Business Travel

SriLankan Holidays tours Dubai

Building on the excitement of one of its most recent Mega 999 destinations, SriLankan Holidays took nine of its top travel agents to Dubai on a six- day tour recently. Added to the very successful Mega 999 holiday package line-up in October, Dubai has become a sought after destination for Sri Lankan nationals travelling overseas on holiday.

"We are keen on sustaining the momentum created by the addition of Dubai to our Mega 999 family and taking our travel agents to experience our product, first hand, is a key element in our strategy to grow the number of travellers to the destination," said SriLankan Holidays General Manager Amith Sumanapala.

Representatives from leading local and international travel agencies had an itinerary of all the 'not to be missed' attractions including the popular desert safari that ended with dinner, belly dancing and traditional music.

The other highlights included a dinner dhow cruise taking passengers through old and new Dubai and a city tour that takes visitors through the traditional souks to pick up anything from finely crafted gold, pearls, silks, perfume, spices and other Arabian souvenirs.

No visit to Dubai is complete without a visit to the Mall of Emirates, the Deira City Centre and the myriad of other malls and shopping centres that offer everything from top designer labels to a wide range of merchandise from across the world.

"The familiarisation tours are an ongoing initiative to give our partner travel agents a first hand experience about the destinations they sell on our behalf," Sumanapala said.

Air Arabia CEO in Lanka

Air Arabia's CEO, Adel Ali was in Sri Lanka briefly and during his visit was felicitated by Chairman Nawaloka Aviation, Jayantha Dharmadasa. He also met Ministry and Aviation officials and had very fruitful discussions.

Air Arabia is represented locally by Nawaloka Aviation and since commencing flights into Sri Lanka in 2004, now flies daily out of Colombo and into Sharjah.

Air Arabia, one of the world's fastest growing airlines, has ordered 49 new Airbus to augment their fleet, and currently flies to 39 destinations .

Air Arabia was also named 'Low Cost Carrier of the Year' at the Aviation Business Awards .

Ali said that Air Arabia would shortly open a second hub in Morocco to serve Europe, the Middle East and Africa.

Air Arabia has already commenced a Nepal hub operation and have launched FlyYeti.com, which is currently flying to Malaysia and will shortly be increasing their destinations.

He predicted a rapid growth in the Middle East aviation sector and looked forward to the continuation of Air Arabia's successful operations in Sri Lanka.

Qatar Airways celebrates travel agents awards night

Qatar Airways celebrated its annual Travel Agents Awards Night at the Cinnamon Grand.

More than 200 guests were treated to a great evening to celebrate the success of the airline's partnership with the Sri Lankan travel trade.

Qatar Airways' Regional Manager Rajeeva Jayaweera, hosted the evening, where he was joined by senior airline staff.

Awards were presented to agents who have played a key role in taking the airline to greater heights in the Sri Lankan market.

The Traveller Global (Pvt) Limited was awarded the Platinum Award, while Shan Travels and Tours received the Gold Award and 2nd Chance Travels was the winner of the Silver Award. Seven Merit Awards were also presented - the recipients being Hemas Travels (Pvt) Ltd., Mackinnons American Express Travels (Pvt) Ltd., George Steuart Travel International Ltd., Delair Travels (Pvt) Ltd., Sharmila Travels and Tours, Classic Travels (Pvt) Ltd., and Air Mark Travels and Tours (Pvt) Ltd.

Qatar Airways has come a long way since its launch in 1994 when Colombo was one of the first destinations in its network.

Ranked Five Star for service and excellence, the airline began its Colombo operations with one flight a week between the Sri Lankan capital and Doha, rising to the current twice-daily services.

Colombo today is one of 81 destinations in Qatar Airways' burgeoning international network.

Hemtours in strategic alliance with Diethelm Travel Group

Berlin: The Thailand-based Diethelm Travel Group (DTG) and one of Sri Lanka's leading tour operators, Hemtours, launched the "Diethelm Travel Sri Lanka" (DTSL) and "Diethelm Travel The Maldives" (DTTM) with a specific focus on in-bound tourism markets.

Announcing the MoU between the two companies at the ITB (Internationale Tourismus Boerse) currently being held in Berlin, Chief Executive Officer of DTG, John Watson, said, "Our customers have long been asking for a Diethelm Travel presence in Sri Lanka and the Maldives. We have found an excellent partner in Hemtours, a long-established, highly regarded and quality tour operator.

We are now in the process of re-branding the Hemtours businesses and will be trading as DTSL and DTTM during Q4, 2008."

Group Director, Hemas Holdings PLC, Abbas Esufally, said, "We believe the outstanding performance of the Maldives will continue for many years to come.

We recently sought to strengthen our Sri Lankan business by finding a partner with a truly global distribution reach.

From day one of entering dialogue with DTG, it was clear we had found a like-minded, service-oriented, company with strong ethics and financial resources". Hemtours is one of Sri Lanka's largest destination management companies and is part of the Hemas Group of Companies, one of Sri Lanka's top public quoted blue chip companies.

Chief Operating Officer DTG, Richard Brouwer said, "The key in any business is the quality of its people.

We are, therefore, delighted to announce that the current Managing Director of Hemtours, Harith Perera, will continue as the Managing Director, DTSL and DTTM.

He will be part of the DTG senior management team and under his leadership, we have every confidence that our businesses in Sri Lanka and The Maldives will rise to even greater heights."