Travel industry leaders support Business Travel Show

Already, Business Travel Show Dubai is showing a 20% increase on last year's exhibitor figures, with six months still to go to, with Centaur Exhibitions, organisers of the event, confident of seeing even bigger growth over the 2007 show.

PrivatAir, HRS, Kanoo and Rotana Hotels have all pledged their support to the Business travel show, which provides a unique platform for suppliers of all aspects of business travel, while also affording its visitors - buyers and bookers of business travel and meetings - the very best opportunities to reduce their business travel costs.

"We are delighted to see so many of the region's top travel providers getting involved in the Business Travel Show in Dubai. This means that they truly value the benefit of having a presence at the exhibition and will enable us to ensure our visitors have a wider range of choice and information available to them,"

said Sally Maltby, Event Director, Centaur Exhibitions.

PrivatAir is a leading international business aviation group with headquarters in Geneva, Switzerland and operating bases in Zurich Switzerland), Düsseldorf, Hamburg and Munich Germany) and Amsterdam (The Netherlands). Its services include Private Charter for VIPs and executives, Private Airline Services, Ground services and Aircraft Sales & Management. The company was the first commercial operator of the new generation of Boeing ultra-long-range executive aircraft and also with one of the world's only VIP-configured Boeing 767s available for private charter.

Tanya Molskaya, the Senior Marketing & Communications Executive for PrivatAir S.A. said that the Business Travel Show Dubai is widely regarded as one of the leading events in the business travel industry. "All elements of this rapidly growing market sector are represented there and it is a great opportunity for PrivatAir to both develop relationships with existing partners and customers as well as create new ones. It is also a great way to obtain an overall view of where the business travel sector as a whole is heading, keep an eye on the key industry trends, as well as determine what new opportunities may lie ahead for PrivatAir. With an ever increasing number of PrivatAir's VIP charter customers coming from Middle East, we should definitely be present at the show," she said.

HRS - Hotel Reservation Service - operates a global electronic hotel reservation system for business and private travellers based on a database of more than 225,000 hotels in all price categories in Germany, Europe and the rest of the world. This system enables users to make direct bookings free of charge, with immediate confirmation and at continually-updated special HRS prices. Room prices quoted for chosen hotels are guaranteed for the booking in question.

Kanoo Travel recognised as the pioneer of the Gulf's Travel Industry is 'The Largest Travel Company in the Middle East'. With over 170 IATA locations in the region and over 1200 multi-skilled staff, Kanoo Travel has further extended its own network into Egypt, Oman, Qatar, United Kingdom and France in the recent past. Kanoo Travel consists of several major operating divisions that cater to the specific needs of the corporate traveler, leisure travelers, marine travel and VIP travel requirements. In partnership with American Express Travel Services, Kanoo offers 'state of the art' corporate travel solutions to over 22 countries in the region.

Abu Dhabi-based Rotana Hotels currently manages 62 properties throughout the Middle East out of which 24 are in operation, and has aggressive expansion plans in place to see more Rotana properties opening up in key cities across the region under four sub brands which includes: Rotana Hotels & Resorts, Centro Hotels by Rotana, Rayhaan Hotels & Resorts by Rotana and Arjaan by Rotana.

"Taking into consideration the expansion plans of Rotana we will be exhibiting for the first time at The Business Travel Show Dubai 2008, which is the region's only dedicated event for business travel. Rotana currently operates more hotels in Dubai than any other single operator and the scheduled openings of Rose Rotana, Media Rotana, Amwaj Rotana and Arjaan Al Sufouh in 2008 will only increase the company's stronghold further. Our participation at The Business Travel Show Dubai is to strengthen our presence in the Middle East and to support Rotana's expansion plans reaching a portfolio of 62 properties by 2012," said Mr. Imad Elias, Chief Operating Officer for Rotana.

The new exhibitors join a list of international players in the field of business travel, such as Dnata, Alshamel, InterContinental Hotels Group, Hilton, Virgin, SilverJet and Jumeirah, all of whom will be exhibiting at the show in October. British Airways, one of the shows founding partners, has also pledged its commitment to the 2008 event.

Over 50 exhibitors took part in the inaugural event, while more than 2,000 visitors attended Business Travel Show Dubai 2007 across the two days. Centaur Exhibitions predict strong growth for 2008 figures.

Business Travel Show Dubai is part of the global Business Travel Shows portfolio, which also includes exhibitions in the UK and Germany. The Business Travel Shows are the only events in the industry that are specifically aimed at buyers and bookers of business travel.

The Business Travel Show Dubai is a joint venture between Centaur Media Plc and Dnata World of Events and takes place at the Madinat Jumeriah Arena on October 20-21, 2008.