years.

The workshop, which was attended by about 86 participants including Tour Operators, Travel Agents and airline companies was a series of pre-scheduled one on one meetings, presentations and free flow workshop. The evening ended with a networking cocktail and a Raffle draw.

Ms. Myra Fanchette, Paris based STB Senior Marketing Executive represented the organisation at the event, during which she presented Seychelles as a multi-faceted holiday destination offering a plethora of possibilities for leisure and relaxation.

The Destination’s representative through STB, stood alongside 19 other exhibitors including the Constance Hotels & Resorts, few Destination Management Companies, hotel representative from Maldives and the Jamaica Tourism Board.

Ms. Fanchette mentioned that STB’s participation at the Access Luxury Travel Show Workshop opened doors for new business relationships between the service providers from the Czech Republic and STB.

“It was an ideal platform for STB to meet with new Travel Agencies and Tour Operators, which so far Seychelles does not appear in their portfolio and they have demonstrated great interest in new destinations. We also maximised on our presence at the event to meet with our existing partners who wanted to know about any latest developments on the destination and discussed plans and activities for the year,” said Ms. Fanchette.

The Czech Republic has seen an increase of 43% on the visitor’s arrival from January to March 2019, compared to the same period last year. This is very encouraging and our continuous efforts to enhance the growth on the Eastern European markets are ongoing with various activities planned for the year, the next STB appearance will be on a dedicated Eastern Europe Roadshow, which will be held from May 27 to 30, 2019 in four different cities.

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UNWTO Convenes Cities in Lisbon to Cooperate on a Sustainable and Inclusive Urban Tourism Agenda

April 8, 2019 by Forimmediaterelease

The first UNWTO Mayors Forum for Sustainable Urban Tourism, co-organized by the World Tourism Organization (UNWTO), the Ministry of Economy of Portugal and the Lisbon Municipality concluded Friday in Lisbon, Portugal. The event gathered Mayors and high-level city representatives from around the world, UN agencies and the private sector, to design a shared leadership aimed at ensuring that tourism helps creating cities for all.

Under the theme ‘Cities for all: building cities for citizens and visitors’, the forum explored issues and solutions for developing and managing tourism in cities in a way that promotes economic growth, social inclusion and environmental sustainability.

In a time of intense debate over the growing number of tourists and the livability and sustainability of cities, the forum exchanged ideas and good practices on urban tourism and destination management, discussed innovative tools and public policies on urban tourism at the national and local levels and way of promoting the integration of tourism into wider national and local urban development agenda.

“The income generated from tourism contributes significantly to the socio-economic and cultural development of many cities and its surroundings. Yet, the growth of urban tourism also creates important challenges in terms of the use of natural resources, socio-cultural impact, pressure on infrastructure, mobility, congestion management and relationship with host communities. Tourism policies should thus be designed as integrated urban policies that promote a well-balanced city economically, socially and environmentally” said UNWTO Secretary-General Zurab Pololikashvili opening the event.

The Portuguese Minister of Economy, Pedro Siza Vieira, acknowledged that “tourism is a major driver for the Portuguese economy. Portugal welcomes this first Mayors Forum as an international stage for discussing the challenges that urban tourism faces and how local communities can benefit the most from tourism. The Lisbon Declaration is a firm commitment from all participants so that tourism contributes materially to the Sustainable Development Goals”.

The Portuguese Secretary of State for Tourism, Ana Mendes Godinho, added that “social sustainability in tourism is one of the main priorities in our 2027 Tourism Strategy. We launched a Sustainability Program for the development of projects by the civil society that involve local populations and tourists so that tourism leaves value in the territories”.

The Mayor of Lisbon, Fernando Medina, said “The growth of tourism has important and positive economic impacts. Yet for managing such growth, ensuring sustainability and safeguarding the quality of life of Lisbon’s citizens requires more investment in infrastructure. In Lisbon, we are implementing measures such as increasing transport capacity and investment in urban infrastructure catering for residents and tourists.”

Issues discussed include big data and innovative solutions, new business models, creative cities and events, infrastructure, resources and planning, local community engagement and empowerment and how to ensure the full inclusion of tourism in the wider urban agenda.

Participating in the Forum were Gustavo Santos of Argentina, Secretary of State for Tourism of Argentina, Ana Mendes Godinho, Secretary of State for Tourism of Portugal, Isabel Oliver, the Secretary of State for Tourism of Spain, Mayors and Vice Mayors of 16 cities around the world (Barcelona, Bruges, Brussels, Dubrovnik, Helsinki, Lisbon, Madrid, Moscow, Nur-Sultan, Paris, Porto, Prague, Punta del Este, Tbilisi, Sao Paulo and Seoul), UNES>CO, UN Habitat, the World Bank, the European Committee of the Regions as well as Amadeus, Airbnb, CLIA, Expedia, Mastercard and Unidigital.

The Forum adopted the Lisbon Declaration on Sustainable Urban Tourism, in which participants reinforced their commitment to align urban tourism policies with the United Nations New Urban Agenda and the 17 Sustainable Development Goals, namely Goal 11 – ‘Make cities and human settlements inclusive, safe, resilient and sustainable’.

The Lisbon Declaration on Sustainable Urban Tourism will be presented at the twenty-third session of the General Assembly of UNWTO, to be held this September in St. Petersburg, Russia.

During the event, UNWTO Secretary-General and the Mayor Bakhyt Sultanov of Nursultan (Kazakhstan) signed an agreement for the hosting of the 8^th UNWTO Global Summit on Urban Tourism, to be held on 9 to 12 October 2019.

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Václav Havel Airport Prague: Here comes summer

March 30, 2019 by Forimmediaterelease

Spring may have just officially sprung on March 20, but in Prague, summer is starting in just 2 days, and tourists are ready to travel.

On Sunday, March 31, 2019, the summer schedule comes into effect at Václav Havel Airport Prague. For the duration of the season, a total of 69 airlines will be operating regular scheduled direct flights from Prague, heading to 162 destinations in 54 countries. There will also be direct flights to 16 long-haul destinations, which is the largest number in the airport’s modern history.

“As part of the summer timetable, a total of four new airlines will be launching services from Václav Havel Airport Prague, two of them on long-haul routes. This proves our long-term success in motivating an ever-increasing number of airlines to open new routes from Prague, which ultimately means a wider choice of flights for our passengers,” says Vaclav Rehor, Chairman of the Board of Directors of Prague Airport. In comparison with the previous summer season, the total number of airlines running direct flights from Prague this summer will increase by two. Four new airlines, Air Arabia, SCAT Airlines, SunExpress, and United Airlines, will be operating their flights from Prague for the first time.

“The forthcoming summer timetable also confirms our long-term success in implementing a strategy to develop long-haul routes. During the summer, direct flights will be available from Václav Havel Airport Prague to a total of 16 long-haul destinations, which is the most in the airport’s modern history. In addition to new destinations such as Astana in Kazakhstan or Newark in New York, USA. Passengers flying during the summer season will also have the opportunity to fly to New York’s JFK Airport, Philadelphia, Toronto, and Montreal just like last year,” adds Vaclav Rehor.

In total, the summer timetable will see flights to 14 new destinations, alongside regular flights to Newark Airport in New York, which United Airlines will run from Prague daily, and flights to Astana, departing twice a week with SCAT Airlines. There will also be flights heading to Casablanca (twice a week with Air Arabia), Florence (offered 4 times a week by Vueling) and Billund (3 flights a week operated by Ryanair). Brand-new routes include two holiday destinations – Pescara in Italy and Zadar in Croatia. Thanks to these new summer routes operated by Ryanair, passengers can take advantage of faster and more comfortable way to destinations which until recently were mostly only accessible by road.

Some direct flights that were already available during the winter flight season will continue also during the summer season. These include, for example, flights to Amman, Marrakesh, Sharjah, Paris Beauvais and Moscow/Zhukovsky.

The most frequent flights this summer season will be those departing to Italy (17 destinations), Great Britain (16 destinations), Spain, and Greece (both with 12 destinations).

Among the most popular destinations with the highest number of flights from Václav Havel Airport Prague will be London (up to 93 flights a week), Moscow (up to 63 flights a week), Paris (up to 58 flights a week), Amsterdam (up to 54 flights a week), and Warsaw (up to 52 flights a week).

Long-haul routes: 16 direct flights offered by 19 airlines:

Astana SCAT Airlines

Chengdu Sichuan Airlines

Doha Qatar Airways

Dubai Emirates, flydubai, Smartwings

Philadelphia American Airlines

Montreal Air Transat

New York Delta Air Lines

New York (Newark) United Airlines

Novosibirsk S7 Airlines

Beijing Hainan Airlines

Riyadh Czech Airlines

Seoul Czech Airlines, Korean Air

Xi’an China Eastern Airlines

Shanghai China Eastern Airlines

Sharjah Air Arabia

Toronto Air Canada Rouge

Overview of new offers:

14 new destinations with regular transit (compared to the same period in 2018):

Amman Ryanair

Astana SCAT Airlines

Billund Ryanair

Bournemouth Ryanair

Casablanca Air Arabia Maroc

Florence Vueling

Marrakesh Ryanair

Moscow (Zhukovsky) Ural Airlines

New York (Newark) United Airlines

Paris (Beauvais) Ryanair

Pescara Ryanair

Stockholm (Skavsta) Ryanair

Sharjah Air Arabia

Zadar Ryanair

4 new airlines: Air Arabia, SCAT Airlines, SunExpress, United Airlines

Travel News | eTurboNews

Budapest Airport launches new winter routes

March 27, 2019 by Forimmediaterelease

Launching 15 new winter routes in total, Ryanair route additions will see 3 new destinations on Budapest Airport’s route map. Facing no competition on its new operations to Lappeenranta, Luxembourg and Poznan, Ryanair will be providing further variety to passengers traveling to and from Hungary.

As Budapest Airport’s blistering summer schedule is launched this weekend, the Hungarian gateway continues its route network expansion into the winter timetable with Ryanair. Confirming the addition of another 6 new services – Catania, Gothenburg, Lappeenranta, Luxembourg, Poznan and Tel Aviv – the ultra-low-cost carrier (ULCC) will be offering a total of 46 routes from Budapest during the winter season.

“In just three years Ryanair has come close to doubling the number of passengers it has welcomed to Budapest Airport as early forecasts predict the carrier will deliver more than three million travelers to our gateway in 2019,” said Balázs Bogáts, Head of Airline Development, Budapest Airport. “Even before this summer season has begun, it’s great to announce that Ryanair will once again be enriching our route network from the winter with new destinations, as well as increased services on proven successful routes.”

As the ULCC also confirms frequency increases on its existing links to Berlin Schönefeld (9 times weekly), Copenhagen (daily), London Stansted (25 times weekly), Milan Bergamo (11 times weekly) and Prague (9 times weekly), an estimated over 3 million Ryanair customers will pass through Budapest throughout the summer and winter seasons, recording a robust growth of 17% and significantly reinforcing the airline’s growth at the Hungarian capital city airport.

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Czech Memorial Scrolls survived the Holocaust and travel to New York City

March 23, 2019 by Forimmediaterelease

The fact that a few of the 1,564 Czech Memorial Scrolls were all in one place at the same time, was almost a miracle. It took detailed planning and the cooperation of many institutions to bring these historical documents to New York City’s Temple Emanu-El for one-evening. It is only through the efforts of the Herbert & Eileen Bernard Museum and the auspices of the Memorial Scrolls Trust of London that this first-time phenomenon took place in New York.

Importance of the Scrolls

Scholars have determined that it would be difficult to identify examples of Jewish culture and religion more suitable than the Torah scrolls. The reading from a parchment manuscript, containing the Hebrew text of the Five Books of Moses, the Divine Teaching handed over to the people of Israel, is the cornerstone to the Jewish synagogue ritual.

More Than Parchment

The Torah scroll is a strip of parchment, prepared from the skin of a kosher animal. Many inches in length, it is supported by two wooden rollers (atzei hayyim, “trees of life”) at each end. Considered to be holy, the text and the scroll hold an exceptional position in Judaism. If the scroll is appropriate for reading in the synagogue, the Torah scroll must be written in Hebrew square script with permanent ink by a professional scribe (sofer). The scroll cannot have textual errors and the letters must be legible. While certain errors and imperfections may be corrected by the scribe, if the damage is wide-ranging, the parchment cannot be used.

Jeffrey Ohrenstein, Chair, Memorial Scrolls Trust, London, UK “These scrolls are survivors and silent witnesses of the Shoah.”

Amazing Grace

The fact that the Torah Scrolls exist at all is a marvel. They were saved from the Czechoslovakian regions of Bohemia and Moravia during WWII, surviving the planned destruction of everything Jewish and the horrors of the communist regime that controlled the country in 1948.

It is thought that the artifacts survived because Prague, although badly damaged, was not leveled during the fighting. The scrolls were stored in a synagogue in a Prague suburb and they remained (decomposing) in this building until 1963, when the Czech government sought a buyer for the treasures. Eric Estorick, a British art dealer, introduced the opportunity to Ralph Yablon, a founding member of London’s Westminster Synagogue. Yablon purchased the scrolls and donated them to his synagogue.

On February 7, 1964, 1,564 scrolls were delivered to London. According to Jeffrey Ohrenstein, “They were in plastic bags, like body bags.” Many of the scrolls were in disrepair. Fortunately, Rabbi David Brand, a sofer, was looking for work, and presumed that the synagogue would have at least one scroll in need of repair; he was shown an entire floor of scrolls in need of his attention. He worked in the synagogue for nearly 30 years, repairing all the scrolls – personally.

Shortly after their arrival in London, a trust was created to care for the scrolls and repairs were initiated. Over the next 30 years, over 1,400 scrolls were sent to synagogues around the world. Now the Trust focuses on raising awareness of the responsibility attached to the housing of these historic documents. Synagogues and institutions are asked to devote one Shabbat during the year to the Memorial Congregation to coincide with the anniversary of the deportation of that community and to memorialize the many murdered Jews by remembering their names on that Shabbat and Yom HaShoah and Yum Kippur.

The Czech Torah Scrolls Viewed in Manhattan @ Temple Emanu-El, February 5, 2019

With more than 75 scrolls from over 10 different states and countries on view, hundreds of people crowded the auditorium at Temple Emanu-El. The scrolls are identified by number and no longer have their original mantles. The current scroll covers range from sumptuous velvet to tartan plaid with an outstanding cover designed in the stripes of a concentration camp prison uniform. The Torahs were carried by Temple members as well as representatives from nearby synagogues and Houses of Worship. The scroll procession was accompanied by a violin playing Etz Hayim (A tree of life) from Proverbs.

In his emotionally moving words to the audience, Jeffrey Ohrenstein said: “The Torah is the one thing that binds all Jews together. We would like our scroll holders to use the scrolls in a way that reminds people of what we have in common rather than what divides us.”

For additional information, go to memorialscrollstrust.org.

© Dr. Elinor Garely. This copyright article, including photos, may not be reproduced without written permission from the author.

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Europeans travel to GCC in record numbers: 29% increase by 2023 expected

March 13, 2019 by forimmediaterelease.net -

Arrivals from Europe to the GCC will increase 29% over the period 2018 to 2023, driven by new and direct flight routes, a growing number of millennial and middle-class travellers and competitive airfares, according to the latest data released ahead of Arabian Travel Market (ATM) 2019, which takes place at Dubai World Trade Centre from 28 April – 1 May 2019.

According to ATM’s research partner, Colliers International, as many as 8.3 million EU residents will travel to the GCC in 2023, an additional 1.9 million travelers when compared to 2018 arrival figures.

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Adding to this, figures from ATM 2018 show the number of delegates arriving from Europe increased 5% between 2017 and 2018, while the number of delegates, exhibitors and attendees interested in doing business with Europe increased by 24%.

Danielle Curtis, Exhibition Director ME, Arabian Travel Market, said: “Historically, Europe and the GCC have enjoyed excellent travel and tourism links and this trend is set to continue over the next four years.

“The UAE and Saudi Arabia are expected to continue to be the preferred GCC destinations for European tourists, welcoming a projected 6.15 million and 1.11 million visitors respectively by 2023. Oman will follow with 720,000 visitors, while Bahrain will welcome 310,000 and Kuwait 140,000.”

Driving this demand in the UAE throughout 2018, Emirates introduced new flights to London Stansted, Edinburgh, Lyon and Paris; Etihad to Barcelona; flydubai to Catania, Thessaloniki, Krakow, Dubrovnik, Zagreb and Helsinki; and Air Arabia to Prague. While in Saudi Arabia, new routes to destinations including Vienna and Malaga were added during the same period.

Looking at the outbound market potential, GCC travel to EU countries is expected to grow by 50%, with 6 million GCC residents projected to visit Europe by 2023. The Colliers data indicates that Saudi Arabia will lead this growth with 2.98 million KSA residents travelling to Europe in 2023, followed by 1.73 million UAE residents, 600,000 Kuwaitis, 340,000 Bahrainis and 210,000 Omanis.

While part of this growth can be attributed to the UAE and Saudi Arabia’s large expatriate populations, GCC nationals are no strangers to European destinations, its culture and history – as well as its retail and luxury hospitality offerings.

Curtis said: “Saudi Arabia is predicted to retain its position as the largest outbound travel market destination in the GCC, with an additional 1.2 million trips forecasted per year by 2023 – a 70% growth on 2018 trips. Driving this growth will be the rising spending power of both millennials and females in the Kingdom.”

According to the Colliers research, the UK, France, Switzerland and Sweden will be the top European destinations for GCC nationals to visit, with the UK expected to account for 890,000 trips by 2023.

“In the UK, Brexit has weakened the British Pound providing an additional incentive for Gulf tourists, while the relaxation of tourist visa requirements and GCC residents’ growing interest in medical tourism is encouraging travel to countries such as Switzerland and Sweden,” Curtis added.

ATM 2019 will welcome more than 100 European exhibitors to the show, with names such as Armani Hotel Milano, the German National Tourism Board, Port Aventura World, the National Tourism Organisation of Serbia and the Austrian National Tourism Office as well as various new exhibitors including Belarus National Tourism Agency, Moscow Committee for Tourism and Montenegro National Tourism Organisation.

Considered by industry professionals as a barometer for the Middle East and North Africa tourism sector, ATM welcomed over 39,000 people to its 2018 event, showcasing the largest exhibition in the history of the show, with hotels comprising 20% of the floor area.

Brand new for this year’s show will be the launch of Arabian Travel Week, an umbrella brand comprising four co-located shows including ATM 2019, ILTM Arabia, CONNECT Middle East, India & Africa – a new route development forum and new consumer-led event ATM Holiday Shopper. Arabian Travel Week will take place at Dubai World Trade Centre from 27 April – 1 May 2019.

Europe’s most successful B2B luxury travel show opens new site in Prague from June 2-5, 2019

February 19, 2019 by PressEditor

The loop concept has proven itself over the years as a consistent value proposition for carefully determined markets. It stands for a quality format that has set new standards within the German-speaking markets (Germany, Austria and Switzerland) for many years and is now raising the standard further with loop Prague as the leading platform to cover the most attractive Central & Eastern European markets. loop Prague’s focus is bringing together the finest buyers from 15 Central & Eastern European (CEE) countries: Poland, Czech Republic, Romania, Hungary, Bulgaria, Slovakia, Lithuania, Latvia, Estonia, Slovenia, Croatia, Serbia, Macedonia, Montenegro and Bosnia together with highly qualified buyers and carefully chosen international exhibitors within one most elegant venue according to the sleep & meet concept resulting in a networking experience like no other.

loop Prague is a boutique-sized, invitation only show with everyone staying within the same property. Three days with 62 set appointments and numerous networking opportunities during breaks and evening events.

While on the radar from a continuously increasing number of properties, experience operators and destination specialists around the globe, many are not fully aware that these countries represent the fastest growing market for luxury travel within Europe. They already generate significantly more luxury business than all of Russia combined.

About loop:

Over the past six years, the B2B trade fair has established itself as the largest, most unique and important luxury trade fair in the German speaking market. loop revolutionizes and emotionalizes sales and gives the people behind it a platform to enrich their network in just three days so that they can benefit from it all year round. Unlike usual travel trade shows, loop is not some standalone event. It is a most successful, one-stop platform and community that enables you to connect with only the finest, high-end travel designers, tour operators and media in order to fully cover the attractive German-speaking and/or the Central & Eastern European markets.

It has developed into a pro-active community that offers you numerous opportunities, key market events as well as services to connect with the finest buyers and media of your choice throughout the year. Whether you wish to follow-up your participation in one of the loop shows with a dedicated action targeting the finest buyers from a specific region and/or strengthen your presence in another region through a specific service, there are absolutely no limits. All is possible throughout the year at the pace and budget of your choice. Each loop is accompanied by two vibrant evening events.

Find out more here.

MEDIA CONTACT:

Annika Schnadt

Director of Communications

Lobster Experience GmbH & Co. KG

fon +49 69 83 00 675 15

annika@lobster-experience.com

www.lobster-experience.com

Corinthia Hotels offers seasonal cheer

December 10, 2018 by Newswire

The countdown is on to December 15, 2018, when luxury hotel collection Corinthia Hotels offers some seasonal cheer.

With the start of it Winter Sale and as temperatures plummet, so do rates – by 30-50% – at Corinthia’s five-star properties around the world, including the flagship Corinthia Hotel London which recently featured in a BBC 1 documentary, A Hotel for the Rich and Famous.

Rates at the other hotels are reduced by 50% at:

Corinthia St George’s Bay

Corinthia Palace Hotel & Spa, Malta

Corinthia Hotel Prague

Corinthia Hotel St Petersburg

Corinthia Hotel Lisbon

To take advantage of special rates, stays must be booked by February 28, 2019, and are valid for stays until December 30, 2019. More information here.

For complete details, read the full article on TravelIndustryDeals.com.