Airlines and airports From Doha to Luxor QATAR Airways started to operate four weekly flights from Doha to Luxor on Saturdays, Sundays, Mondays and Tuesdays in an attempt to enhance the tourist movement from Doha to the ancient city of Thebes. In cooperation with Qatar Airways, the Sheraton Luxor Resort hosted a group of Arab and Egyptian journalists for the announcement of the inaugural flight from Doha to Luxor. A press conference was held to mark the occasion, and it was attended by Tawfiq Kamal, general manager of the Sheraton Luxor Resort, and Mohamed Ezzeddin, general manager of Luxor International Airport. Ukrainian connection AS OF 5 July, Ukrainian Airlines AeroSvit launched its weekly service between Kiev and Cairo on Monday at 4pm, and between Cairo and Kiev on Tuesday at 6.20am, with connections in Stockholm, New York, Moscow, Budapest, Riga, Warsaw and Prague. For more information contact (+202) 735 9770. New member in Star Alliance STAR Alliance recently announced that US Airways has become a full member, further enhancing US Airways' and Star Alliance's global reach and expanding the breadth of service available to customers. "US Airways will significantly strengthen our network and product, especially into and out of the eastern US seaboard and the Caribbean via its hubs in Philadelphia, Charlotte and Pittsburgh," said Jaan Albrecht, CEO of Star Alliance. "Additionally, experience has shown that US Airways and other member carriers will see an increase in traffic and revenue as more frequent fliers take advantage of the vast array of benefits the Star Alliance network has to offer." US Airways offers nearly 3,300 daily non-stop flights to 187 destinations in the US, the Caribbean, Latin America, Europe, Canada and Mexico. Once it joins the Star Alliance network it will comprise 14,000 flights per day to 755 destinations in 132 countries across the globe, in addition to providing access to 575 airport lounges worldwide. Star Alliance was established in 1997 as the first truly global airline alliance, to offer customers global reach and a smooth travel experience. Its members are Air Canada, Air New Zealand, ANA, Asiana Airlines, Austrian Airlines, LOT Polish Airlines, Lufthansa, Scandinavian Airlines, Singapore Airlines, Spanair, Thai Airways International, United and VARIG Brazilian Airlines. Hotels More hi-tech facilities SHERATON Heliopolis Hotel now provides one of the latest communication technologies by offering high-speed wireless Internet access. Without the hassle of hard-wire connections, this new system will enable the guests to access the Web from the comfort of their rooms, as well as from any point of the hotel by obtaining an Internet access card. The introduction of the wireless Internet will be of added value to the hotel's multi-functional business centre and the meeting and conference facilities. Kuwaiti family trip IN AN ATTEMPT to enhance tourism coming from Kuwait and to promote Egypt among all sectors of the Kuwaiti community -- whether families, businessmen or individuals -- the Sheraton Cairo Hotel recently organised a trip for a group of reputable Kuwaiti journalists who toured several Egyptian tourist, entertainment and ancient sites in Cairo, Alexandria and Sharm El-Sheikh. The aim of the trip was to highlight Egypt's tourist, entertainment and investment facilities among Kuwaitis. The trip was organised in cooperation with Sheraton Kuwait, Sheraton Royal Gardens, Sheraton Heliopolis, Montazah Sheraton, Sheraton Sharm El- Sheikh, Kuwait Airlines and Gezirah Travel. Training sessions on the Red Sea WITHIN the framework of improving and developing its team members, Conrad Hurghada Resort recently organised a series of workshops on topics such as "presentation skills" and "train the trainer". The objective of these workshops was to enhance the team members' skills and to develop training delivery within the resort's various departments. Salsa nights AS DANCING salsa has become the fashion nowadays, some hotels have started organising salsa classes for all those interested in it. Every Tuesday, salsa classes are held at the Taya Room at the Sheraton Royal Gardens Hotel from 8pm to 10pm followed by a brilliant salsa show. In Sonesta Hotel Cairo, you can enjoy salsa classes twice a week, and also you can participate in pool aerobics sessions and work out in a new, refreshing way. New café by the sea A NEW café in Sheraton Montazah Hotel was recently opened. The new café provides the hotel's guests with giant umbrellas, a food and beverage corner, and changing rooms and showers. It also provides in-house guests and visitors with wonderful evenings with drinks, snacks and grills. Prestigious awards FOUR Seasons Hotel Cairo at the First Residence has scooped a trio of awards in the recently published Conde Nast Traveler Magazine 's 2004 Gold List. In the magazine's 10th anniversary edition, over 32,000 readers voted for the 2004 poll, which saw Four Seasons Cairo come first in the category of Best Hotel in Egypt. The luxury hotel was also voted runner--up in the Africa/ Middle East region for both the Best by Design and the Best by Location categories. Also, business travellers have named InterContinental Hotels Group as their first choice when travelling around the globe. The hotel group received the award for Best International Hotel Chain in the Middle East at last week's Travel and Tourism Survey 2003 presentation ceremony. In addition to the main award, the InterContinental Phoenicia in Beirut won favourite business hotel in the Middle East. Cairo, Riyadh and Muscat were also singled out as favourite business hotels in their local markets by readers of Middle East Travel and Al- Iktissad Wal-Aamal. News Promising winter AS A RESULT of the intensive campaigns executed by the Ministry of Tourism for promoting Egypt abroad, a number of major tour operators have decided to list new destinations in Egypt in their winter brochure 2004/2005. British tour operator Thomson Holidays will add Sharm El- Sheikh to its winter brochure as its climate is moderate all the year round and its beaches and marine life are unmatchable. Also Thomas Cook has listed a big number of new trips to Egypt in its brochure entitled Egypt 2005 as it anticipates an increase of its sales to Egypt by 15 per cent over the coming year. The brochure includes Nile cruise trips between Luxor and Aswan and "exploration trips" including the oases of the Western Desert and Luxor. For the first time, tour operator Argo Holidays, specialised in organising trips to Greece and Cyprus, listed Egypt in its programmes and dedicated a special brochure on the Red Sea Riviera for the winter. Argo Holidays will also organise a number of cultural trips to Sharm El-Sheikh. ASTA in Egypt IN THE PROCESS of encouraging international tourism to Egypt, an American delegation of ASTA (American Society of Travel Agents) members visited Egypt in the period from 31 May to 10 June to discuss different procedures to increase the number of American tourists to Egypt. The American delegation toured tourist sites in Cairo, Alexandria, Luxor and Aswan and held a seminar in Cairo. "The main purpose of this trip is to re-discover Egypt in order to increase the volume of business, categorised as low, if compared to the volume of the American tourist movement, and in accordance to Egypt tourist attractions and the diversity of its elements," said Amr Sedqi, president of the ASTA Egypt Chapter. In the seminar Linda Rawlings, member ASTA Board of Directors, has confirmed that Egypt is among the world's safest and most welcoming countries for tourists. She added that most of the Americans are unaware of this fact. She also suggested that the Egyptian government should intensify media campaigns in the United States to show and prove the high level of safety and security that distinguish Egypt above all other countries in the region.
