Category: Breaking Travel News

There are airline leaders, airport leaders and destination leaders. Sheikh Ahmed bin Saeed Al Maktoum has spent much of his career operating across all three categories at once. As chairman and chief executive of Emirates Airline and Group, chairman of Dubai Airports and chairman of flydubai, he sits at the junction where Dubai’s aviation capacity, network reach and visitor economy meet.
That position was not created overnight. Sheikh Ahmed began his aviation career in 1985, the year Emirates launched. The assignment was audacious: build an international airline for a city that wanted to become a global trading and tourism hub, but did not yet possess the scale, connectivity or visitor infrastructure associated with one. Emirates grew by making Dubai the connecting point, using widebody aircraft, long-haul routes and a service proposition that promoted the city every time the airline entered a new market.

Tunisia’s tourism recovery has brought back volume. Under Mohamed Mehdi Haloui, the next task is to improve the quality, spread and economic value of that demand. He became director general of the Tunisian National Tourist Office in April 2025, moving into the top role after serving as the organisation’s investment director and working directly on tourism development projects.
As investment director, he encountered the central weakness in Tunisia’s recovery proposition: demand can return faster than ageing assets can be renewed. Financing hotel renovations is difficult when rates are low, seasons are short and operators carry legacy debt. Haloui’s experience evaluating projects gives him a realistic view of what marketing can and cannot fix. Stronger demand must create enough pricing power to support refurbishment and a better product.

The World Travel & Tourism Council (WTTC) and the International Chamber of Commerce (ICC) have signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) to strengthen the voice, growth and competitiveness of millions of small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) across the global Travel & Tourism sector.

The partnership brings together WTTC’s specialist Travel & Tourism expertise, economic research and industry insight with ICC’s global business network spanning more than 45 million businesses across over 170 countries. Together, the organisations will provide SMEs with practical guidance, tools, insights, connections and opportunities to help them grow and compete.

Adeeb Ahamed approaches hotels as both experiences and long-duration assets. Since founding Twenty14 Holdings in 2014, he has assembled a portfolio valued at more than $750 million, with properties in the UK, the Middle East and India. The collection includes Great Scotland Yard in London, Sheraton Oman, Pullman Dubai Downtown, Port Muziris in Kochi and the historic Caledonian in Edinburgh.
Ahamed’s route into hotel investment was not conventional. He began his career in hospitality, with experience connected to Grosvenor House, JW Marriott and Baglioni in London, but later built businesses across financial services and food retail. He established LuLu International Exchange in 2009 and became the driving force behind Tablez, a food and beverage and retail platform.