Starwood Hotels Plans Return to Iraq 20 Years After Gulf War
Bloomberg
Starwood Hotels & Resorts Worldwide Inc. (HOT), owner of the luxury St. Regis and W brands, plans to re- enter the Iraqi market, almost 20 years after exiting as a result of the Gulf War.
Starwood signed agreements to operate two hotels in Erbil, Iraq, Guido De Wilde, senior vice president for the Middle East, said in an interview in Dubai today. The hotelier will operate a 250-room Four Points by Sheraton and a Sheraton property with 221 rooms and 39 suites in 2015.
Starwood opened two hotels in Iraq in 1982, in Basra and Baghdad, that were closed following the eruption of the Gulf War in 1990.
Egypt expects tourism to rebound this year to pre-revolution levels
Reuters
Egypt’s tourism minister expects the number of tourists to rebound this year to pre-revolution levels of 14.5 million after slumping in 2011 following an uprising that forced out President Hosni Mubarak and brought much of Egypt’s economy to a halt.
There were already signs of improvement with tourist arrivals rising 40 percent in the first four months o f this year from a year earlier, Mounir Fakhry AbdelNour said.
New hotels arise amid ruins in Haitian capital
The Daily Advertiser
Glimmers of hope are coming to this devastated capital and its surrounding cities, as the concrete Royal Oasis hotel rises over a metropolitan area still filled with displaced-persons camps housing hundreds of thousands. Signs of Haiti’s comeback can also be seen in the 105-room Best Western hotel being built within blocks of shanty-covered hillsides.
At least seven hotels are under construction or are in the planning stage in Port-au-Prince and its surrounding areas, raising hopes that thousands of investors will soon fill their air-conditioned rooms looking to build factories and tourist infrastructure that will help Haiti bounce back from a 2010 earthquake that officials say claimed 300,000 lives. Some damaged hotels are undergoing renovations.
US Airways-American Airlines merger would save 3500 jobs
Albany Business Review
One of American Airlines’ largest unions, the Transport Workers Union, said that a merger with US Airways Group Inc. could spare the jobs of about 3,500 mechanics and ramp workers, according to The Wall Street Journal.
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So this means I can finally use all my starwood points in Iraq huh? Tempting….
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