Cathay Pacific honours its travel partners

The airline also launched its 2005 summer holiday packages in a creative way in time for the Arabian Travel Market.

The annual awards gathered the biggest names in the travel industry from UAE and Oman and DNATA/BTI garnered the highest award for Outstanding Sales Performance for 2004. Other categories and awardees were as follows: Top Revenue Achievement for Dubai - Airlink International; Top Revenue Achievement for Sharjah and Northern Emirates - SNTTA; Top Revenue Achievement for Abu Dhabi - Omeir Travel Agency; Top Revenue Achievement for Al Ain - Al Aman Travels & Tourism.

In the Top Sellers category, four travel partners received awards namely: Al Rais Travel (for Premium Travel); Orient Travel (for Leisure Travel - Dubai & Northern Emirates); Bin Ham Travel & Tourism Agency (Leisure Travel - Abu Dhabi); and Emirates Travel Express (Leisure Travel - Al Ain).

In the Top Market Share category, the following agencies received awards: Majan Travels (India market); The Travel Market (Philippines market - Dubai); Atlas Travel (Philippines market - Abu Dhabi); Uranus Travel & Tours (Hong Kong market); Arabian Air Travel Agencies (Thailand market); and International Travel Services (China market).

Al Naboodah Travel & Tourism, Abdul Jalil Travel Agency and Omani Travel & Tourism Bureau were recognised as Cathay Pacific Airways' Partners in Progress for 2004 for respectively Dubai & Northern Emirates, Abu Dhabi, and Oman.

"2004 was a good year for the Cathay Pacific in the UAE and Oman. The efforts of the travel industry and the government to attract more visitors has paid dividends, with Asia being no exception as Dubai is now certainly on the world map as one of the preferred destinations for our customers. Looking at business flows from the UAE and Oman, our travel industry partners here achieved excellent results from their efforts to promote holiday and business traffic to Cathay Pacific's network of destinations and back. Needless to say, we salute their achievement and are proud to be working with them," said Philip Herbert, Cathay Pacific's Country Manager for UAE and Oman.

Reports said that Dubai had 5.4 million tourists in 2004, an 8 per cent growth over 2003. Government expects around the same level of growth for this year.

Cathay Pacific reported in March a substantial increase in passenger traffic rising to 21.8% over same period in 2004. Likewise, cargo traffic yielded a 4.5% growth as against March last year.

During the same event, Cathay Pacific unveiled both budget and premium holiday packages to a total of 10 countries with 46 different itineraries offering single-city, twin-city and multi-city programmes.

The Cathay Pacific holiday packages offer flexibility, convenience and a wide choice that enable summer travellers to spend their vacation in Hong Kong, China, Thailand, Singapore, Malaysia, Indonesia, Philippines, Australia, New Zealand, USA and Canada. The airline's holiday packages also offer a choice to the customer to stop in Mumbai, enabling a family visit or business stopover on their way to their preferred holiday destination.

Cathay Pacific flies 13 times a week between Dubai and Hong Kong with 7 direct flights, 2 services via Bahrain and 4 services via Mumbai and Bangkok.