Ras Al Khaimah Tourism Investment and Development Authority (Ras Al Khaimah TIDA) has signed an agreement with Swedish tour operator Apollo - part of the Swiss Kuoni Group - to bring a weekly charter flight from Sweden to the emirate throughout the winter season.
The weekly 221-seat charter will see an additional 5,000 tourists visiting RAK between November 2011 and April 2012; spending over 150,000 room nights.
Yasser Norman, CEO, Kuoni Destination Management said: “Kuoni Destination Management is delighted to have built such a strategic partnership with the Ras Al Khaimah Tourism Investment and Development Authority and would like to thank them for their support and cooperation with the Apollo team on this project. We now have a strong platform to enable us to further promote the emirate of Ras Al Khaimah to our international clientele across the Kuoni Global network.”
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The Apollo agreement is the second charter flight service to be introduced by RAK TIDA in the last three months. In September the authothity signed an agreement with German Tour Operator, Reise Service Deutschland and Dubai- based DMC World of Travel to introduce five weekly charter flights from Germany and one weekly charter flight from Austria to Ras Al Khaimah.
This charter service resulted in a substantial increase across both room revenues and hotel occupancy with figures released for October 2011 showing a 7% increase in hotel occupancy and an increase of US$ 1.7 million in beach hotels and resort room revenues compared to October 2010.
The weekly charter flights on RAK Airways’ Boeing 757-200 aircraft have brought visitors from various areas of Germany including Hamburg, Frankfurt, Dusseldorf, Berlin, Munich and the Austrian capital, Vienna and will continue until June 3rd, 2012.
“The introduction of charter flights into Ras Al Khaimah is proving to be a huge success in reaching our main objective of doubling our visitor number to 1.2 million by 2013,” said Victor Louis, COO, RAK TIDA.
“In light of the success from both our German and Swedish charter services, next year we plan to introduce more charter flights from more countries in Europe. We are also working on setting a dedicated charter operation company specialised in Tour Operators Business under the Ras Al Khaimah Airport operation. ”
To further boost the promotional push into Europe, RAK TIDA will carry out a two-week European roadshow in February 2012. “Europe is an important market for Ras Al Khaimah. The emirate provides an ideal getaway for European visitors who are seeking sun, leisure, adventure, great value for money, and quality experiences. With a temperate climate, rugged terrain and superb beach facilities, Ras Al Khaimah is a global contender as an exciting winter-sun holiday destination," said Louis.
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