Tag Archives: Middle East and Africa

Mark Willis, CEO – India, Middle East and Africa, Accor, has said that after Raffles Udaipur, India is soon to get its second Raffles property in Jaipur. “It’s wonderful to see India recovering. We recently opened the first Raffles there and we have a second raffles coming up as well, which is also interesting as there will be two ultra-luxury properties coming in the same country within a close time frame. The future looks bright for India,” he said.

Tricia Warwick, Director, Asia-Pacific, Middle East and Africa for VisitBritain, said that India is a huge tourism opportunity for Britain. “It is a priority market for Britain and forecast to generate more than 22 million outbound visits globally by the end of 2020, with inbound tourism from India to the Britain looking set to continue to increase by +50 per cent visits and +64 per cent spend between 2018 and 2025. According to the International Passenger Survey results for the first nine months from January to September, 2019, visitors from India to Britain set new records for visits and spend. Overall, there were a record 452,000 visits from India to the UK in those months in 2019, up 13% year on year. Those visitors spent a record £499 million, up 44% on January –September 2018,” she confirmed.

In an effort to enhance its visa service, the United Kingdom Visa & Immigration (UKVI) has extended the Registered Traveller Service to Indian nationals – an optional membership scheme which provides expedited crossing through the UK border. Registered Travellers are entitled to use the EEA entry lanes, or if they hold an electronic passport, the ePassport gates, and won’t need to routinely fill in a landing card. There are more UK Visa Application Centres in India than any other country. UKVI will also be improving the application process during 2018, with new online forms and upgraded technology to make the experience smoother and customer-friendly. Tricia Warwick, Interim Director for Asia Pacific, Middle East and Africa, VisitBritain, said, “We want the UK to be a ‘must-go-now’ destination for visitors from India. Making it easy to travel here is an important part of our tourism offer. With our hotels, attractions and shops, all offering great value for Indian visitors right now, it is a great time to come to Britain.” Source: ANI

RCI recently published a new global industry white paper on the shared vacation ownership industry to help educate, inspire and support potential new entrants into the business. It is also designed to assist the media, legislators and hospitality groups to better understand the leisure real estate industry. Created to support industry growth, the Leisure Real Estate Trends & Opportunities handbook demonstrates the credibility of shared vacation ownership products and markets, helping to demystify one of the fastest-growing and established industries in the hospitality sector. “RCI has been involved in facilitating the swapping and sharing of residential leisure real estate for more than four decades,” said Dimitris Manikis, Vice President of Business Development, RCI Europe, Middle East and Africa. “We have worked with developers and investors from every walk of the hospitality and leisure real estate sectors and have seen firsthand what a resilient and robust business this is. We at RCI understand the shared vacation ownership model’s potential to grow a business base, as well as making a significant contribution to tourism revenues. For all these reasons, we felt it was important to draft a white paper that makes absolutely clear how the products work and where the opportunities lie. We see a great future for a product that offers access to a property asset – it is the perfect fit for today’s Millennial consumer mindset.” This handbook is designed to be an A-to-Z guide to the shared ownership and leisure real estate business. It contains valuable business insights into the European marketplace, as well as analysis of the global industry.