Jumeirah extends international sales network with appointment of Dnata in Saudi Arabia

Jumeirah has appointed Dnata Saudi Travel Agency, the IATA accredited arm of Dubai's Dnata Travel Services to provide Jumeirah with sales & marketing services throughout the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia from its offices in Riyadh, Jeddah and Al Khobar.

Jumeirah's existing sales network includes offices in the United Arab Emirates, United Kingdom, Germany, France, Russia, Asia and the United States of America and this new addition will be key for the development of the Group's hospitality brands within the Gulf region.

The announcement of the appointment of Dnata Saudi Travel Agency in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia is in line with Jumeirah's expansion plans to grow its portfolio of luxury hotels locally, regionally and internationally to 57 by 2011. Following these commitments, Jumeirah has already announced several local, regional and international hotel developments and acquisitions.

Jumeirah became part of Dubai Holding in December 2004 and through the synergies with other member entities of Dubai Holding, such as Dubai Investment Group, Sama Dubai and Dubai Properties has been able to accelerate the company growth.

'The opportunity to work with a leading agency such as Dnata Saudi Travel Agency is truly exciting. We certainly look forward to a long and fruitful partnership that will benefit both parties. As Saudi Arabia will be a key source market for Jumeirah, this strategic decision is very important for our organization and in line with our ambitious plans to grow our portfolio to 57 properties by 2011.' said Guy Crawford, Chief Executive Officer, Jumeirah Group

Iain Andrew, Divisional Senior Vice President, Dnata Travel Services, said: 'Jumeirah is a premier hospitality brand and we are very pleased to have been appointed to be their GSA. Dnata Travel and Jumeirah both have solid track records and reputations in the region, and we believe this partnership is one that will yield strong results. This also comes at a time when there is enormous competition in the travel and tourism industry and this reaffirms our commitment to supporting Jumeirah's growth in an important market like KSA.'

Dnata Travel is operated by Dnata Travel Services, the retail and corporate travel services arm of Dnata and the region's leading travel management company with more than four decades of experience backed by the latest technological innovations and tools in the industry. The regional office in Riyadh is located in Al Sabaan Plaza, near Euromarche Mall on Takhassussi Street, the Jeddah office is at Leevan Commercial Centre, near the Honda showroom on Medinah Road and head office is located in Al Khobar on King Abdul Aziz Street.