Josh Corder travel tips

The surprise exit of Jumeirah Group CEO Katerina Giannouka 15 months into her role is the latest resignation for the government-owned hotel brand of Dubai.

Katerina Giannouka has left Jumeirah Group one year into her time as CEO, confirms an internal document seen by Skift. The document is attributed to Jumeirah’s owning company Dubai Holding group CEO Amit Kaushal and was circulated to leaders in the organization.

The proposed multi-billion-dollar Atlantis resort in Hawaii shows no signs of life after the company entrusted to build it went into liquidation last month, according to a filing on the Hong Kong exchange.

MGM Resort’s upcoming three-hotels-in-one mega-resort in Dubai will not have a casino, CEO and president Bill Hornbuckle has said. Still, he has high hopes for the project, now with a new budget in excess of $2.5 billion.

The company behind Dubai’s pair of Atlantis resorts has opened its first hotel intended purely for the fitness crowd. Kerzner’s new Siro hotel is located alongside the group’s latest One&Only hotel, both located in a skyscraper complex called One Za’abeel.

Saudi Arabia’s tourism minister says the kingdom counted more than 100 million tourists in 2023 – the numbers show growth in visits from international travelers, but that it still has work to do to become a globally competitive destination.

Dubai saw 17 million visitors in 2023, the emirate’s best-ever year for tourism and the first year ahead of pre-pandemic numbers. The news was shared in a brief tweet by the city’s crown prince, Sheikh Hamdan bin Mohammed.

Dubai is one of Marriott’s largest markets for branded residences outside the U.S. – an upmarket segment of real estate that has boomed over the past decade. Today, Marriott has nine branded residences in Dubai, as well as two more in Ras Al Khaimah and a string of ultra-expensive Bulgari properties.

Indian nationals now receive a pre-approved visa on arrival when landing in Dubai, provided they fly in with Emirates. Emirates is the city’s national carrier and one of the world’s largest airlines, and currently serves nine destinations in India with 167 weekly flights.

Saudi Arabia will launch a dedicated visa for its World Expo in 2030, which will facilitate “seamless entry from plane to metro to Expo site,” states the Royal Commission for Riyadh City.

Red Sea Global, the project developer in Saudi Arabia, is building up its hotel business, and it’s backed by a fund with more money than the market values of Hilton, Marriott and Accor combined.

Maltese independent hotel firm Cornithia has hired a new CEO, Simon Casson, the previous Europe, Middle East and Africa president of Four Seasons. Casson steps into the luxury hotel owner-operator while it is still feeling the sting of the pandemic four years ago.

IHG will take over the management of Dubai’s Côte d’Azur Monaco Hotel, the only operational property on The Heart of Europe project. The Heart of Europe dates back to 2008 and remains committed to opening all its 20 planned hotels, even 16 years later.

Saudi Arabia is preparing to open its first and only alcohol store, according to a report by Reuters Wednesday. The store will be in capital city Riyadh and only sell alcohol to visiting “non-Muslim diplomats,” said Reuters, citing an unnamed source and a document.

Dubai’s tourism authority has issued 70 ‘Dubai Sustainable Tourism Stamps’ to hotels across the emirate. With more than 800 hotels in Dubai today, that means that just under 10% of operating hotels were recognized for adhering to Dubai’s sustainability requirements.

Five hotels under Dubai’s home-grown company Emaar Hospitality have been rebranded in one swoop this week. Properties in prestige locations such as The Dubai Mall (the world’s biggest mall) and Dubai Marina have been rebranded as Kempinski and Marriott respectively. Abu Dhabi National Hotels (ADNH) owns the properties and says the move to strip Emaar branding was a “strategic business decision.”

The CEO of Kerzner International said the brand will never introduce a loyalty program. The reason? “Luxury can not be traded for points.”

Dubai’s homegrown hotel group, Jumeirah is now on a fast-track journey to become a global leader in luxury. The Burj Al Arab operator wants to double its footprint by the end of the decade, meaning more than 50 hotels.

What brands come to mind when you think “luxury”? Rolls Royce, Rolex, Chanel? “Dubai” is going to be the next one, as the modern emirate’s premier luxury hoteliers gear up to expand their properties across the region and then the world.

Dubai has completed its journey from the “dot in the desert” to a truly global city that more than 200 nationalities call home. The modern emirate is now so well-connected and cosmopolitan, that its large number of expat residents are truly “global citizens” rather than “Dubians.”

The upcoming Gulf Cooperation Council unified visa, which would ease crossing borders like in the Schengen Zone, is forecast to supercharge inter-regional travel in the Gulf states, according to Ras Al Khaimah’s tourism boss.