Gullivers Travel Associates (GTA) recently met 180 Saudi Arabian tourism agents in Riyadh to help them take best advantage of the coming peak travel season and learn more about several business initiatives.

With the number of room nights booked around the world by Saudi travellers showing a healthy 13 per cent annual growth since 2010, GTA is looking to make each clients’ trips memorable.

Rami Mashini, vice president of Sales for the Middle East and Africa, said: “Powering global travel, GTA helps thousands of Saudis to explore their own countries and international destinations year after year. The strength of our relationships in Saudi Arabia reassures hotels worldwide that they can rely on us to bring them a wealth of business.”

GTA unveiled its g shop, Strategic Partnership Programme and Premium Room Collection in Riyadh with a series of presentations:

The Premium Room Collection puts the best hotel stays within the reach of any traveller’s budget. GTA has secured additional availability between July 1 and September 30 – one of the busiest times of the year – with fantastic rates for premium room categories.

Retail and wholesale travel agents who book trips that depart between July 1 and September 30 can take advantage of free upgrades, stay four pay three deals or up to 50 per cent savings in premium category rooms and executive suites in the most popular destinations in the world. 500 offers are available at three- to five-star hotels in more than 30 locations from Amsterdam and Bangkok to Tokyo and Vienna with New York and Paris between.

New loyalty programme g shop, www.gshop-mea.com, allows enrolled agents to earn points for every booking they make and redeem them for rewards: smartphones, tablets, shopping vouchers, and theme park tickets. First launched across 11 Asian countries in 2012, more than $2 million in rewards has been given away already.

The strategic partnership programme showcases the hidden gems of 22 three- to five-star hotels in Singapore and highlight value for money travel. Hospitality groups Far East Hospitality, Fairmont Raffles Hotels International, Fragrance Hotel Management, Resorts World Sentosa Singapore and The Ritz-Carlton are all part of the programme.

Over 70 per cent of source markets in the Middle East and Africa region booked increasing numbers of room nights through GTA last year. This is in large part due to the strength of GTA’s general sales agents in the region who have a deep knowledge of consumer travel trends in their particular markets and valuable insight into the political, economic, cultural and technological circumstances influencing travel businesses.

Rami adds: “The Middle East remains one of our most successful regions. Since 2010, we have enjoyed double digit increases every year on compounded average growth rate (CAGR) with healthy growth already predicted for 2015.” – TradeArabia News Service