Skift Travel News Blog

Jumeirah Group said Wednesday it hired Katerina Giannouka, a top executive for Radisson in Asia, as its new CEO. The announcement was made by Dubai Holding, a global investment firm owned by the ruler of Dubai for which Jumeirah is part of.

Giannouka, who will be taking over as the CEO in December, succeeds Jose Silva as the fifth CEO of Jumeirah. She joins Jumeirah from Radisson Hotel Group, where she serves as president of Asia Pacific. Prior to this, she led the Asia-Pacific and China development team of Rosewood Hotels & Resorts.

In an internal email sent last week, Silva had announced his decision to step down. Chief operating officer Thomas Meier had been named the interim CEO.

“Given Katerina’s (Giannouka) impressive track record as a transformative business leader, as well as her luxury hospitality background and drive to create resilient teams and culture, I am confident that she will build on Jumeirah’s incredible success story and lead the business to new levels of sustainable and accelerated growth across the world,” Amit Kaushal, Group CEO of Dubai Holding said in a press statement.

Giannouka said she’s keen to unlock the potential of the Jumeirah brand and sustainably secure its position on the world stage as the “top luxury Emirati hospitality brand recognised and sought-after globally.”

Jumeirah Group, a global luxury hotel company, which operates a 6,500-key portfolio of 25 luxury properties across the Middle East, Europe and Asia, opened new resorts in Bali and Muscat earlier this year. The group will also be opening more properties in Bahrain and Saudi Arabia in the coming months.

The tourism revenue of the United Arab Emirates surpassed $5 billion in the first half of this year, compared to $3 billion in the same period last year. The number of hotel guests that the country received rose to 12 million — registering a 42 percent year-on-year growth. 

The country expects a stronger performance this winter as scores of football fans would be flocking the region to catch the Federation Internationale de Football Association World Cup being hosted in neighbouring Qatar.

Since Qatar, with its limited accommodation facilities, would be hosting the most geographically-compact world cup in the history of the tournament, the economic impact of the event would also extend to other countries in the Gulf Coooperation Council.

Gulf carriers would also be operating shuttle flights to ferry football fans from neighbouring countries to Doha, the venue for the World Cup between November 21 and December 18.

Dubai airport also reported that it had handled 27.8 million passengers in the first half of this year, up more than 160 percent from the same period last year.

Based on the results of the first half of the year, the airport has readjusted its annual forecast for this year from 58.3 million passengers to 62.4 million.

Over 7 million international visitors visited Dubai during the first half of 2022, registering a 183 percent year-on-year increase, according to Dubai’s Department of Economy and Tourism. In 2021, Dubai received a total of 7.28 million international visitors.

The average hotel occupancy rate in Dubai in the first half of 2022 was 74 percent, 12 percent higher than the rate in the same period last year, which stood at 62 percent.

During the first half of 2022, the average daily rate of hotels in Dubai was $154 while the occupied room nights reached 18.47 million and revenue per available room rose to $147. With this, Dubai has emerged third in the world in terms of revenue per available room, after Paris and New York. 

United Arab Emirates’ budget carrier FlyDubai has suspended operations to Colombo in Sri Lanka until further notice, amid the escalation of protests in the South Asian country.

“FlyDubai flights between Dubai and Colombo Airport have been suspended from July 10 until further notice,” said an airline spokesperson, while assuring to closely monitor the situation on the ground in Sri Lanka.

Passengers booked to travel on these flights will be contacted and offered a refund, the airline has said.

Following the unrest in Sri Lanka, the embassy of the United Arab Emirates in Colombo had also issued an advisory asking its citizens in Sri Lanka to take precautions and stay away from demonstration hotspots. It has also asked its citizens to avoid travelling to the country.

On Saturday, thousands of locals demanding the resignation of Sri Lankan President Gotabaya Rajapaksa stormed into his official residence braving teargas shells and water cannons — a scene that looked very familiar to the 1986 dethroning of the corrupt and brutal regime of Philippines President Ferdinand Marcos.

The visuals coming from the Sri Lankan president’s residence showed locals cooling off in the presidential swimming pool, sleeping on the bed and sofa as well as preparing food for dinner.

The political crisis coupled with the economic crisis has the South Asian island suffering from the worst economic crisis since independence in 1948.

The Sri Lankan president has now confirmed that he would be resigning on Wednesday, Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe has also announced his resignation.