TI’ME to tap China market potential

UAE based hotel group looking to grow inbound Chinese visitor numbers as dragon economy forecast to reach 84 million travellers by 2015; TIME Hotels Management to meet key travel buyers at forthcoming Chinese Visitor Summit The growth in inbound visitor numbers from China to the UAE has prompted TIME Hotels Management to augment its strategic marketing efforts in order to target this increasingly influential sector as the number of Chinese travelling overseas is forecast to hit 84 million by 2015, and 100 million by 2020. The World Tourism Council (WTC) say around 70 million Chinese travelled overseas in 2011, up by over 38% on 2010 figures, of which an estimated 300,000 Chinese tourists visited the UAE last year spending US$334 million according to Mastercard research. “Officials have released data that shows outbound tourism from China has grown 20% in the first five months of 2012, which is consistent with our experience and that of the Dubai market overall. We too have seen a significant increase of inbound Chinese business to our Dubai properties over the last 12 months, with the TIME Grand Plaza in Al Qusais reporting an 86% rise in room nights year-to-date from leisure visitors, and our Al Barsha property, has been witnessing a rise in Chinese corporate business, especially long-staying guests,” said Mohamed Awadalla, Area Vice President, TIME Hotels Management. Per capita spending by Chinese visitors is also reportedly the highest, at AED4,092 compared with AED3,477 per average British tourist and AED3,996 per average Kuwaiti tourist. But this pales almost into insignificance once compared with global spending figures of $72 billion last year, ranking third highest spenders behind the Germans and Americans at $84 billion and $79 billion respectively. To capitalise on opportunities to grow this lucrative sector still further, TIME Hotels Management is participating in next month’s inaugural Chinese Visitor Summit, jointly organised by Dubai-based NPI and i2i Group China, which will bring together over 75 top tier Chinese travel buyers - with budgets exceeding US$5 million - with leading tourism industry suppliers. Clearly one of the main drivers is retail, vice chairman of Dubai Duty Free, Sean Staunton said of the annual turnover of US$1.46 billion, some 18 per cent was attributed to Chinese travellers, although they made up less than four per cent of the total numbers. Forty per cent of watch sales, 32 per cent of cosmetics and 20 per cent of sunglasses were made to that market. Indeed, according to Global Blue, a shopping tourism company, 20% of all global tax-free shopping is made by Chinese shoppers. ”We’ve been tracking the travel patterns of the dragon economy tourist since the Chinese government granted the UAE ‘approved destination’ status in 2009. With a flying time of around eight hours, and the recent surge in connectivity with route expansion by both Emirates and Etihad, as well as Chinese carriers, the UAE is a hugely popular destination, offering high quality hotel accommodation as well as upscale retail opportunities that appeal to the growing number of affluent Chinese visitors,” said Awadalla. The two-day Chinese Visitor Summit, which will be held in Dubai from 5-6 September, includes face-to-face meeting opportunities and the chance to participate in a series of interactive sessions covering multiple aspects of doing business in the Chinese marketplace, complemented by a number of networking events. “Our packed appointment schedule will give us one-on-one face time with over 40 high profile buyers as well as allowing us to gain insight into the intricacies of doing business with prospective Chinese partners and opportunities to better understand cultural nuances that can be integrated into our operation to secure future business,” explained Awadalla. “Understanding this unique market is key to tailoring our offering and becoming a preferred partner in the region. For example, leisure travellers typically split their stay between several hotels during a three to seven-night stay, and so our portfolio of city centre properties is attractive to Chinese visitors looking for a single city multi- experience stay,” he added. Both the TIME Oak Hotel & Suites and TIME Grand Plaza Hotel are situated within easy reach of major retail destinations such as Mall of the Emirates and Mirdiff City Centre, which include the high-end retail stores favoured by the brand-conscious Chinese tourist; as well as providing the full spectrum of entertainment options from desert safaris to city tours. Guests staying at TIME hotels also have the preferred accommodation option of twin-bedded rooms and all guestrooms and suites come equipped with a hot water kettle, which is an essential for every Chinese traveler, whose staple travel snack is a ‘Pot Noodle’ or congee (rice porridge). Of course Mandarin speaking staff and accepting certain Chinese debit cards is also a plus.

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Successful Marketing Plan

What makes a good marketing plan? You can measure it by the decisions that follow, the business it generates and how well it's implemented. A brilliant marketing plan that is not executed is worth much less than a mediocre marketing plan that's carried out. The plan's value is in the success of the business. Within this general framework, successful marketing plans have several key elements. I’ll use examples from the restaurant business because it's familiar to most people. 1. Market focus “I don’t know the secret to success, but I do know that the secret to failure is trying to please everybody,” said Bill Cosby. Good marketing plans define target markets narrowly. A restaurant’s target market might be families, couples, baby boomers, teenagers, children, date nights, busy and rushed working people, or some combination. You won’t find a restaurant that works for a baby boomer couple’s night out also working for families with small children. Choose. Divide and conquer. 2. Product focus Product focus matches market focus. If you want baby boomers’ date nights, then serve good food. If you want families with kids, then serve food quickly, make the menu items relatively cheap and, of course, the food has to be safe. Sushi doesn’t sell on price. Drive-through windows don’t deliver fast food. 3. Concrete, measurable specifics A good marketing plan is full of dates and details. Strategy probably drives a good plan, but tactics, programs and details make the difference. As much as possible, the plan has to tie results back to activities and come up with hard numbers to measure those results. A restaurant cannot have vague goals like having the best-tasting food. It needs specifics that are related to marketing message, insertions, posts, tweets, dinners served, return visits, members of the e-mail list, reviews, stars and so forth. The key is to take a plan and think ahead about how you’ll know whether it was implemented. Will you be able to tell? 4. Responsibility and accountability Groups and committees get little done. Assign every part of a marketing plan to a specific person. Measure the results of every task and be sure a person is responsible for it. Peer pressure is important: The people executing the plan have to be accountable for measurable results. Failure has to hurt, and achievement has to be rewarded. An old joke: How do you see involvement vs. commitment in a bacon-and-egg breakfast? Answer: The chicken is involved, but the pig is committed. A good marketing plan needs commitment, not just involvement. 5. Reviews and revisions Every successful marketing plan is actually a planning process, not just a plan. Things change too fast for static plans. A good marketing plan is part of a process that involves setting goals, measuring results and tracking performance. It entails regular review and revision. If the group running the marketing plan isn’t meeting once a month to compare the plan with actual results and make course corrections, there is no marketing plan.

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tourism news 11 feb 2012-middleast

Airline lets fliers vet seatmates through Facebook

KLM Royal Dutch Airlines has introduced a social-media service that enables passengers to pick their seat buddies based on their profiles on Facebook and LinkedIN. When a passenger shares his or her profile via a ‘meet & seat’ service, KLM notifies the person via email about whether other passengers on the flight have shared their details. The service is currently available for flights from Amsterdam to San Fracisco, New York and Sao Paulo, with plans to roll the initiative out to other destinations 
“ JW Marriott Marquis to be world's tallest hotel

The 355m JW Marriott Marquis Dubai will become the world’s tallest hotel when it opens in quarter four, taking the title from the existing holder, the Rose Rayhaan Rotana. The 1608-room twin-tower development on Dubai's Sheikh Zayed Road will open in two phases; the first phase features 804 rooms as well as numerous restaurants and lounges. The property will target business travellers and the “growing” MICE market, the hotel’s general manager revealed at a press conference on Wednesday. “The potential to cater for the growing needs of the global business community is huge and we believe the JW Marriott Marquis Dubai is uniquely placed in that regard,” said Rupprecht Queitsch. “The hotel will fill a long identified gap in the market where groups, meetings and conventions of up to 1000 people can meet, sleep and dine under one roof, in one location. There are businesses of this size choosing various cities around the world in which to meet, but until now, Dubai has not had a single location of this size to accommodate this type of group. In simple terms, we will establish Dubai on the global conference market landscape." Queitsch said that to give the local market some context, the United States’ MICE segment, which will be one of the key targets of the JW Marriott Marquis Dubai team, contributes US $106 billion to that country’s GDP – higher than automotive manufacturing ($78 billion), performing arts/spectator sports/museums ($71 billion) and information and data processing services ($76 billion). He explained: “As for general business, Dubai is perfectly positioned, with its proximity to huge growth markets such as India and the fact it has literally billions of people within a five-hour flight range. What those business travellers are looking for is a hotel that has everything they could possibly need under one roof and we truly believe this iconic new property will set a new standard in business hotels, not just in the region but globally." Alongside its 5000 sq m of events space, the JW Marriott Marquis Dubai will have nine restaurants and five lounges, as well as a spa, health club and two ballrooms.

ليلــــــــــــــة فى العمـــــــــــــــــــــر،،،،،،،دكتورة حنان فاروق

استكملت زينتها..نظرت فى المرآة الماثلة أمامها فلم ينعكس رضاها عن الألوان الملقاة على وجهها..ضوضاء تحتل كل شبر في المكان..زغاريد لا تكف عن طرق أبواب أذنها كلما دخلت إحداهن لتحييها
...نظرت في ساعتها..لماذا تأخر ؟؟؟..لاتدري لماذا لم يطاوعها قلبها على الاستسلام للفرحة في هذا اليوم المسمى بليلة العمر..هاجس ما انتزع قلبها النابض بالحياة واحتل مابين ضلوعها دون أن يترك مساحة يتجول فيها عطر السعادة..ازداد فجأة وقع الزغاريد المتجهة لغرفتها..قامته الفارهة أعلنت عن وصوله..تحاملت على أقدامها الباكية فى حذائها الضيق ووقفت لتستعد لرحلة الذوبان في الحفل..تحلقت الفتيات حولها يرتبن طرحتها وتاجها وثوبها الضخم..

.أياديهن تفوح منها رائحة الغبطة..شبكت يدها في ذراعه تستند عليه..همس في أذنها سائلاً عن سر وجومها.أجابته بابتسامة باهتة معتذرة..فيما التقطت أمها الخيط بسرعة مخبرة إياه أن تلك طبيعة الفتيات في مثل هذا اليوم..هز رأسه شبه مقتنع واستسلم للشلال المتجه إلى المصعد للنزول إلى سيارة العرس..انفتح بابه فدخلا واندفع معهما فوج من الأصحاب..وقفت أختها على الباب مترددة لكنها توسلت إليها أن تكون إلى جانبها..وما أن وضعت قدمها في المصعد حتى هوى إلى بئره بسرعة البرق..لم يصب أحد بسوء.. ....

وسط ذهول الجميع وصلت فرقة المطافيء وساعدت الجميع على الخروج......الأبواب المفتوحة لشقق الدور الأرضي ابتلعت هلعها واحتوتها قبل أن تفيق من الصدمة..وفى دقائق أعادوا كل شيء قدر الإمكان لما كان عليه..عيناها الزائغتان والعرق الذى أصر على استكمال تصببه من جبينها كادوا يفسدون كل شيء لولا ثبات شريك ليلتها..

مرة أخرى قام بتكرار مشهد الذهاب إلى سيارة الزفاف وكأن شيئاً لم يكن لولا حشرجة فرضت سيطرتها على الزغاريد الجديدة..وجهه الثلجي الذى قررت الدماء مغادرته رغم هدوئه لم يغير من وقع خطواته المنتظم ولانبرة صوته التي بدت وكأنها لم تتأثر بكل ماحدث..حين وقفت أمام المصور اليوناني العجوز لم تستطع الابتسام..حاول أن يلقي عليها بعض النكات متسولاً إشراقة فلم تستجب إلا قليلاً..التقط الصورة يائساً..سجنهما الحفل وسط همسات المدعوين ونظراتهم المتخوفة تارة والمشفقة أخرى ...

على الكورنيش خارج قاعة الاحتفال كانت المحطة الأخيرة قبل الذهاب إلى عش الزوجية..همست أختها في أذنها بأن تلقى باقة الورد على الفتيات قبل أن ترحل..يداها المرتعشتان تحملان بالكاد الورود فكيف بقذفها... تظاهرت بالثبات بعد أن أجبرت شفتيها على الابتسام.. نظرت فى عيون الفتيات الباردة تفتش عن لهفة على ورودها ..فلم تجد....ارتجفت الباقة بين أصابعها..قفزت في الهواء...احتضنتها أذرعة الأمواج

الملم نفسى ،،،،،،،دكتورة حنان فاروق

ألملم نفسي وأخطو بعيداً **برغم ارتباطي بنبض الحروف
تتوه الليالى على كف صمتي**وتنشق عن ذكرياتي الصفوف
يراودني الحزن عند اغترابي**ويأخذني الفكر حتى الحنين
ويرسمنى الصبر لوناً جديداً**على لوحة الكون والعالمين
يسبح فى القلب صوت ارتحالي**على متن دوامتي والقدر
ويقتص من تمتمات تغنت**بها حادثاتي كبث المطر
أيا أيها العابث المستبدّ**بأعماق صدري أما من خلاص؟؟
تربعت فى الغور حتى تبدى**لروحي وللنفس كل انتقاص
أنا واقع وارتعادة حلم**وخطو على جمر هذى الدروب
وتحليق أطياف نفس تمنت**تجوب الشعاعات قبل الغروب
أغني على كل لحن بقايا**قصيدي الذي يحتويه ارتجالي
وأستقطب النور من ذكرياتي**ليحيا من الموت بعض احتمالي
أعيب على الصبر طول الرقاد**ويفترس العمر طول انتظار
وأرتد عن كل وهم هزيل**وأشباح نفسي تجب النهار
إلى أين يمضي ترى ماتبقى**من الدهر في قصتي والحياه
وهل سوف يحتل سؤلي سطور الإجابة عند اختبار النجاه؟