Dubai-based JA Resorts & Hotels recently completed the first phase of its new online training programme, which was targeted towards UK tour and travel professionals operating in the UAE leisure market.

Following a number of improvements to its individual properties, the initiative was created to ensure its travel trade partners are up to date with the numerous and extensive property upgrades, allowing them to communicate these improvements to their clients in a clear, concise and confident manner. Agents are also informed about current JA Group promotions.

More than 250 UK-based tour operators and travel agents have completed the programme, as the Dubai-based hotel chain targeted the UK’s outbound leisure market ahead of the European winter season which starts on October 1.

“With the winter months nearly upon us, we decided now was the right time to target the UK, which is one of our top European markets,” said Anabela Radosevic, director of Sales & Marketing, JA Resorts & Hotels.

“According to the Dubai Government’s Department of Trade and Commerce Marketing (DTCM), British visitor numbers in the second quarter of 2013 were up 8 per cent year-on-year to 185,000.”

Travel agents can also complete the programme module by module, with each segment covering a different property. Modules can be completed over a period of time at the user’s own pace and travel trade rates are also embedded within the programme.

“This empowers agents to become JA ambassadors, secure in the knowledge that any changes to our properties, or their rates, can be uploaded to the programme,” added Radosevic.

Travel trade professionals in Saudi Arabia will be the focus of the next phase of the training programme, followed closely by the rest of the GCC over the coming weeks ahead of the Eid Al Adha holiday.

According to Visa’s latest outlook on the UAE, Saudis spent $420 million on their Visa cards in the UAE alone last year, an increase of 28 per cent compared with 2012.

If further evidence were needed, the DTCM has revealed that 710,000 Saudis travelled to Dubai, during the first two quarters of 2013, a year-on-year growth rate of 31 per cent.

“Contracted travel agents are our business partners and we should never forget that our guests are their clients too. As a partnership, we both have a vested interest to ensure that guests receive a quality experience, one which they would like to repeat,” added Radosevic.

JA Resorts & Hotels is a diverse company encompassing a five-star all inclusive beach resort, deluxe hotel apartments, a mountain retreat, a dining cruise vessel and Dubai’s latest four-star beachfront property. – TradeArabia News Service