Sheikh Zayed Grand Mosque Center receives two batches of student cultural guides

Sheikh Zayed Grand Mosque Center in Abu Dhabi, UAE has hosted new batches of potential guides for the Ibn Elder and Junior Cultural Guide programmes, which were launched towards supporting and developing a qualified national workforce in the field of cultural guidance in the UAE.

The Ibn Elder programme provides the participants with an opportunity to work within its part-time scheme at Sheikh Zayed Grand Mosque Center upon passing a cultural guidance course. Participants carry out cultural tours in accordance with international cultural guidance quality standards that meet the Sheikh Zayed Grand Mosque Center's vision and objectives, and are trained by local national cultural guidance specialists affiliated to the Center. Training, over four weeks, covers conduct of cultural guides, information acquisition, discussions on frequently-asked questions and educational field trips to similar tourist and cultural destinations in the UAE.

The Junior Cultural Guide programme, held at the mosque's premises in Abu Dhabi will host 50 students between the ages of 11 and 15 till mid-August, over the summer break, in cooperation with both ADEC and Emirates Transport. It aims to highlight the profession of cultural guidance in the UAE, and the cultural and social role played by Sheikh Zayed Grand Mosque Center.

A new theme to the Junior Cultural Guide programme this year is My lovely language, which coincides with the public reading initiative launched by HH Khalifa bin Zayed Al Nahyan, President of the UAE. My lovely language will help the children to deliver the tours in precise Arabic. The children will be taught five new Arabic words a day and encourage to use them during their tours.

Another theme added to the programme is Community Service, and involves inviting guests with special needs to participate during the training sessions. This helps to highlight the importance of volunteering, introduces the services that are available at the mosque in this regard, and educates the children on the nuances of interacting with people with special needs.

Dnata to handle Bahrain shore excursions for the AIDAstella

Dnata, the Middle Eastern travel management company with services spanning every aspect of the travel industry, has recently entered into partnership with Germany’s AIDA Cruises to provide shore excursions to AIDA guests in Bahrain.

Dnata expects to serve approximately 25,000 to 30,000 tourists to Bahrain over the next year as it services AIDAstella, which cruises the Gulf waters and has a capacity of 2,300 passengers.

“As a destination management company (DMC) with specialised areas of operation, dnata has the flexibility to tailor its products to meet the unique requirements of our clients. The partnership with AIDA Cruises fits in with our strategic focus to provide premium holiday products and services in the Kingdom‎ of Bahrain and further cement our position as a leader in cruise handling in the region," said Ashley Correa, General Manager, dnata Bahrain.

dnata is the largest cruise passenger-handling DMC in the Middle East. Since 2012, the company has provided more than 660,000 guest transfers and over 300,000 shore excursions. “With Dubai targeting one million cruise guests by 2020, the company expects its partnership with AIDA Cruises and other leading cruise companies to further position Cruise Arabia and the wider region as a sought-after cruise destination,” said Jasem Zaiton, dnata’s Cruise Manager.

Hala Abu Dhabi is World's Best Halal Tour Operator 2015

Source: Etihad Airways.

Hala Abu Dhabi, the professional conference organiser and destination management company of Etihad Airways, was named World’s Best Halal Tour Operator at the inaugural World Halal Travel Awards 2015. Winners were announced in Abu Dhabi on 20 October 2015.

The awards celebrate best practice, service and distinction in travel and tourism brands within the international halal tourism sector. Winners are chosen from votes by 42,000 travel professionals in 53 countries.

Mohammed Al Bulooki, Etihad Airways’ Vice President UAE Commercial, said: “We are delighted to receive this award, which reinforces our commitment to the globally booming halal tourism market. But more importantly, it demonstrates our active engagement with our Muslim guests, offering options and high levels of service that will enhance their travel experience.

“Our dedicated programmes are tailored to provide Muslim travellers with exciting opportunities to explore the dynamic city of Abu Dhabi and enjoy its Arabian hospitality while maintaining the values and modesty of Muslim-friendly travel.”

Hala Abu Dhabi recently launched a new product, the Islamic City Stopover, which offers a range of four to five star hotels in Abu Dhabi that cater specifically to the needs of Muslim guests when traveling for Hajj or umrah. All hotels serve halal foods and non-alcoholic drinks, and feature prayer facilities. The programme includes a city tour to discover the history and culture of Abu Dhabi, with a visit to the Sheikh Zayed Grand Mosque. Ladies-only tours are available, conducted by licensed female Hala Guest Guides.

CrescentRating launches travel aggregator for Muslim travel

CrescentRating has launched Muslim Travel Warehouse – a global B2B platform and travel aggregator offering Muslim-friendly tour packages.

In addition to search and booking capabilities on an extensive portfolio of packages, Muslim Travel Warehouse offers travel agents around the world a way to provide Muslim travellers with custom itineraries. All products available on the platform will be rated by CrescentRating's independent rating standard based on how well they cater to Muslim travellers.

The new platform will initially offer tour packages to 15 destinations, with more packages and destinations being added over the next 12 months. Muslim Travel Warehouse plans to work with destination management companies, tourism boards and ground operators from around the world to expand its portfolio.

Muslim Travel Warehouse will also provide a wide range of support services for its partners including a live travel trade helpdesk via the live chat service, detailed halal tourism information including fact sheets and digital brochures. For more information on Muslim Travel Warehouse please visit its website at:

"At CrescentRating we have been passionately exploring all opportunities not just to grow this segment, but incorporate all available technologies while doing so. It was a year or so ago when we realised that there was really a gap in the market for a global B2B platform for tour packages customised for the Muslim travel market. The enquiries we were getting through both our existing platforms CrescentRating and HalalTrip, encouraged us to start looking for a solution. That journey has now led us to launch the Muslim Travel Warehouse," explained Fazal Bahardeen, CEO, CrescentRating on the Muslim Travel Warehouse blog in late April.

"According to the latest figures we released in the MasterCard-CrescentRating Global Muslim Travel Index (GMTI) 2015, the halal tourism sector was worth US$145 billion in 2014. This figure is predicted to grow to US$200 billion by 2020. Given that family travel contributes 52% of the entire total of the halal tourism sector, providing travel agencies with a full portfolio of Muslim friendly tour packages, excursions and activities will definitely help accelerate the growth of this sector."

Al Rajhi Bank teams up with Bumitra to promote debit card to Malaysian pilgrims

Source: Al Rajhi Bank. From left, Harith Mohd Ali, Dato' Syed Mohd Razif Al Yahya, Bumitra Malaysia
President, Datuk Azrulnizam Abdul Aziz, Al Rajhi Bank CEO, Wan Mohd Ghazni,
Acting Director Retail Banking, Al Rajhi Bank,
and Yasmin Junos, Head of Wealth
and Cards, Al Rajhi Bank.

Al Rajhi Bank and Bumiputra Travel and Tour agents Association of Malaysia (Bumitra) have agreed to promote the Al Rajhi Bank Hijrah Priority Debit Card during the hajj season, as well as to umrah pilgrims.

“Bumitra is an established name in the travel industry and have been a valued customer of Al Rajhi Bank for many years. This collaboration which is a natural process in a relationship built on trust, will enable Al Rajhi Bank to tap into Bumitra’s members of almost 500 Muslim travel agents and travel providers. On a yearly basis Bumitra manages over 170,000 umrah pilgrims from Malaysia alone. With that figure, we estimate that the number of ATM withdrawals from this group alone is roughly over 350,000 transactions with a value of around RM510 million,” said Datuk Azrulnizam Abdul Aziz, CEO of Al Rajhi Bank.

Yasmin Junus, Head of Wealth and Cards at Al Rajhi Bank said in her speech, “Al Rajhi Bank proposes to offer Al Rajhi Bank Hijrah Priority Debit Card convenience to Bumitra’s customer base during the Hajj season at over 3,200 ATMs in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA). The card comes with the convenience of cash withdrawal at competitive rates per transaction in Makkah and Madinah, as well as the convenience of purchasing at any merchant which accepts Visa cards.”

Al Rajhi also launched the AlRajhi ATM Haramain debit card campaign will offer customers additional savings and prizes when they carry out ATM cash withdrawals in KSA during the hajj season.

Al Rajhi Bank, the largest Islamic banking group in the world, is most well known for its retail offering in Malaysia. It maintains a full suite of products including corporate banking, treasury as well as investment banking. The bank has 24 branches across Malaysia with its flagship affluent branch located in Bangsar, Kuala Lumpur.