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Royal Caribbean awards top sales partners

Dubai, May 5, 2011

Royal Caribbean Cruises, a global cruise brand, honoured eleven travel industry partners from the Middle East for their contribution to generating cruise sales in 2010 at the Arabian Travel Market (ATM) in Dubai.

ATM 2011, which opened on May 2 at the Dubai International Exhibition and Convention Centre, is concluding today (May 5).

Sales volume, quality of bookings, year-on year growth and business relationships were some of the criteria used for the awards.

The award winners for the best sales performance in 2010 included Al Kaatib Travel in Bahrain, Thomas Cook Travel in Egypt, Aminkawar Travel in Jordan, Barakat Travel in Kuwait, The Travel Club in Lebanon, Qatar Tours in Qatar, Al Faisaliah Travel & Tourism in Saudi Arabia and BCD Travel in the UAE.

For the first time the regional award for the best sales performance was won by two agencies with the same level of performance: Kurban Travel, Lebanon and Transworld Travel, Bahrain.

The Cruise Sales Agent of the Year, introduced last year, was won by Emily Habaybe from Hashweh Corporation, Jordan for her outstanding performance and her hands-on approach.

Dr Abdulaziz AlOshban, principal and managing director of Safeen Tourism, the international representative of Royal Caribbean Cruises in the Middle East, said: “Cruising is one of the few segments of the travel industry that has continued to grow throughout these challenging trading times. A vital component in ensuring the regional cruise industry’s long-term growth is honoring parties whose contributions are laying the foundations of its future success.”

“We have been very successful once again by achieving fabulous overall growth of 56 per cent of our guest volume compared to last year. We are proud to say that this growth was achieved by all the nine countries in the Middle East that we represent. This great success would not have been possible without the valuable support and sales performance of the travel trade in the region,” he added.

Helen Beck, regional director, International Representatives, EMEA, for Royal Caribbean Cruises, said: “The travel trade community is very important to us and the majority of this successful business is sourced through our travel agency partners. As always we recognise and appreciate the efforts and achievements of our travel trade partners in promoting and selling Royal Caribbean Cruise vacations. Congratulations to all the winners and many thanks for your support.”

Beck continued: “It doesn’t seem like a year has passed by already since we awarded the travel trade in 2010 and so much has happened with Royal Caribbean International, Celebrity Cruises and Azamara Club Cruises.”

“Royal Caribbean International’s Brilliance of the Seas has just concluded a successful second season sailing around the Gulf and we’ve received great feedback from our guests on the new 12-night itineraries sailing to India that we introduced this year.”

Due to the high demand Brilliance of the Seas will be back again in November starting her longer third season in the region, she said.

“Celebrity Cruises will inaugurate another widely-acclaimed Solstice class ship with Celebrity Silhouette joining the fleet in July of this year,” Beck continued.

“Azamara Club Cruises is continuing to evolve our immersion into exotic destinations and extend time in ports by including overnight stays in over 50 per cent of our itineraries thereby providing time for guests to enjoy a more immersive experience and take advantage of vibrant night tourism.”

“It’s good to see the GCC continuing to recognise the importance of cruising as a valuable growth sector within the tourism industry,” she concluded. – TradeArabia News Service




Tags: Dubai | Sales | ATM | Partners | Royal Caribbean Cruise |

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