News & Stories
Berlin. The Dutchman Joost Heymeijer, who has been at Emirates Hotels & Resorts since 2005, will open the group's next green destination resort on October 1 this year. The Wolgan Valley Resort & Spa will be erected at the Greater Blue Mountains in the Australian federal state of New South Wales. As was the case with the Al Maha desert resort in Dubai, the hotel group committed itself to reviving a nature reserve. Preparations for this took one and a half years longer than expected.
Munich. An Expo Real survey on the outlook for the property market in 2009 showed that experts believe the bottom of the cycle is yet to come. It also revealed that the German property market is generally thought to have the best prospects for a fast recovery. The survey was conducted by Expo Real among industry experts and trade journalists from Germany and abroad who were accredited for the last event. This year´s Expo Real, taking place in Munich from 5 to 7 October 2009, is the 12th International Commercial Property Exposition.
Cologne/Berlin. inspire announces about two dozen workshops, speeches and panels to be staged at its first special real estate conference in Berlin in September. inspire stands for "international special purpose real estate" focusing on real estate in the field of lifestyle + leisure, health + care, infrastructure + logistics, and education + culture.
Vienna. With combined powers, Austria intends to win back lost market share in the face of globally declining tourism rates. Austria's provincial tourism organisations have for the first time pooled their funds in order to increase the efficacy of their campaigns.
Berlin. This year, two of Aldiana's three new openings are in line with the 2009 trend of "close to earth" travels: Aldiana Clubs are opening in Bad Griesbach and in the Salzkammergut. The other Aldiana destinations belong to the most preferred destinations of the German population too. Therefore, Volker Schwarz, Managing Director of Aldiana, showed no signs of pessimism at the ITB press conference the week before last.
Less is more
Berlin. Tour operator TUI now offers its partner hotels extensive consultancy services about "quality improvement". A later expansion of the consulting business cannot be excluded.
Frankfurt. Despite positive 2008 annual accounts with an increase of two percent for overnight stays of German and foreign guests, the financial and economic crisis is making itself noticeable in respect of Germany's tourism. Whereas important source markets, such as the Netherlands, Denmark and Poland were able to generate a solid increase at the end of 2008, other markets - among them the US, Great Britain and Spain - continued their downward trend of last year with considerable momentum.
Madrid. The outcome is nothing new; however, it emphasises the seriousness of the situation once more: in 2009, managers from all over the world will take fewer, shorter and cheaper business trips than they have done up to now. They are looking for hotels with certain standards and good service - additional offers have no priority. This is the result of a study among 354 managers from Europe, Asia and North America.
Lucerne. The World Tourism Forum Lucerne is an international conference, the first of its kind and launched by the Lucerne School of Business. It will be held from 22-24 April 2009 and present an agenda that addresses the challenges for the global tourism industry. The main focus of this first conference will be on mobility. The event is aimed at CEOs and chairmen in the tourism industry who seek to share their experiences and learn more about current developments and trends in an informal setting. Participation is allowed "by invitation only".