Disneyland Paris turns 20, with mixed results

FRANCE, MARNE-LA-VALLEE: Disneyland Paris fetes its 20th anniversary Thursday, but while Mickey Mouse now draws nearly twice as many visitors as the Louvre's Mona Lisa, his fantasy park is not yet out of the financial woods.

A rare glimpse of North Korea by train

DEMOCRATIC PEOPLE'S REPUBLIC OF KOREA, Pyongyang: For those who have the rare opportunity, the train linking Dandong in China to Pyongyang in North Korea offers a unique glimpse of the most closed country in the world.

Weary of Dubai traffic? Get Dh1m flying car You could soon be flying over Sheikh Zayed Road instead of being stuck in traffic on the road

If the daily commute from home to office and back is becoming a bit of a drag for you, here’s some exciting news.At last week’s New York International Auto Show, US firm Terrafugia Inc. unveiled the Transition, a vehicle that can operate both as a car and, when push comes to collision, a plane.
Until now, the flying car has been a subject for science fiction and children’s books authors. No longer, it seems. A commercially available version of the car could see the light of the day as soon as next year, the company hopes.

Pending regulatory approvals (and that means a lot, by the way), Terrafugia plans to sell the contraption by 2013 for $279,000 (Dh1.02m). The Transition, in effect a two-seat aircraft with foldable wings, already has about a 100 ‘customers’ who’ve put down a deposit of $10,000 (about Dh37,000) to be among the first owners of the car (or plane, whichever way you’d like to look at it) once it becomes a commercial reality.

The company says that roughly 100 aircraft have been reserved, representing an order backlog of over $25 million. Refundable airframe reservations are currently being accepted to hold a place in production. “We are currently marketing to pilots and to people willing to become pilots to use the Transition. All sorts of people have placed reservations, from retired couples planning to travel to independent business people with clients spread over a large geographic area,” says the firm.

Queen to re-open historic Cutty Sark ship

UNITED KINGDOM, London: The restored Cutty Sark will be re-opened by Queen Elizabeth II on Wednesday, five years after the 19th century British tea clipper was ravaged by fire.

Summer hotspots to entice UAE travelers

With vacations fast approaching, here are the top new destinations to include in the travel plans

Summer holiday planning is already buzzing up the phone lines for local travel agents, as weary UAE residents plan their escape from the sizzling heat that’s fast approaching.

Major local carriers such as Emirates and Eithad Airways have already announced top new destinations for their summer flightplan, targeting the disconcerting traveller who is eager to explore new grounds that may even take them off the beaten track.

French tourism spot faces car ban

FRANCE, Mont Saint-Michel: Cars have been banned from the foot of Mont-Saint-Michel in northwest France. People coming to the country's most visited tourist site now have to park their vehicles three

Dubai hotel rates closing in on Dh1,000 per day

Occupancy reaches 86.6% while revenue per available room surges 17.6%Tourism in Dubai is witnessing a massive surge as visitor numbers continue to climb. Dubai hotels are a direct beneficiary of this influx, with average room rates surging almost 9 per cent year-on-year during the first quarter of 2012 to close in on Dh1,000 per day, new data has revealed.
According to STR Global’s data for Q1 2012, occupancy in Dubai hotels rose 8.2 per cent in three months to reach a very impressive 86.6 per cent while the average daily rate (ADR) increased 8.7 per cent to Dh964.86 for the quarter, compared with the same period last year.

This, the global hotels research agency said, boosted revenue per available room (RevPAR) for Dubai hotels by 17.6 per cent year-on-year.

“The majority of markets across the GCC have weathered the recent storms fairly well,” said Elizabeth Randall, managing director of STR Global.

According to the agency, RevPAR of hotels in Jeddah, Al Khobar (both in Saudi Arabia) and Dubai continue to benefit from increased demand this year even as a continuous growth in supply of new hotels and hotel rooms limited RevPAR performances in the other major GCC markets, like Doha (Qatar), where a 10.8 per cent rise in supply led to a 14.5 per cent decline in RevPAR in Q1, 2012.

“We have seen demand growth for most markets in the region, highlighting the stronger underlying fundaments of stability and attractiveness to regional and international visitors,” added Randall.

“Increasing room inventory has been a dominant factor influencing performance in the past and will continue to do so as the region remains attractive for hotel owners and operators. Dubai and Abu Dhabi are interesting case studies to show how hotel markets can cope with balancing demand and supply,” she said.

“The fundamentals in the region, particularly the GCC, are among the best in the world given the combination of oil revenues, official reserves and the contribution of sovereign wealth funds,” said Nenad Pacek, president of Global Success Advisors and an expert on emerging markets.

However, STR Global acknowledged that while Dubai and Abu Dhabi were both experiencing growth, the two UAE markets are at different growth cycles.

“In the UAE, Dubai and Abu Dhabi represent two different cycle stages, particularly when looking at supply growth over the last 15 months,” the STR Global report said. “In Q1 2012, both cities benefited from a fairly similar demand growth, with Dubai growing by 11 per cent and Abu Dhabi by 9.7 per cent,” it said.

Stewart Coggans, regional executive vice-president for Jones Lang LaSalle Hotels emphasised the polarisation of regional markets, stressing the role of Dubai as regional leader in terms of performance.

“The market here is equipped to absorb the 12,000 rooms in the pipeline in the city with a healthy balance of 50:50 in terms of corporate and leisure business,” he said. “Abu Dhabi, with an 80:20 split is not as robust with the 2,000 rooms opening in 2011 leading to a decline in average daily rate of 16 per cent.”

The STR Global report too notes that Abu Dhabi and Dubai vary in potential and performance. “[C]onsidering the supply growth since 2011, the impact on RevPAR performance has been quite different. In Abu Dhabi since December 2011, the city has seen double-digit supply growth, reaching 16.7 per cent in Q1 2012. The additional room inventory resulted in declining occupancy by 6 per cent to 64.1 per cent,” the report noted.

Abu Dhabi’s average daily rate during the first quarter of the year was Dh633.85, a decrease of 11.7 per cent compared to the previous year, data showed, while Dubai hotels continue to experience a healthy growth in room rates.

Nevertheless, it’s Saudi Arabia’s Jeddah that emerged the star performer in Q1 2012. “Excluding Makkah and Medina, both in Saudi Arabia, Jeddah is the star performer in RevPAR growth for the first quarter,” STR Global said.

“The city benefited from demand growth (+17.3 per cent) and a temporary reduction of available rooms as the Westin Jeddah is closed for refurbishment between October 2011 and summer 2012,” it noted.

Al Khobar saw RevPAR in Q1 2012 increase to SAR414.16 (+18 per cent), led by occupancy reaching 57.3 per cent (+13.4 per cent) compared to the previous year.

“Occupancy growth primarily was driven by increased demand (+21.2 per cent) amid fairly low increases in new supply (+6.9 per cent), which in previous years increased by double digits. Elsewhere in Saudi Arabia, Riyadh’s supply growth (+11.5 per cent) in Q1 2012 outpaced demand (+3.1 per cent). This resulted in an occupancy decline of 7.5 per cent to 63.2 per cent,” the report said.

Rest of GCC markets see RevPAR declines

In Doha, occupancy declined by 10.5 per cent to 63.6 percent in Q1 2012, led by double-digit supply growth (+17.4 per cent), which outpaced demand growth of 5.1 per cent, data showed. Heightened competition among hotels in Doha therefore led average daily rates to decline to QAR827.8 (-4.5 per cent) in Q1 compared to the previous year.

“Manama, Bahrain, following the unrest since February 2011, continued to see RevPAR performance declining to BHD35.87 (-9 per cent) in Q1 2012, compared to the previous year,” the agency said, noting that March 2012 saw a huge increase in occupancy (+112.1 per cent), but attributed this rise to a low occupancy base in March 2011 (21.2 per cent). “Demand for the destination improved 1.1 per cent for the first quarter this year,” it said.

Kuwait saw occupancy reaching 57.3 per cent (-6.6 per cent) in first-quarter 2012 compared to the previous year. During the same period, ADR declined by 1.9 per cent to KWD63. Kuwait was the only market reporting a demand decline (-5.0 per cent) for the first quarter.

Whilst ADR declined by 7.3 per cent to OMR94.98 in Muscat, Oman, the city’s hotels saw occupancy reach 67.3 per cent (+3.5 per cent) resulting from increased demand (+8 per cent) for the first quarter of 2012. Muscat’s demand increase outweighed its supply increase of 4.3 per cent.

Overall, revPAR across the Middle East rose 10.4 per cent in the first quarter of 2012 compared to 2011 – 50 per cent greater than Asia and North America.

What’s more impressive is the fact that Dubai’s sustainably strong tourism numbers are not dependent on oil income, something that experts note is highly commendable.

According to Jonathan Worsley, Chairman & CEO Bench Events and Board Member STR Global, the figures underlined two contrasting points for the hospitality industry.

“While oil revenues are sustaining economic growth in the major producing countries and funding development of their travel and tourism industries, we have seen Dubai emerge as a striking example of a market that has thrived and survived with minimal oil reserves but a combination of private and public investment and joint will to balance supply and demand,” said Worsley, who is also the organizer of the ongoing Arabian Hotel Investment Conference 2012.

“Oil rich economies are using their wealth to diversify away from dependency on hydrocarbon revenue. This is very prudent and will benefit them in the long run. However, Dubai’s sustainable model could be adopted by non-oil economies,” he added.

Travel Trends: A golf course in Dubai’s World Central Airport…

A new report by one of world’s largest hotel groups says airport indulgances are at an all-time high, and that shopping and indulging in luxuries at airports worldwide will be a key global travel trend that will have potential impact in 2012 and beyond With over 153 million room nights booked by guests each year, InterContinental Hotels Group (IHG), says in its report that new global travel patterns are impacting local geographies, and cites the world’s largest airport, Dubai’s upcoming World Central Airport as an example.
IHG says that 100 new airports will emerge by 2020 in China, while “Dubai’s World Central airport will house a golf course and the world’s largest mall.”

Will winter put a freeze on Palm Jumeirah hotel rates?

As the 381-room Fairmont The Palm readies to open in September, competition may just drive rates to be more budget friendly end of seasonAs the Fairmont The Palm readies to throw down its gauntlet in the populated hotel market that has sprung up on The Palm Jumeirah in recent years, insiders are saying that we could soon see a price war in room rates that would ultimately favour the tourist influx on the man-made island.The upcoming 381-room Fairmont property will be located on the west facing trunk of the Palm, which, the management say, is the only hotel that will boast that location and will ultimately be its top draw for tourists who are looking for something more in the city other than confining themselves to a destination hotel on the island.

Airfares rise this summer could burn your holiday plans Rising oil prices are pushing airfares higher

Air travel could hit a high note this year if fuel prices continue to peak, said Qatar Airways chief Akbar Al Baker, adding that all airlines are equally burdened by the rising costs.
This news comes just as Emirates Chairman Sheikh Ahmed bin Saeed Al Maktoum announced that Emirates’ fuel cost for the financial year 2011-2012 hit $2 billion.

While most airline chiefs in the Mideast have maintained that fuel price is the main decider of airfares, Al Baker spoke in greater detail about this at the ongoing Arabian Travel Market in Dubai, stating: “Fuel price continues to be a challenge to all airlines. In the case of Qatar Airways, we are hedged up until 2015; however, fuel does form a major of an airline’s annual cost structure.”

Space tourism set for takeoff

UNITED STATES, Colorado Springs: Hundreds of people seeking the ultimate thrill ride are already signed up to be among the world's first space tourists. And several US states are in a breakneck race to set up space ports and cut out a slice of the future space tourism industry

Solar powered boat's round the world trip

ITALY: In these days of environmental awareness a European venture has shown the possibilities of solar power. PlanetSolar is the world's largest solar powered boat and the catarmaran will complete its record-breaking round-the-world trip this week when it docks in Monaco after 600 days at sea.

Best airlines for families... and yes, Emirates is on top

Travelling long distance with kids can be stress-free – no really! That’s what a new survey of international airlines found out.

The study, conducted by US News Travel, reveals that Dubai-based Emirates is right on top when it comes to travelling long-haul with little kids. And there’s not one but two Gulf-based airlines that make it to the coveted Top 5 Airlines for Families, as short listed by US Travel.

As any parent with kids below 12 (or even in their teens, for that matter) will tell you, flying with children is not an exercise they enjoy. It’s exhausting no doubt, but that’s the least of their troubles.

Top 10 'ugly' buildings

A recent opinion piece in the New York Times resurrected the age-old debate about whether ugly buildings deserved preservation if deemed historically important. While the staff and travelers at online travel advisers Trippy.com may be undecided on that issue, they can certainly tell you which buildings they'd put on the list for consideration. Here are their choices for the World's Top 10 Ugliest Buildings. Reuters has not endorsed this list:

1. J. Edgar Hoover Building (FBI HQ); Washington, D.C.

This is reason alone to avoid the 10 Most Wanted list. Situated in the center of the city, this dreary 1970s behemoth is almost unavoidable. Its days may be numbered as discussions about the department's relocation are rumored to be swirling around the capital city.

2. Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and Museum; Cleveland, Ohio

Even the architect was unhappy with this one. Upon the building's completion, a displeased I.M. Pei admitted himself there's little harmony in these conflicting shapes.

Casablanca's core crumbles

MOROCCO, Casablanca: Casablanca, Morocco's 'white city', hosts hundreds of architectural marvels. From art deco hotels and neo-classical ornaments to neo-Moorish detailing, the city bears witness to its status

Climbing Mt Everest - Dubai resident faces avalanches, rock falls, strokes…

Atte Miettinen blogs exclusively for Emirates24|7 as he climbs the world’s highest mountain

We returned from our last acclimatisation rotation about a week ago. Our plan had been to climb from Everest Base Camp (5365m) via Camp 1 (6150m) and Camp 2 (6500m) to Camp 3 (7400m), the highest we'd ever been on the mountain.

However, heavy rockfall en route from Camp 2 to Camp 3 forced us to change our plans. In fact, a sherpa from another expedition got hit in the face by a falling rock close to Camp 3, was knocked unconscious for 45 minutes and evacuated by helicopter to Kathmandu. Later, we found out he lost his life.

Restaurant's fresh approach earns 3 stars

A restaurant using home-grown vegetables to achieve unique quality and taste wins its third Michelin star.

Tea to be declared India's national drink

Add caption

Tea should be celebrated as 'half of the tea industry labour comprises women and is the largest employer in the organised sector': official India is to declare tea as its national drink to celebrate the life of a pioneering tea-planter who was hanged by British colonial rulers for taking part in the rebellion of 1857.

Planning Commission deputy chairman Montek Singh Ahluwalia on Saturday announced the decision while on a visit to Assam, the tea-producing northeastern state that borders on Bhutan and Bangladesh.

Top Philippine dishes emerge from junk food shadows

PHILIPPINES, ANGELES CITY: Claude Tayag sees himself as a food missionary, hoping to convert people at home and abroad to the secret cuisine wonders of the Philippines.

Noma is world's best restaurant

Danish restaurant "Noma" wins top accolade in "World's 50 Best Restaurants" list for third year in a row