JA Resorts & Hotels announced plans to open a new luxury beach resort, called JA Eclipse Beach Resort, in Kathiraveli, Sri Lanka in November 2017. The five-star resort will include villas with private pools, tree-top villas, a spa, diving school and water sports center. The COO of JA Resorts said the resort will bring investment and community development to the area, including building a school and improving medical facilities for locals.

1. 4 news
At Arabian Travel Market, JA
Resorts & Hotels announced
plans for a brand new resort
in Kathiraveli in Sri Lanka.
The first of its kind in the
area, JA Eclipse Beach Resort will
bring luxury hospitality to the
east coast of the country when
it opens in November 2017.
David Thomson, Chief
Operating Officer, JA Resorts
& Hotels, said: “What we’ve
loved about Sri Lanka is the
opportunity it offers for leisure
travel. It’s a great cultural
destination so there’s a lot to
JA Resorts & Hotels
Expands to Sri Lanka
see. From an adventure point of
view, it’s great – real safaris with
wild elephants and fabulous
beaches with great marine life.”
The five-star resort, developed
in partnership with the Gravity
Resort Group (GRG), draws
upon the island’s rich range of
available experiences. Visitors
will arrive to the resort via a
seaplane flight, which flies over
Sri Lanka’s beautiful natural
landscape, while the resort
will have a PADI diving school,
a luxury spa and an activities
centre for water sports.
The planned property
comes at a time when Sri
Lanka is increasingly opening
itself up to tourism and
infrastructure following the
end of the civil war in 2009.
Thomson said: “Sri Lanka is
very open to investment and to
development. They are trying
to encourage people to come
into the country and doing
a lot on infrastructure, such
as building a highway from
Colombo to Kandy that will
eventually reach the East coast.
“Sadly, Kathiraveli was the
epicentre of where the final days
of the war took place, so there
are a lot of orphans. We are
going to build a school in the city
and contribute more money into
the orphanage. Also the medical
facilities of the hotel, which
we’ll have to have anyway,
will also be made available to
the local community, so we
really hope to give back a lot.”
He added: “We’ve looked
at a lot of Sri Lanka and there’s
nothing like JA Eclipse Beach
Resort. There are some lovely
resorts, but where we’re taking
it, in terms of villas with private
pools and tree-top villas, is going
to be very different to anything
that’s there at the moment.”
Following the launch, JA
Resorts & Hotels plans to develop
further properties elsewhere in
Sri Lanka, Maldives and Thailand.
Visit stand HC6400
David Thomson, Chief Operating Officer, JA Resorts & Hotels
Murwab Hotel Group gears
up for summer openings
The newly formed Murwab Hotel
Group, a standalone operating
division of Katara Hospitality,
is poised to manage new
properties in Qatar and abroad.
It is running hotels under three
main business areas; Murwab
Hotels in Qatar, the Bürgenstock
Selection in Switzerland, and
a collection of independent,
non-branded upscale properties.
By 2016, the new group
will manage six properties in
Doha, including the currently
operational Sealine Beach Resort.
Two are expected to open soon,
namely the Grand Murwab City
Center slated for the end of the
year, and Simaisma Murwab
Resort comprising 54 villas which
will be opening this summer.
Commenting on the Qatari
hospitality market, Business
Development Manager at
Murwab Hotel Group, Nawaf Ali
Al-Obaidy, said: “At the moment,
the local market shows a heathy
performance. It doesn’t raise any
concerns for our group. We are
not going to expand too fast,
but rather focus on consolidating
our hotels and attracting the
right type of clientele.
“While our upscale hotels
focus on the luxury segment,
our non-branded properties also
target the mid-range segment.”
On an international level,
and by 2017, Murwab Hotel
Group will manage a total of
Visit stand HC6850
Indonesia is enjoying a 26.9
percent increase in inbound
tourism from the Middle
East and has set its sights on
attracting record numbers
by the end of the year.
Saudi Arabia is providing the
lion’s share (60 percent) while
the UAE, Egypt and Bahrain
are other top source markets
according to Nia Niscaya,
Director of International Tourism
Promotion, Ministry of Tourism
of the Republic of Indonesia.
“Tourism from this region
comprises a small slice of overall
numbers, but the revenue is
meaningful due to the length of
stay of these visitors,” she said.
“Indonesia received 170,000
visitors from the Middle East
in 2014 and we are hoping for
310,000 by the end of 2015.
There are now so many direct
and frequent flights from the
region to the destination and,
with the addition of a new
Emirates flight to Bali, we are
very excited about bringing
in more people from Dubai
and the surrounding areas.”
With a healthy budget
allocated to tourism, the
resulting uplift in branding and
selling activities, such as taking
part in exhibitions, will help
the country reach its goal.
“Indonesia is an ‘easy’
destination for Muslim travellers
as we offer halal food and prayer
facilities in many of our locations
Indonesia POISED FOR
RECORD TOURISM THIS YEAR
such as Jakarta, Bali and Lombok,
which is just a 20 minute flight
away from Bali,” said Niscaya.
“Indonesia boasts theme
parks, private villas for families
and the weather is pleasing
all year round. Plus, it’s very
green. What makes the country
really stand out, however, is its
warm and friendly people.”
Visit stand AS9350
As a further magnet for
potential tourists, Indonesia’s
ambassador for tourism is on the
stand at Arabian Travel Market.
Wearing traditional dress, the
ambassador is full of knowledge
on the country and is helping to
create awareness of its unique
attributes among the younger
generation in particular.
five properties. Of the five,
one is already operational,
Hotel Schweizerh of Bern
in Switzerland. Meanwhile,
the Royal Savoy Lausanne is
expected to open this August
and boasts 196 rooms.
Al-Obaidy added: “Switzerland
is a key market for us. It
definitely shows our strength
as a hospitality group.”
The inaugural Captains of
Industry lunch at Arabian Travel
Market yesterday inspired senior
travel executives with lessons
learnt from the competitive
automotive industry, which
could potentially be applied to
the travel and tourism industry.
The exclusive invitation-only
event, sponsored by Al Rayyan
Hospitality, welcomed 80 leading
senior industry executives from
commercial travel organisations
who enjoyed an enlightening
talk by keynote speaker Geoff
Cousins, former Global Director
for Jaguar Land Rover.
Cousins, who spent almost
three decades at Jaguar in a
variety of senior roles including
being Managing Director,
Jaguar Cars UK for seven years,
discussed his role in transforming
the company’s image from being
“the old man’s car, to a company
of innovation and design”.
During his speech, Cousins
drew on parallels between
the automotive and travel
industry to illustrate his points.
He stressed the importance
of focusing on brand values
as well as the customers of
tomorrow for success. He also
advised travel executives to pay
attention to the smaller details
in order to retain loyal fans.
“In my three decades in the
car industry, I have never had a
complaint about an engine or
a gear box – they were almost
always about the GPS system
or the radio,” Cousins said.
“The smaller things are more
important to customers.”
The Captains of Industry
attendees also enjoyed a
delicious lunch served in
Seven Sands Restaurant at
Dubai World Trade Centre.
Captains of Industry a success
004_ATM_2015_D4_NEWS_v1_DM.indd 4 5/6/15 11:32 PM