The Marriott Global Sales Office has registered a 20 per cent growth in sales for 2008 across the Middle East & Africa, thus defying the subdued trend across many sectors due to the economic downturn.

The group said the increase in sales was mainly due to  a phenomenal 42 per cent surge in online bookings as well as an increase in reservations through the Marriott Global Reservations Center – reflecting the resilience of the hospitality sector and its growth potential across the Middle East & Africa region.

Egypt continued to be the most favoured leisure destination closely followed by Dubai, London, Paris and Vienna, said a top official.

Samir Daqqaq, vice-president, Marriott Global Sales – Middle East & Africa, said: “In these very challenging times for business across the globe, we have achieved significant increase in sales, which epitomizes the innovative way of doing business at Marriott.

'Our multi-pronged approach helped us provide the sales impetus and maximizing our efforts – our Sales Revolution blitz reflects our proactive strategy to strengthen our relationships with our customers amidst the challenges,' he noted.

Marriott has recently launched a unique Sales Revolution Initiative, unveiled by Daqqaq, aimed at drumming up business in the region during the tough economic slowdown.

The Sales Revolution Initiative involves Marriott International hotels across Middle East and Africa and the Marriott Global Sales network – including UAE, Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Qatar, Bahrain, Jordan, Syria, Lebanon, Egypt, Turkey, Tunisia, Algeria, Morocco, Nigeria, Uganda, Kenya and South Africa.

As part of the initiative, sales blitzes are organized every Tuesday to customers in each city. Dressed in special Marriott Sales Revolution outfits, participants highlight the latest promotions and packages across the various markets.

'We have focused on aggressively moving forward on our sales blitz during the economic turmoil so that we are ready to take advantage of the opportunities when the economy bounces back.'

'We aim to continue to add rooms and lay the groundwork for better times with our new projects and properties, coupled with aggressive sales initiatives,' he added.

The GSO also launched the unique Imtiaz Program – an initiative specially targeting the government sector, which resulted in a whopping 71 per cent increase in government segment bookings from the Middle East & Africa.-TradeArabia News Service