Author: Charlotte Gill

Changing faces

Posted on by Charlotte Gill

Ask anyone what they know about Singapore and you might not get a very wide variety of answers: it’s the place where chewing gum is banned, the home and namesake of an incredibly potent cocktail, a thriving business destination on the international map. If you’re lucky, you might hear about the excellent hotel facilities and relatively stress-free and pleasant airport. Oh, and it’s humid.

Things are changing. After years of being seen as a relatively bland place with a great transport system and very little culture, Singapore is evolving into one of south-east Asia’s hottest destinations and the perfect place to mix business and pleasure.

Little-heralded Sentosa Island is the pleasure-seeker’s paradise and home to beaches, blue skies and another world for those looking to escape the hustle and bustle of the metropolis. Only a short drive from the city the highways disappear, replaced with 3.2km of beaches; beach resorts pop up instead of sky high hotels and the people exhibit a different, more laid back way of looking at things. The name Sentosa means peace and tranquillity in Malay, quite fitting as this is what the island hideaway exudes.

Tranquil tides
Chilled out doesn’t get much cooler than the international hotspot Café del Mar – this restaurant, bar and club rolled into one is a great spot for a few sundowners and a chance to scope out Singapore’s hipper and sleeker crowd. The longer-running Coastes is an incredibly diverse venue which – unlike Café del Mar – is also suitable for those with children. Lounging on the sunloungers or dipping in the water is about as much activity as you’re going to find at Coastes during the day. That or trying one of their tasty delights cooked on a grill or in the wood-fired oven. However, at night, the venue turns into a laid-back dance spot for the amiable clientele.

As nice as the five star tower hotels with stunning views are, it’s always good to take a break and try something a little different. Newly opened Capella Singapore on Sentosa has fast established itself as Singapore’s must-stay destination with its five star blend of contemporary and colonial décor. The rooms are the most spacious in Singapore and feature mod cons such as 48” plasma televisions, iPod docking stations and funky bedside touch screen control panels to control the essentials such as the lighting and curtains.

Island life is not restricted to Sentosa: Pulau Ubin is almost completely off the tourist trail and is one of the few places in Singapore that has almost completely escaped the urban sprawl that typifies much of the rest of the state. Local folklore has it that the island was created when a pig, elephant and frog challenged each other to a race, with the condition that whoever lost it would be turned into stone. None of the three reached the coastline and the pig and the elephant were turned into Pulau Ubin, while the frog became Pulau Sekudu to the south.

Even though it’s only two kilometres from the coast of the city and a 10 minute boat ride, Pulau Ubin is like another world. Ignoring the unsightly granite quarries, there are a variety of plantations on the island, which produce crops such as coconuts, coffee and rubber to trade internationally. The island’s traditional kampongs (villages) are a reminder of what the whole of the state was like before it was grasped by the hands of development.

There are no sights to see as such; Pulau Ubin’s charm lies in its unhurried potential for discovery. Rent a bike or don some sturdy walking shoes and set off along trails through coconut groves, rubber plantations and mangroves or just laze on any of the countless small, uninhabited beaches.

At low tide it’s possible to walk along the boardwalks over to the Chek Jawa Wetlands. This relatively small area contains six different ecosystems: coastal forest, mangroves, sandy shore, rocky shores, seagrass lagoons and coral rubble; therefore visitors can see a huge diversity of flora and fauna that is no longer found elsewhere in Singapore.

Back on the mainland, too little notice has been paid to the unique blend of different cultures past and present that typifies the country today. The continuously merging Chinese, Malay and Western cultures have forged the path for the development of the Singapore we know today.

The Asian Civilisations Museum is an enlightening way to spend an afternoon: it looks at the different Asian societies that make up the majority of Singapore’s population. Covering an impressive 14,000sq m, the exhibit ranges from China to India and the rest of south-east Asia and profiles their unique influences through a series of 11 galleries.

Consumer paradise
Chinese and Malay culture is not too hard to find in Singapore; however, the Muslim Quarter or Kampong Glam is a unique concentration of the state’s Islamic population. The Sultan Mosque is Singapore’s largest mosque and the best example of Islamic architecture in the area.

Elsewhere in the quarter, the old palace (Istana Kampong Glam) of Sultan Hussein Shah, the 17th Sultan of Johor, is an intricately designed and much-visited landmark that combines traditional Malay designs with a Palladian colonial style. The building is now home to a museum of Malay culture and society, the Malay Heritage Centre.

Singapore and shopping go hand in hand and it’s undeniable that this is one nation that knows how to shop. World-famous Orchard Road is the must-visit place to indulge in what is often joked to be Singapore’s national sport.

Whether browsing for electronics, clothing, luxury brands, high street fashion, interior pieces or even a few ideas for some jaunty souvenirs, it’s almost guaranteed that visitors will be able to find what they’re looking for in one of the vast shopping malls dotted along the road.

The popular Joo Chiat Road has a bit more local flavour. The site of the old Changi market (now the Joo Chiat Complex), this has long been one of the shopping hotspots in the city and continues to be so through the government programme of protection and restoration of the old pre-war shops and buildings. As a result, the elaborate building facades are among some of the best preserved colonial constructions in the city.

Shops here are eclectic and unpredictable – there are old furniture shops selling beautiful wares well worth the extra bother of shipping, Chinese herbal shops and endless cheap and tasty eateries. Kim Choo Kueah Chang in Joo Chiat Place sells the city’s favourite Bak Chang, glutinous rice dumplings stuffed with sweet or savoury fillings and wrapped in a lotus leaf, while Kwang Guang Huat’s popiah skins (springroll skins) are cooked in the old style on a flat round pan, an incredibly rare sight nowadays (95 Joo Chiat Road).

As another one of Singapore’s entertainment districts, the area around Joo Chiat is a lot of fun – however visitors should beware that it’s one of the city’s late-night unofficial red light districts, so proceed with caution throughout the later hours.

Dark side of the bay
Shopping in Singapore doesn’t have to mean monster malls with arctic air conditioning and stuffy salespeople as many locals and tourists seem to prefer. The reformed area of Bugis Street is a much more enjoyable and diverse experience. The area was epitomised in Leonard Cohen’s song ‘Boogie Street’ as it used to be famous for nightwalkers and transvestites. Now it’s more noticeable for boutiques such as Icon@Bugis, which sell bang-on-fashion clothes for the young and trendy.

Irrespective of any unimaginative excuses such as ‘I’m too old,’ every person should take at least one trip to Singapore Zoo, which is justifiably billed as one of the world’s most spectacular zoos. There are more than 3,600 animals from over 160 species, including baboons, tigers, white rhinos, tigers, elephants and various species of monkey.

The enclosures are created to resemble the animals’ natural habitats as closely as possible, with waterfalls, rock formations, trees and streams dotted around them, and offer visitors the next best thing to seeing the animals in the wild.

Even more unusual is the Night Safari, which takes place next door. As many animals are naturally nocturnal, seeing them in the daytime will only offer a certain degree of verisimilitude. The Night Safari, by contrast, is an unmissable opportunity to see the animals at their liveliest, and runs every day from 7pm to midnight.

Esplanade – Theatres on the Bay showcases the modern fusion of various cultural heritages through its interesting programme of concerts, plays and performances. The iconic buildings have been likened to the eyes of a fly, but its most popular association is with the Singaporean fruit the durian, due to its spiky exterior. Even if you don’t manage to buy tickets for an event (some of the more popular ones sell out weeks in advance), it’s worth taking a stroll to the buildings to see them at night, perched on the delta of the Singapore River.

Singapore is blessed with great year-round weather with temperatures constantly hovering between 20ºC and 30ºC. Although it can get uncomfortably humid at times, there generally is no good reason not to explore the beautiful outdoors areas.

The Chinese and Japanese Gardens are one of Singapore’s most underrated sights – the verdant parklands are laid out in ancient northern Chinese and Japanese styles and dotted with picturesque lakes and rivers that are crossed via quaint bridges. The parks were built in the 70s to stop the Jurong district from becoming completely industrialised.

Head to the seven-storey Ru Yun Ta pagoda, the highest point within the gardens, for an unmissable birds eye view and don’t miss the Bonsai Garden, with its collection of over 2,000 bonsai trees.

Singaporean cuisine is increasing in popularity worldwide, and for good reason. Traditional Peranakan cuisine fuses traditional Chinese and Malay flavours and cooking styles to create dishes such as pepper crab, chilli crab and laksa (noodle soup with mixed seafood, fishcake and sambal).

Conversely, while there are endless high-market restaurants offering well-presented, tasty versions of these dishes, the best places to try them are often the local hawker centres, which combine excellent value for money with an inimitable authenticity of experience. Lau Pau Sat Hawker Centre is the pick of the bunch, and well located not far from the central business district and Raffles Hotel. Dinner is served until the late hours.

Another pick for Peranakan cuisine comes in the form of Blue Ginger on Tanjong Pagar Road. While it’s undoubtedly pricier than the hawker centres, Blue Ginger serves high quality food in a comfortable setting. Using nothing but the freshest ingredients, the chefs create dishes such as ayam buah keluak: braised chicken with turmeric, galangal and lemongrass.

Like many expat hubs, Singapore certainly knows how to have a good time. Downtime can be spent sampling the cocktails of the high-end bars: start with a Singapore Sling in the renowned Long Bar at Raffles, or get the impressively knowledgeable mixologists to create your favourite tipple or two.

In recent years, Clarke Quay has emerged as an after-dark entertainment hotspot. The Quay spans the area between Coleman Bridge and Clemenceau Bridge. An area that was once full of dilapidated and increasingly empty warehouses has been transformed into the destination for live music bars, salsa clubs, wine bars, jazz clubs, cocktail joints, pubs, and a vast nightclub for the more energetic. You name it, it’s there, as well as a mouth-wateringly tempting array of Moroccan, Indian, Chinese, Thai and Italian restaurants, to name a few.

Places to stay within the city are plentiful, but on the top-end scale, it’s easy to fall into the jaws of the international-branded mega hotel monoliths that dominate this end of the market.

The antidote comes in the form of the Scarlet Boutique Hotel, an individual and cosmopolitan venture in Chinatown. Put business on the backburner and luxuriate in the well-designed spaces of the rooms or the restaurants and bars aptly named Desire, Bold and Breeze. There’s even an outdoor Jacuzzi to consolidate that naughty mini-break feel.

Singapore has evolved over the last few years into the kind of destination that anyone can have a good time in, whether there for business or leisure. No two visits are the same: its beauty lies in its constant evolution and capacity for constant discovery. You just have to know where to look.

Jumpers for goalposts

Posted on by Charlotte Gill

When South Africa won the contest to host the 2010 games, the first to be held in a developing country, the mood of euphoria that swept the nation engulfed everything and everyone in its path. This was South Africa’s moment, a chance to show the world what the young multi-racial democracy was made of and what it could do.

The forecasters and public relations consultants went to work immediately and came up with some heady predictions. The diversity of its people and its breathtaking landscapes would be broadcast all around the world. More than half a million foreign tourists would descend on South Africa. Billions of rand would flow into the country as a result of the tourist spend. Hotels and restaurants would register record occupancy rates.

New football stadiums would spring up all over the place. Business opportunities would mushroom, and economic growth would get an injection of steroids. Thabo Mbeki, the former president, predicted that not only would the tournament show South Africa at its best, but would also have a knock-on effect across the whole continent and “send out ripples of confidence from the Cape to Cairo.”

Eager to exploit the opportunity, the government drew up ambitious spending plans. Five new state of the art stadiums were to be built: Soccer City in Johannesburg, Green Point in Cape Town, Nelson Mandela Bay in Port Elizabeth, Peter Mokaba in Polokwane, and the so-called Giraffe Stadium in Nelspruit, whose roof supports were designed to resemble giraffes, complete with lights for eyes that blink at night. Five other stadiums in Johannesburg, Durban, Bloemfontein, Pretoria and Rustenburg would get multi-million rand face-lifts.

Plans to build a new high speed railway between Pretoria and Johannesburg, linked with the newly renamed O.R. Tambo International Airport in Gauteng province, the industrial, commercial and demographic heart of South Africa, would be accelerated, and be ready in time to ferry the flood of tourists between the country’s two principal cities.

South Africa’s much neglected public transport system would receive a capital boost the like of which had never yet been witnessed in post-apartheid South Africa, including 418 new and refurbished train sets and more than 1,000 new buses to ferry FIFA officials, competitors, fans and tourists from city centres to their hotels. Billions of rand were earmarked for road improvements, including 23bn for the highway network in Gauteng alone, along with airport upgrades in most of the host cities.

New labour
Policing, too, was a priority. More than 40,000 dedicated officers were assigned to World Cup duties, in addition to the 86,000 security guards employed across the stadiums, hotels, bars, restaurants and parks in the 10 host cities.

More than 650m rand was ring-fenced to provide the police with new helicopters, extending the long arm of the law all over the skies of the Rainbow Nation.

Expectations for job creation – a prime consideration in a country where the unofficial unemployment rate is about 40 percent – were also optimistic. Forecasters calculated that upwards of 400,000 new jobs would flow from the stadium construction programme, the road and rail infrastructure projects, and the extra demand across the hospitality trade that the avalanche of foreign tourists would generate.

Hosting the World Cup tournament has always been a loss-leader: a proposition that will lose money in the short term but which holds the promise of putting the host nation on the global map, thereby generating additional long-term revenue. South Africa’s commitment has been no exception; estimates vary as to how much South Africa has actually spent in preparation for the tournament, but the sums are indisputably substantial.

Grant Thornton, the British business consultancy, estimates that South Africa’s total spend for the World Cup is in the region of 55.3bn rand. That figure includes government investment in stadiums, airports, roads and other infrastructure – much of which would have been spent anyway but which was accelerated to be ready in time for the 2010 event – and therefore somewhat overstates the scale of the investment.

Forecasts of the benefits likely to flow from such a colossal economic stimulus vary too, but they are tiny by comparison. Foreign tourists are expected to inject about 13bn rand into the South African economy, boosting economic growth by about 0.5 percent. Other potential benefits include an anticipated increase in tourist numbers arriving in the country over the next five years, who would probably not have returned had the tournament not attracted them in the first place.

By any stretch of the imagination this is like moving a mountain to bring forth a mouse. The search for an explanation as to why countries compete to host the World Cup tournament lies in the prestige it confers, the impetus it can bring to bear on infrastructure development, and the sense of pride and well being its generates in the host nation. It is certainly not justified by the narrow economic and financial returns it generates.

In any event, South Africa was to find itself hosting the games in an economic climate far less optimistic than when the decision to host the tournament was first made. The global economic downturn triggered by the reckless lending practices of mostly Western financial institutions brought world economic growth shuddering to a halt.

New danger
In South Africa, the impressive growth rate of around five percent notched up in recent years was transformed into a near two percent contraction in 2009 – the worst recession since 1992 – and layoffs and redundancies, especially in the mining sector as commodity prices tumbled, began to accelerate. It took the South African economy 10 years to create 2.2m jobs, and it lost half of them in just 18 months.

The euphoria that accompanied the awarding of the games rapidly evaporated. Estimates of the number of foreign arrivals crashed from as many as half a million to as few as 200,000, as the combined effects of South Africa’s long-haul destination status, the high and rising cost of air fares, a rapidly appreciating rand, rising unemployment in Germany and Britain (two of the most important sources of football fans) and anecdotal perceptions of South Africa as a country grappling with race, crime and violence took their toll.

It got worse. Ticket sales were at best sluggish, and it became apparent soon after the onset of the financial crisis that demand for high-end tickets and hospitality was going to take a hit as corporate hospitality budgets were ruthlessly paired back, and high net-worth individuals scaled back on spending plans.

Demand for tickets from other African countries – never expected to be high but anticipated to be significant in the football-mad continent – was less robust than had originally been forecast, while the sale of the final tranche of over-the-counter tickets in South Africa were hit by computer glitches, leading to long queues, frayed tempers, and very uncharitable foreign press comments about South Africa’s ability to host the tournament successfully.

While tickets for the big games in the major urban centres were holding up reasonably well in difficult circumstances, those for more marginal games in more peripheral cities were not. In Nelspruit, Rustenberg and Polokwane, which will each host only four of the 64 matches that will be played in the competition, fixtures including Slovakia versus New Zealand and Honduras versus Chile made the prospect of half empty stadiums seem inevitable.

The scale of the investment – the Nelspruit stadium alone cost around one billion rand to build – seemed even harder to justify by the diminishing returns. Many of these regions were poor. Many inhabitants still have to walk miles to haul water out of streams, live in poor housing with no electricity, and find any sort of employment hard to come by.

Critics who insisted the money could have been better spent were gaining traction, and revelations of corrupt tendering procedures for local government construction contracts, enriching a few at the expense of the many, added to the furore.

Even as the clouds of recession began to lift, South African officials were forced to concede that earlier projections of the number of foreign visitors and the scale of the boost to gross domestic product were overly optimistic. “They are lower than we expected,” said Kagiso Mosue, spokesman for the Tourism Business Council of South Africa.

“Of course we cannot compare with Germany [host of the runaway success of the 2006 tournament which attracted in excess of two million foreign tourists] because it sits in the middle of Europe,” said Danny Jordaan, head of the South Africa’s World Cup local organising committee: “Reality in the world has changed.” He stressed that Britain and Germany, two of the biggest exporters of travelling football fans, had been hit by the global crisis “in a major way.”

But the mood was already beginning to improve by April when Grant Thornton published its study into the likely impact of the World Cup on the South African economy. The study found that the number of foreign tourists likely to arrive in South Africa had now gone up from earlier pessimistic estimates of around 200,000 to 373,000; 230,000 of whom would be World Cup ticket holders. The new forecasts of foreign tourist arrivals compared very favourably with the 250,000 that visited Japan and South Korea when they were joint hosts in 2002.

Moreover, while the number of foreign tourists would be lower than the total attracted by Germany in 2006, they would stay longer and spend more. While most visitors to Germany had flown in and out over a couple of days, the bulk of visitors to South Africa would stay an average of 18.7 days, and spend 30,200 rand each, the study said. In addition, South African Tourism, the state-owned tourism development agency, said that it was now expecting more than 10m foreign tourists to arrive in South Africa, up from the nine million who visited in 2009.

International players
Things were now really beginning to pick up. A study by banking giant HSBC found that historically, while holding the World Cup had little impact on a country’s GDP, the host’s stock market almost always outperformed during the six months in the run up to the tournament, before dropping off thereafter.

The HSBC study found that in all but two of the last nine tournaments over the past 50 years, the local exchanges outperformed global rivals, with Japan and South Korea outperforming the outperformers with local stock market increases of 10 percent and 24 percent respectively when they were joint hosts in 2002. Only in Spain in 1982, and the US in 1994, did stocks perform in a lacklustre way.

Acknowledging that spending by the influx of tourists and the economic stimulus of building stadiums is negligible compared to the costs of hosting the tournament, HSBC sought to find out what could possibly explain such surprisingly consistent behaviour in stock market performances. And it all came down to sentiment. Hosting the World Cup may not make you rich but it certainly does lift the spirits.

In each of the nine cities where the World Cup has been hosted over the past five decades, happiness indexes have risen and suicide rates have fallen – excluding Spain and the US. But correlation is not necessarily causation. What is it that links stock market rises with overall increases in happiness?

HSBC found the evidence to be compelling. Local investors become more optimistic as excitement builds, while foreign investors look harder at the potential attractions the host country offers because the international media spotlight casts its glare more intensely than normal. It’s a clear-cut case of all publicity being good publicity.

Sure enough, the Johannesburg Stock Exchange has seen a six percent rise in the value of equities traded on the bourse in the year to March, while foreign investors have been net buyers of South Africa equities, accounting for 75bn rand in inflows for the year. Moreover, it’s not only the rising stock market that is providing evidence of improving sentiment.

This year’s annual PriceWaterhouse-Coopers Global CEO Survey, the first to include South Africa, said that after months of relentless gloom and doom, South African CEOs “have emerged from the shadows of the last 18 months feeling largely optimistic about the prospects for a bright future.”

The survey found that a thumping 93 percent of CEOs, all from JSE-listed companies, believed that South Africa would begin to rebound markedly from the recession during 2010 – 25 percent higher than the global and African average – a recovery which was expected to strengthen during 2011. Admittedly, there were significant anxieties about currency volatility, over-regulation, the skills shortage, the rising cost of energy, and infrastructure gaps, but there was no doubting that the overall mood was markedly more buoyant than in other economies around the world.

Improved sentiment is also benefiting from and contributing to the sharp rise in the level of mergers and acquisitions recorded in the first quarter of 2010 compared to the last quarter of 2009, which was valued at 6.8bn rand – the highest level recorded since the fourth quarter of 2008 when the downturn first hit.

Eleventh-hour efforts to boost the number of foreign visitors, including the abolition of South Africa visa requirements for tourists arriving with World Cup tickets, and revitalised marketing efforts by hotels and tourist promoters to drive up low occupancy rates, could see an unexpected last-minute surge in foreign arrivals as the countdown to June 11 approaches. That may not increase numbers to the 500,000 foreign visitors originally expected, but it will leave lots more room for those who do turn up.

It will be winter in South Africa when the tournament takes place, and it can get very cold at night on the country’s high altitude interior, and very wet in Cape Town when the rains arrive. But it is still significantly warmer than the British summer.

It also has a lot more attractions, from the legendary Kruger National Park in Limpopo and Mpumalanga provinces, to the Indian Ocean beaches along the east coast, the Karoo semi-desert region in the South African heartland and Table Mountain in the Western Cape. South Africans also know how to enjoy themselves, and are now busily preparing for the biggest party since Nelson Mandela’s release from prison.

Jewel of the sultanate

Posted on by Charlotte Gill

Originally built to host the 1985 Gulf Cooperation Council Summit in Muscat and provide luxurious accommodations for international dignitaries visiting Oman’s 15th National Day celebrations the same year, the Al Bustan Palace InterContinental Muscat has since become an iconic property with the name ‘Jewel of the Sultanate’ bestowed upon it.

In early 2006 the hotel closed for an extensive, multimillion dollar renovation, reopening to guests in November 2008 and ushering in a new era of magnificence.

One jaw-dropping feature of this magnificence is the unique crystal chandelier that lights up every corner of the hotel’s colossal atrium. Created to offset the intricate and elaborate detailing of the newly renovated space, the unique Austrian designed chandelier has a circumference spanning more than 8.5 metres and is more than 18 metres long. It features thousands of crystals, and due to the sheer size and weight of this feature, the crystal strands and framework had to be shipped in separate consignments to Oman, where a team of 10 people constructed it on site.

The atrium’s walls incorporate stunning arabesque wood carvings filled with dazzling mother of pearl and gold leaf inlays. The fabrics for the furniture and carpets in the atrium are rich and warm in colour, accented with tastefully contrasting highlights. Beneath the chandelier sits a custom crystal fountain with a large crystal vase at the centre, glistening from the sprinkles of light above. The fountain’s water cascades with subtle grace into the octagonal stone carved base. At over 3.5 metres tall and weighing over 2.5 tonnes, the crystal fountain anchors the space creating a relaxing environment with the resonating sound of endlessly flowing water.

The Al Bustan Palace InterContinental Muscat’s arrays of six restaurants take guests on an unsurpassed culinary journey of taste and flavour. The Beach Pavilion restaurant and lounge is nestled right by the water’s edge, offering a fresh and exhilarating dining experience during the day and a romantically inspired one by night. Serving authentic Chinese cuisine in the heart of Oman, China Mood has claimed its position as one of the top Asian restaurants in the region, while the fine dining restaurant Vue by Shannon Bennett showcases the contemporary French cuisine of the Australian celebrity chef.

Open for breakfast, lunch and dinner, Al Khiran Terrace is the hotel’s primary all-day dining restaurant; Seblat Al Bustan blends the unique flavours of Omani and Arab cuisine; and Al Maha Piano Bar is the ideal venue for a relaxing evening with live entertainment.

The new contemporary event space offers excellent facilities, with 16 meeting rooms boasting state of the art equipment and stylish furnishing. Offering the Sultanate’s largest ballroom, a unique auditorium and stunning gardens, the hotel is an ideal venue for elegant gala dinners, intimate board meetings and grand functions for up to 1,400 people.

Additional facilities added to modernise the property include a health club with fully equipped gym and aerobics studio, tennis courts, and a children’s play area. An infinity pool stretching to the beach was also built and surrounded by an oasis of over 70,000 plants, trees and shrubs, blending in with the property’s natural surroundings.

No fear, I’m flying

Posted on by Charlotte Gill

Fear of flying is an extremely common affliction. An early study by Boeing found that one in every three to four adult Americans – roughly 30 percent – experienced a significant (although not necessarily crippling) degree of anxiety about flying. However current research suggests the worldwide figure of anxious (though not fearful) flyers is higher, up to around 40 percent of all passengers.

Although the number of people who seriously fear flying is much smaller, it’s still significant. The US National Institute for Mental Health puts the number of people who avoid commercial flying altogether simply because it scares them stiff at around 6.5 percent of the population: nearly 20 million people.

Fear of flying is not a condition that can be resolved by willpower alone, say experts. Telling sufferers to “harden up” or to “relax” or that “nothing’s going to go wrong” and other ill-informed advice just doesn’t cut it. Although the percentage of accidents measured against all flights is falling steadily – in short, flying’s getting safer all the time – it doesn’t convince sufferers because their fears are irrational in nature.

Pills and placebos
Medications don’t do the job either, at least not in the long term. A study by Stanford University’s school of medicine suggests that the use of tranquillising drugs can rebound in an extremely unpleasant way, triggering a tenfold increase in panic, while homeopathic treatments were rated virtually useless in a 2005 study published in The Lancet, operating merely as placebos.

Indeed there are health risks from medication. According to a 2007 study by the World Health Organisation, flyers who knock themselves out with, say, Valium over a flight of four hours or more run a risk, albeit small, of developing deep vein thrombosis. That is, a blood clot developing in a deep vein, usually in the lower leg.

An alcoholic drink may help calm nerves but a few too many drinks can produce an atypically violent reaction in some, because the lower levels of oxygen in pressurised cabins accelerates the effects of alcohol.

The best solution, report all authorities on the subject, is to deal with the problem rather than run away from it. There are often sound reasons why people fear flying, although those reasons may not be obvious. A naturally nervous disposition, a childhood trauma, an aversion to closed spaces, a sense of helplessness; all may lie at the heart of fear of flying, also known as aerophobia, aviophobia or aeroanxiety.

Indeed, what we call fear of flying may not really be fear of actually flying. Rather, it’s an emotion that is only expressed before or during flights. For instance, people who suffer claustrophobia often find aircraft cabins frightening, just as they do underground trains. Others are afraid of heights, suffer from panic attacks, are uncomfortable when not in control or, increasingly, worry about a terrorist attack.

And it’s not unusual for the condition to turn up almost out of the blue with advancing years. “For many it develops later in life as we realise how precious life is and that we are all mortal beings,” says Stacey Chance, an American airline captain who has studied the subject.

Underlining his point, psychologist Dr R Reid Wilson, a specialist in anxiety disorders and founder of American Airlines’ Fearful Flyers program, says the average age of onset of fearful flying is 27 years. Some sufferers report their anxiety developed after the birth of a child. Another contributing factor may be rising stress levels, for instance from a particularly demanding job, that translate into markedly increased nervousness over other things besides flying.

There are still others who aren’t so much afraid of flying, as Dr Wilson explains, but fear that they will behave in embarrassing ways such as “freaking out.” And some flyers have excellent reasons for being nervous, like a late uncle of mine who served as a tail-gunner in bombers during the 1939-45 war and was permanently scarred by the horrors of aerial combat. As take-off time approached, he would turn pale and have to visibly force himself to board.

Not turbulence
In flying, ignorance is not bliss. Take turbulence, a common occurrence in the jet stream. Many passengers fear the plane will hit an ‘air pocket’ and plunge thousands of feet. In fact, not only is the plane designed for this and many other forms of stress, aircraft don’t drop out of the sky as is commonly believed. The distance that aircraft typically fall when they encounter turbulence is 50mm, roughly the thickness of a book. It just feels like a lot more.

Incidentally, there is no such thing as an ‘air pocket;’ it’s just a wave of downward-travelling air that is promptly negated by an upward-travelling wave (but again, don’t try telling this to a sufferer).

And while deep clouds may throw an aircraft around, flight crew will typically access 20 different weather reports from ground stations as well as their own weather radar on even a relatively short flight of 1,000km and make sure to skirt any hostile conditions.

Similarly, nervous flyers often believe aircraft will plummet earthwards if an engine fails and are hugely relieved to know that all planes, even the biggest, can glide immense distances. “An aeroplane doesn’t defy the laws of gravity, it uses them,” explains Captain Keith Godfrey, author of Flying without Fear, a popular and commonsense book that addresses what he calls “the seeming abnormalities in flying that are in fact perfectly normal experiences for pilots.”

Nor does the media help. While it never reports the safe landing of a plane, fatal crashes invariably get the full treatment. Experts call this “confirmation bias” – the embedding of an already irrational view. In fact, flying is almost tediously safe. “Statistically speaking, you could board a plane every day and it would take 26,000 years for your number to come up,” explains Dr. Wilson.

Put another way, a fully loaded 727 would have to crash every day of the year for the number of aeroplane fatalities to equal the number of automobile fatalities in a year.

Education is empowering
What appears to dispel flying nerves most effectively is reassurance from those in the know: highly experienced pilots and clinicians. Over the years, UK-based fear of flying course Aviatours has developed a practical programme based on education and the sharing of fears and doubts with other participants in the programme: 45,000 people have used the service, with a reported 98 percent success rate.

The one-day course starts with a briefing by fully-fledged commercial pilots who explain through slides and diagrams how aeronautical science and technology is designed to handle turbulence, security and other issues that prey on the minds of fearful flyers. In between the briefing, participants share their own experiences over coffee and lunch. “It is a relief to know you are not alone in your fears,” explains one attendee.

With the technology behind them, a clinical psychologist explains the “mechanics of fear,” running through a range of methods for dealing with anxiety and feelings of panic including some practical pre-flight relaxation techniques.

Finally comes the ultimate test of the programme’s effectiveness – a 45-minute flight with a full complement of crew plus psychologist. At a recent course nearly all the participants were able to walk straight aboard. However half a dozen congregated ashen-faced at the foot of the gangway and had to return to the airport. Therapists say these people will probably require individual and longer treatment. Otherwise the plane was nearly full.

The failure rate – those who fail to board the flight – is put down to a variety of reasons. “It may have been just too much for them on the day and they went as far as they could in challenging their fears,” says Captain Peter Hughes.

“Or perhaps they decided they didn’t really want to be there at all. They only signed up because of pressure from partners, family or people at work… and sometimes it’s a step too far. Often these people come back for another go at just the flight.”

As the flight proceeds to takeoff, passengers get a running commentary from one of the pilots, straight from the flight deck, about exactly what’s happening. This run-down lasts all the way through take-off, the flight and landing. The purpose, points out Aviatours, is to reassure the flyers through a process of instruction.

Simulating terror
There are effective alternatives to group sessions. For instance, books and videos often work for those who cannot attend or afford group sessions. Captain Stacey Chance’s Prepare to Fly scores good reviews – “a wonderful tool in my arsenal of fear,” enthuses one reader. And Captain Godfrey’s aforementioned Flying without Fear has “helped hundreds of people to go flying.”

A consultant to aerophobia courses, Captain Godfrey has since gone one better. He has developed a system for recreating on a flight simulator practically every kind of fear-inducing situation. A highly practical tool, it puts the terrified flyer in command: he or she can program in whatever particular occurrence upsets them to see how pilots handle it and what happens to the aircraft. Thus they can dial up landings, thunderstorms, flying at night or over sea, extreme or light turbulence; just about every conceivable situation.

American airline Captain Tom Bunn, also a trained therapist, founded the organisation Soar for fearful flyers nearly 30 years ago. Over the years he has come to the conclusion that in the long run, individual therapy works better than group sessions because it can be tailored to the sufferer’s specific condition.

Indeed Soar started out by conducting USA-wide group courses but changed direction when research showed that better results were obtained through individual counselling, even when given by phone. And instead of taking the all-important flight straight away, they were able to wait until the therapist was sure they were good and ready.

Some aerophobia courses don’t go near an aircraft. In so-called cognitive coping strategies conducted in professional rooms, qualified therapists will track back through an individual’s background to identify the anxiety triggers that lie at the heart of the distress. Having done so, they will work with the client to train them to take charge of the thought processes that have gone awry. As such, these therapies treat anxiety as a condition rather than as a specific state related to flying.

Relaxation techniques like measured breathing, yoga and focus therapy – concentrating on something that induces good feelings – are also effective; but no programme provides all the answers. But fearful flyers can dramatically reduce their anxieties through an enlightened approach to the problem and an aerophobia course is one of the best places to start.

First and foremost

Posted on by Charlotte Gill

Compared to other countries, the serviced apartment sector in the Netherlands is still in its infancy. Some hotels offer apartments within their premises, but on a limited scale, and are often quite expensive. One of the first companies to start a full service concept in the Dutch market is Htel Serviced Apartments, offering more than 300 apartments in the Amsterdam region.

“Although Amsterdam is the location for many multinational companies, with a large expat community,” says Ingmar Sloothaak, Managing Director of Htel Serviced Apartments, “the availability of serviced apartments was, or is, still not really developed. The housing facilities are there, but mainly without any service, and are located throughout the region.”

In 2000 Htel realised there was no central location or solution for companies to accommodate their business executives on short and long-term stays in Amsterdam. Seeking to meet those needs, the company centralised its accommodation in two single buildings, offering all the extra services available in a hotel but without its limitations, creating a ‘one-stop-shopping’ opportunity.

“Our whole idea is focused on delivering a spacious and high quality apartment with maximum service, delivering a high-end product within a ‘value-for-money’ concept, to make sure that our (temporary) residents have an enjoyable stay in the Netherlands,” Mr Sloothaak says.

As one of the first to recognise that Amsterdam was in need of high quality serviced apartment facilities, Htel Serviced Apartments became the leading company, offering 300 fully equipped and modern furnished apartments from 45 to 150sq m. “It’s our vision that each of our apartments delivers a ‘coming home’ kind of feeling for all our guests,” says Mr Sloothaak. “And I truly believe that you can only do this if offering serviced apartments is your core business. Only then can you deliver maximum client satisfaction by focusing on personal service supported by knowledgeable staff who understand the guests’ needs.”

That’s why Htel’s two buildings have all the facilities under one roof, such as new fitness centres, large launderette areas with washing machines and dryers, swimming pools, sauna, Turkish steam bath, state of the art board rooms and business lounges – all accessible without charge to all the residents and their guests. “Next to this we offer a wide range of services,” he says, “Such as reception, housekeeping, shopping service, dry cleaning, welcome and breakfast package. And each of our locations, being in Amsterdam, has bicycles available for its guests.”

The Htel Serviced Apartments are centrally located in the southern district of Amsterdam and are near major business districts, shopping areas, museums, highways, and train and metro stations, and are only 10 minutes away from Amsterdam Airport. Htel also offers companies an extensive relocation service, and has recently established a special department to assist with finding more permanent housing facilities.

www.htelapartments.com

Walking on water

Posted on by Charlotte Gill

Situated on the banks of the international shipping canal Nieuwe Waterweg, this four star hotel boasts 78 guest rooms including 10 suites and six unique conference rooms.

The comfortable, nautically themed bedrooms have a bath, rain shower, air conditioning and minibar. Rooms on the river side of the hotel afford distractingly fabulous views over the Maas and the many different ships that pass down it from Europe’s largest international port in Rotterdam. The suites are large, sunny rooms with a separate sitting area, some with their own balcony but all with fantastic views of the river’s traffic.

The hotel offers one special suite inspired by Jules Verne’s 20,000 Leagues under the Sea. Modelled on Captain Nemo’s private room, it features a replica of his diving helmet, and a number of Jules Verne’s books are displayed in the suite for visitors to get carried away by his thrilling stories.

Meals and dinners can be enjoyed in the restaurant Nautique. This unique restaurant offers different styles of dining in its three areas – the Brasserie, the Grand Café and the Four Cardinal Directions – to make it suitable for any occasion.

The open kitchen on one side and the busy river views on the other create a dynamic spectacle. The Grand Café is a fine venue for a spot of lunch, informal dinner, or simply a cup of coffee while reading a paper; the large terrace is also an excellent space for relaxing with a cool beer or glass of quality wine after work.

For an unforgettable impression, the Brasserie offers a selection of fresh pastries and assorted appetisers. Guests are invited to explore the large, watercooled wine cellar: the first of its kind in the Netherlands. The menu is filled with famous dishes from world harbour cities and stubborn new world wines.

The hotel offers four pleasant banquet rooms, called North, East, South and West. Situated high above the water, these rooms look out over the appropriate compass point of the port of Rotterdam, and can be combined if required; they can also serve as venues for buffet suppers or menus selected to suit guests’ requirements.

The six conference rooms, with capacity for eight to 250 delegates in a variety of layouts, also offer unique views over the Rotterdam harbour.

Nautical novelties
Arriving at the Delta Hotel can also be an entertaining experience by using one of the super-fast watertaxis. Skimming over the waves at 50km per hour, they put the centre of Rotterdam just 15 minutes away.

And as a recognised wedding venue of the Board of Vlaardings mayor and aldermen, the Delta Hotel is an excellent – and official – location to tie the knot. The Crow’s Nest on the roof of the hotel offers spectacular views for the ceremony, while for the wedding breakfast or reception the elegantly decorated nautical halls are the perfect size and style for an unforgettable celebration. Last but not least, the Red Roses honeymoon suite on the top floor has a window-side Jacuzzi, for yet more stunning views while enjoying a glass of champagne in love and luxury.

Delta Hotel, Maasboulevard 15, 3133 AK Vlaardingen; tel: +31 10 4345477; info@deltahotel.nl; www.deltahotel.nl

Living Danishly

Posted on by Charlotte Gill

Whether staying for business or pleasure, the five star Hilton Copenhagen Airport is a great choice: the atmosphere is international, the design is contemporary Scandinavian, and the style and service is professional and personal.

The only hotel in Denmark with its own airport, the Hilton is just 12 minutes from Copenhagen city by train or Metro; 10 minutes to the major congress facilities at the Bella Centre; and close to both Amager Beach and the countryside. On the other side of the impressive Øresund Bridge is Sweden and the city of Malmö, just 20 minutes away.

This multiple award-winning hotel boasts 382 luxury guestrooms. The city’s largest standard rooms are smaller than the Hilton’s smallest guestrooms of 33sq m, and there are two floors of executive and executive plus rooms of 45sq m.

A meeting convenience
The Hilton’s meeting concept – Hilton Meetings – is respectfully renowned, offering a total of 29 varied modern meeting rooms. Some of the rooms, along with an additional Business Centre, are located at Terminal 3 of Copenhagen Airport, reachable from the hotel via a covered walkway within two minutes. All meeting rooms have natural daylight, wireless internet access and are equipped with the latest audiovisual equipment. The Hilton Meetings Team in the Business Centre is at the visitors’ disposal to ensure all those important details are in place to guarantee a successful meeting. For large events the elegant Ellehammer Ballroom, located on the hotel’s ground floor, accommodates up to 450 people; there is direct access from the outside through three metre wide flexible doors, making the room ideal for events such as car launches.

In September 2009, the hotel earned the international eco-certification ‘Green Key.’ To accomplish this the hotel launched a Green Team, inviting employees from all departments to commit to the scheme. Engaging and educating team members has long been one of the strengths of the Hilton brand, and the Copenhagen Airport team fulfilled 50 different environmental requirements to achieve the certification. Even the Hilton Meetings concept now has a green approach, with meeting collateral reduced and made recyclable.

Feel at home
The rooms have a distinct modern Scandinavian look and are fitted with everything to retain the feeling of home. In every room there is a floor-to ceiling window that lets in floods of light, affording views of the Øresund Bridge, the airport and the rooftops of Copenhagen. All the modern conveniences are available, making each stay relaxing and enjoyable. Separate baths and showers, Pay-TV, Samsung flat screen televisions (37” and 42”), an in-room safety box big enough for a laptop, iron and ironing board, mini bar, tea and coffee maker, and cable and wireless internet access. Deluxe and executive rooms offer better views, while the family size and executive plus rooms are ideal if staying with more people.

On the 12th floor is the Executive Lounge – an area exclusively for guests staying in executive rooms, providing extra comfort and service such as complimentary breakfasts and evening drinks, snacks and canapés. It aims to provide a home away from home; a place to sit back in front of the open fireplace with an international newspaper and relax from the day. The Lounge was refurbished in 2009 with a focus on modern simplicity and comfort, inviting guests to enjoy the special Nordic ambiance underlined by the use of iconic design furniture.

Horizon All Day is the informal buffet restaurant, providing excellent food and drinks in a relaxing setting; while the architectural beauty Hamlet offers Nordic dining in a stylish setting that’s perfect for formal business dinners as well as romantic evenings. The cosy Axis Bar and Lounge serves everything from coffees and authentic Danish beers to exciting cocktails.

For the ultimate luxury experience, indulge in a visit to the Ni’mat Spa. This Asian inspired spa offers a wide range of relaxing massages and exclusive treatments. Take a quiet moment in the aroma steam bath accompanied by the ‘Ice Buddha,’ float in the heated salt-water pool, or powernap in the Golden Egg – a unique universe designed to de-stress in less than 15 minutes. Ni’mat Spa also offers special packages for the leisure traveller as well as for larger business groups and specific meeting events.

Tel: +45 32 501 501; www.hilton.dk; cb.copenhagen-airport@hilton.com

Built to last

Posted on by Charlotte Gill

The hotel hosts thousands of events each year, varying from small meetings to global conventions. Three to 3,000 can meet, two to 2,000 can eat, one to 1,000 can sleep – all under one roof, nestled in the heart of London.

This month Business Destinations recognises Hilton London Metropole as the best hotel for meetings, incentives, conferences and events in the UK for 2010. The hotel was recognised for achieving overall excellence in efficiency, quality of information available to clients and superior standards in accommodation and services to business travellers.

Now more than ever, an accolade such as this takes on a major significance. It recognises industry excellence and achievement in a time that has been exceptionally challenging.

“We are extremely proud to be recognised as the best conference and meetings hotel in the UK,” says the hotel’s general manager, Avner On. “The award is a testament to our dedication to continuously improve the services we offer our customers, despite the current economic climate.” So what exactly is it that puts the Hilton London Metropole a cut above the rest?

Clients, not numbers
At the Hilton London Metropole good old customer service is thriving, ensuring that clients are never made to feel like they are merely a number in the system. The dedicated team take the time to get to know their clients to ensure they have a clear understanding of their objectives and know how their clients think and operate.

This personalised approach ensures every client’s unique needs are met, down to the smallest detail. For example, staff once noticed a client was not drinking the wine on offer at a conference. They asked the client if he liked the wine and discovered that he does not drink wine and prefers diet cola or beer. Since then, whenever that customer visits the hotel, the team ensure there is always a beer and diet cola in his room.

For an event organiser, comprehensive information about floor plans, room maps, seating arrangements and menus are the foundation tools for every event. The Hilton London Metropole recognises this and provides every client with an electronic proposal whereby they can virtually view all the information they need.

The hotel was clearly built with meetings and conferences in mind. It boasts a 4,100sq m flexible and pillar free meeting space, bespoke catering packages and premium accommodation. The hotel even has its own private service road to allow buses to drop off and collect guests and for trucks to deliver and pick up goods for events. It also boasts a dedicated on-property audiovisual team and all the extra trimmings that make for a successful event.

Continuing to invest
The Hilton London Metropole is constantly investing in new initiatives to provide clients with more first class services and facilities. Recently the hotel announced it was investing £1.8m in a refurbishment of bedrooms and public areas in its west wing.

As phase one of a larger project, a third of all Hilton Deluxe Plus rooms, as well as lift lobbies and corridors on three floors, will be fully refurbished. The rooms will be given a modern twist with a contemporary design in fresh colours. New furniture, carpets, lighting and ultra-comfortable beds will enhance the guest experience. The built-in continental and US sockets, ergonomic chairs, working areas and LCD flat screens in the Deluxe Plus bedrooms and apartments will provide increased comfort and convenience when staying at the hotel.

Other investments have included a £2m complete refurbishment in the hotel’s Deluxe rooms in the tower building and a £500,000 project installing LCD flat screens in all bedrooms. The hotel also invested £200,000 in the transformation of the lift lobby and corridor leading to the executive lounge in the hotel’s east wing in May 2009.

When it comes to meetings and events, location is key: the Metropole is conveniently located just five minutes from London’s Oxford Street, Marble Arch and only 15 minutes by train from Heathrow – making it very accessible for people flying in from outside the UK. It can also be accessed via London’s Underground railway network and for those driving in from out of town, it is just moments off the A40. Local attractions, including the theatre district, Hyde Park and Harrods Knightsbridge provide event attendees with an abundance of things to do and see during their stay.

The final element that sets the Hilton London Metropole apart from its competitors is the quality and service synonymous with the Hilton brand. Hilton Hotels is the stylish, forward-thinking global leader of hospitality that welcomes guests in more countries than any other full-service hotel brand. By offering innovative products, services and amenities, Hilton enables travellers to be at their best 24/7, whether travelling for business or leisure.

www.hiltonlondonmet.com

In the heart of the action

Posted on by Charlotte Gill

Just two kilometres away from Eccelsa’s new terminal is the brand new Marina di Olbia, which accommodates yachts of all sizes and provides superbly discreet transfers to and from the airport. This is a unique advantage, offering the only capability in the Mediterranean Area to begin one’s holiday on Costa Smeralda within a few minutes of touching down, with no long drives in cars or helicopter hops.

Officially opened just last year, the terminal is an architectural masterpiece in its own right. Seen from on high it looks like a massive aircraft door, while seen from ground level its clean, sleek lines seem to swoop skyward like giant wings. The elegant lines and beautifully designed natural and artificial lighting create a sense of profound intimacy and relaxation in the cocoon-like comfort of the terminal; a strange sensation indeed for an airport that caters to over 40,000 passengers.

Eccelsa Aviation has embraced its role as gatekeeper to what is often called the world’s most beautiful sea, combining utter professionalism with a touch of special charm that comes from confident care for discerning, often celebrity clients. “Any chance you could find us containers for 300 kilos of fabulous Italian ice-cream before it melts, please?” – that doesn’t even come close to the oddest request the highly efficient team headed by general manager Francesco Cossu has had to deal with.

“In the last seven years our passenger numbers and plane movements have doubled, and with that the sheer variety of requests we find ourselves having to satisfy,” he explains with a smile. Numbers of a highly select kind of visitor to the Costa Smeralda are booming. These are people that visit the region to chill out on super yachts or in the dreamily exclusive villas along the shore. The result of this discreet influx has been the building of the new terminal which now includes no less than 4,000sq m of retail heaven offering the best selection of typical Sardinian products and a plethora of luxury boutiques including Loro Piana, De Grisogono and Zegna. A quality restaurant and a conference hall are now in operation, with a new spa and sauna scheduled to open in the next year.

Undisputed efficiency
All glass and glittering design, the air terminal has one feature that makes it absolutely unique in Europe: a formidable outer wing that allows guests to enter and exit the terminal directly from their aircraft. This giant wing will provide shelter even to the big executive B737s and A319 and A320s: the nearest thing there is to an airborne villa with hundreds of square metres of cabin space that can include three bedrooms, four or five bathrooms, a lounge, office and enough aircraft fuel to fly across the Atlantic. Intriguingly these giant executive jets now make up around four percent of aircraft movements at the terminal.

Eccelsa was founded in 1989 by the Olbia Airport Management Company, Geasar, and became an autonomous entity in 2003. Over the last eight years it has doubled movements from about 7,000 to over 14,000 aircraft per year.

Naturally enough, July and August are the busiest months in the skies over Costa Smeralda with 3,000-4,000 arrivals and departures clocked up monthly. Privacy and security are two of the qualities private aircraft passengers most appreciate about Eccelsa Aviation; it’s just a very quick hop by helicopter to any super-yacht with a helipad from the Olbia terminal and many other passengers will also choose this way to travel to their villas or hotels.

The whole process works like very smooth clockwork thanks to the undisputed skills and efficiency of Eccelsa’s highly motivated 40-strong team. The terminal’s own concierge services organise everything needed to make a stay perfect: horse trekking, aircraft or helicopters, Ferrari or Aston Martin rentals, and yacht charters, both crewed and bare-boat.

Eccelsa also provides in-flight catering, offering a menu of 100 dishes ranging from simple sandwiches to mouth-watering lobster, alongside a careful selection of local Sardinian and Italian foods and wines. The Meridiana Maintenance team also offers first class technical assistance on the ground and there are integrated services for flight crews. Air taxi companies and their crews are also well catered for – these now make up quite a considerable proportion of the traffic coming into Olbia Costa Smeralda. Eccelsa Aviation is one of the reasons why people that want to holiday in a genuinely special place come back to Sardinia again and again. A place where friendliness, quality and a first class service are all part of the attraction.

Affluence of the ages

Posted on by Charlotte Gill

As the first Conrad property in the Middle East, the Conrad Cairo has set new standards of service, quality and luxury to its guests, offering stunning views, a central location and exceptional business and leisure facilities.

Previously recognised as the Best Business Hotel in Cairo by Business Traveller magazine, Business Destinations is happy to name the Conrad Cairo as the Best Business Hotel in Egypt for the second year running.

The Conrad Cairo offers 617 comfortable rooms and suites, featuring spacious bedrooms equipped with desk and comfortable chair, sitting area, tea and coffee making facilities and an iron and ironing board. Each room has two phone lines, wireless and high-speed internet access, and balconies that offer breathtaking views of the Nile. The well appointed marble bathrooms include bathtub, separate shower and a bidet, as well as bathrobes and slippers.

Conrad Cairo offers a private executive lounge for executive rooms and suite guests, serving complimentary breakfast buffet, tea and coffee, soft drinks and light snacks throughout the day. With seven restaurants and bars to choose from, guests at the Conrad Cairo are spoilt for choice when it comes to top international cuisine. The restaurant Kamala opens a world of south-east Asian herbs and colourful spices, while night life lounge and bar Jayda indulges guests with stunning cocktails; the Oak Grill serves the finest grilled, roasted and smoked meats and seafood in town, while the upscale lounge and bar Stage One provides a stylish oasis where guests can soak up the multi-cultural vibes of Cairo city.

Guests can also enjoy the hotel’s fine recreational facilities, including the heated pool, international casino, fully equipped gymnasium, and sauna, steam, jacuzzi and massage rooms for the ultimate in relaxation.

At the Conrad Cairo, executive guests can get down to serious business in a cosmopolitan atmosphere. The 11 meeting rooms are fully designed to support individual business needs with the added value of the catering and events team assisting with every detail of an event to help organisers and delegates focus on achieving their business goals.

For a truly unique experience in one of the Middle East’s most exciting cities, check in to the Conrad Cairo to discover the ‘luxury of being yourself.’

Green shoots

Posted on by Charlotte Gill

People in search of relaxation are spoilt for choice with Berlin’s numerous parks. A total of 2,500 public green areas are the perfect setting for relaxation, sport and entertainment. Spacious parks and exotic gardens with artistic landscaping shape the face of the city, as do the 425,000 trees that line Berlin’s streets. More than 32 percent of the city area is covered with green areas or forest.

The green image of the city continues in the field of climate protection. The energy refurbishment of residential buildings and the installation of about 7,900 solar energy units have led to a drop in carbon dioxide emissions of several million tonnes. The Berlin Senate has set itself the goal of reducing CO2 emissions by 40 percent by 2020 compared with 1990; an Alliance for Climate Protection was signed in October 2008 to support these efforts, under which 13 large Berlin companies have undertaken to implement further climate protection projects.

Following the introduction of a low-emission zone, only vehicles that meet specific exhaust gas requirements may now drive into downtown Berlin. This reduces the levels of fine dust and nitrogen dioxide. Support programmes to encourage the use of public transport and the extension of cycle paths serve the same purpose.

A sustainable stage
The growth in environmentally aware practices is a global trend, including within the travel industry. This positive development also increases demand for environmentally friendly venues and accommodation. Conventions, meetings and incentive trips have an impact on the environment. Participants frequently travel large distances and use transfers between their accommodation and the venue. This inevitably causes CO2 emissions and consumes vast amounts of paper, water and electricity at hotels and event venues.

Various Berlin providers are aware of these problems and are increasingly offering eco-friendly services, such as switching to recycled paper, eco-electricity and energy saving lamps. The Berlin Convention Office has created a unique website to support their initiatives: Berlin Green Meetings. This site offers a database of the many providers which have implemented ecologically sustainable practices and undertaken to use natural resources responsibly. Users are not only given a detailed overview of the various service providers, but are also furnished with interesting facts about green Berlin; with this move the city of Berlin takes the lead on the global stage.

Since January 2008 Berlin has also boasted the first climate-neutral venue. The Tempodrom, in a central location near Potsdamer Platz, is operated according to a unique holistic ecological concept. The guiding principle is energy efficiency – greenhouse and CO2 emissions are to be avoided from the very outset. From the first days of design and construction of the building, attention focused on the responsible handling of natural resources. The Tempodrom now has a solar and photovoltaic energy system as well as a geothermal heat exchanger, and runs on eco-electricity. Unavoidable emissions are converted and donated to other environmental protection projects.

Environmental events
With 1,500 events every day Berlin has the largest cultural offering in Europe, including a whole series of events dedicated to the environment. The eleventh annual Berlin Energy Days, for example, drew around 6,000 people to the Ludwig Erhard Haus from May 10-12. Hundreds of thousands of Berliners and visitors to the city are expected to flock to this year’s Environment Festival at the Brandenburg Gate. This year for the first time it will be spread over two days, June 5-6. Approximately 200 exhibitors from across Germany will present their products encompassing the entire spectrum of environmental protection and nature conservation on Europe’s biggest ecological theme mile. Die Grune Liga, the organiser of this event, also stages the Advent Ecomarket every year on Kollwitzplatz.

On June 6 the ADFC, the largest bicycle organisation in Europe, will invite sports enthusiasts to switch from their cars to their bicycles for a colossal bike rally. This tour is now a fixture in the capital’s event calendar and is regularly staged in the spring. On 18 routes – starting from outlying towns like Oranienburg, Strausberg and Erkner – cyclists will converge on the Großer Stern in the centre of downtown Berlin.

In Berlin there are more and more fashion labels which produce clothing exclusively from organic materials. Numerous green fashion labels will exhibit their collections from July 7-10 at the ‘thekey.to’ trade fair.

Clean Tech World showcases the latest environmental technologies in a historical setting. The international exhibition and conference will be staged for the first time this year on the site of the old Tempelhof Airport. From September 15-19 around 300 exhibitors will present their innovative products and technologies. The highlight is the presentation of the Clean Tech Media Award 2010 on September 16.

Berlin Convention Office, Am Karlsbad 11, 10785 Berlin; tel +49 30 26 39 183; fax +49 30 26 47 48 965; berlin-convention-office@b-c-o.com; www.berlin-convention-office.com

The Algarve experience

Posted on by Charlotte Gill

The fact that the Algarve has all the advantages you’d expect from one of Europe’s leading conference and incentive destinations will surprise nobody. Easy access from an increasing number of airports across the continent; fantastic weather, especially in the key conference seasons; top quality hotels, excellent meeting venues, and a wide range of activities and incentive ideas, all with professional support services at exceptional value for money: these are par for the course.

But it’s the unusual that makes the Algarve really special. And the many ways there are to see, hear, smell, taste and touch the Algarve are what makes it an outstanding destination.

Come to your senses
From endless beaches to the stunning interior, from Moorish castles to modern marinas, and from local culture to international sporting tournaments, there is always something new and exciting to see. Regular annual events offer the chance to see the world’s top golfers and tennis players in action, thrill at the speed of car, motorcycle and powerboat racing, and watch the past come alive at medieval fairs, carnival parades and historic traditional festivals.

Music fills the air of the Algarve, with jazz and fado to classical, opera, pop and rock concerts scheduled all year round. The line-up of international artists who played in the Algarve last year ranged from Stewart Copeland, Chick Corea and the Buena Vista Social Club to Mariza, Joss Stone, Seal, Diana Krall and James Morrison; more big names are planned for 2010.

And with crisp mountain air, salty breezes from the Atlantic coast and the scent of orange blossom in spring, the air doesn’t get any fresher. Book a jeep safari, hire a yacht or powerboat, fly high in a hot-air balloon, try your hand at water-sports or devise a team-building exercise on land, sea or in the air, and experience the great outdoors in true Algarve style.

Tasting the Algarve is a simple and common pleasure. From traditional rustic fare to all types of international cuisine, from beach bars and country inns to gleaming golf clubhouses and gourmet restaurants, the food in the Algarve is a constant delight. The region offers more Michelin stars than the rest of Portugal put together, and the superb choice of food is perfectly complemented by the best of Portuguese wine, to be enjoyed accompanying a gala dinner, as a sundowner, or on a wine tasting or vineyard tour.

Touching the Algarve means feeling the sand between your toes, the sun on your back, and the wind in your hair. Luxuriate in a sensuous spa treatment, experience the adrenalin rush of a drive around the Formula One race track, or enjoy helicopter and light aircraft flying, catamaran sailing, and karting and quad biking.

Al fresco events
The Algarve has something to offer almost any event organiser. Tired of grey skies and events washed-out by the rain? With over 300 days of sunshine a year, the Algarve enjoys the perfect climate to complement its spectacular coastline, making it an ideal destination in which to plan outdoor activities of all kinds. Feeling land-locked? Events can be organised on the beach itself, or in one of the many seafront locations of the Algarve’s top hotels, trendy bars and ocean-view restaurants. And with over 200km of coastline, a hundred beaches and scores of bays, coves and inlets, there’s plenty of room for everybody.

Bored with the same old hotels? The Algarve has a wide range of accommodation suitable for conferences, incentives and special interest groups, from private villas and apartments to rural tourism complexes, spas and wellness centres, historic pousadas, chic boutique hotels, all-suite developments and luxury resorts, and from international brand names to a range of hotels operated by top Portuguese companies.

Looking for established events to which you can invite guests, or unique corporate hospitality options? The region hosts dozens of concerts, theatre shows and arts performances, as well as top international sporting events such as the Portugal Masters in golf and the Vale de Lobo Grand Champions tennis tournament. This year will also see an extension of the successful Allgarve Festival, which combines music and the arts with gastronomy and sport.

On the fairway
It’s impossible to talk about the Algarve without mentioning golf. It was one of the first things that put the Algarve on the international tourism map, and is the reason why many organisers continue to bring events to the Algarve. The region has more than 30 top-class courses, including some of the most celebrated names in the international game, and a corporate golf day or intra-company tournament is an ideal opportunity for rewarding staff or entertaining valued clients and suppliers. Some of the game’s superstars, including Jack Nicklaus, Arnold Palmer, Nick Faldo and Seve Ballesteros, have all designed courses in the Algarve, and there are often famous faces, golfing and otherwise, out on the greens.

The Algarve also has more than its fair share of show business and non-golfing sporting glamour, and you could easily find yourself rubbing shoulders with celebrities from other walks of life – Lewis Hamilton and Michael Schumacher head the list of Formula One racing drivers who have tried out the new Algarve Race Track, and the likes of Cliff Richard, Hugh Grant, Luis Figo and Cristiano Ronaldo are regular visitors to the region.
Today, with new airline routes serving cities such as Birmingham, Geneva, Milan and Madrid, new hotel openings from Crowne Plaza, Conrad and Six Senses, and new events and activities all planned for 2010, now is certainly the time to visit.

Elia Freitas, MICE Product Manager, Algarve Promotion Bureau; efreitas@atalgarve.pt;
www.algarveconvention.com