India’s oldest hotel operator has added a second property in Dubai as the emirate attracts rising numbers of tourists from the subcontinent.
The Taj Group opened the 296-room luxury hotel in Dubai Downtown – 14 years after opening its first property in Deira.
It comes as the number of Indian passengers passing through Dubai International Airport rises steadily. In February, 809,129 passengers from India passed through the airport, representing the largest group of passengers by nationality.
“The Indian leisure market has taken off, and that’s certainly a factor but also there are more opportunities for the Indian brands now,” said John Podaras, a Dubai-based partner at the hospitality consultancy Hotel Development Resources. “Expo 2020 is also a factor, and already the Dubai machinery is gearing up for that.”
Rising salaries over the past decade and of disposable income in India have led to an increase in overseas travellers, including those from smaller cities.
The GDP per capita in India was last recorded in 2013 at US$1,165, well up from $740 in 2006.
The UAE is the single largest country for air ticket bookings for outbound travel from India with the online travel agent ClearTrip.com. “We have seen this increase over the last three to four years with the increase in air capacity to the UAE from India,” said Amit Taneja, Clear-Trip’s chief revenue officer. “From the tourism perspective, Dubai is giving Singapore tough competition.”
Dubai is the single largest market for hotel bookings on ClearTrip, followed by Singapore.
Both the Taj and Oberoi, the other grand old hotel company from India, have had mixed success with hotel projects with some earlier announced projects yet to be opened. They include a Palm Jumeirah development for the Taj, and hotels slated for Yas Island and Al Raha Beach for Oberoi.
Oberoi opened in Dubai’s Business Bay in 2013 and plans to open in Ajman this year.
The Mumbai-based property company Hiranandani Group is working on a budget hotel with Accor in Dubai’s Business Bay that is expected to open in 2017. Also based in Mumbai, Suba Group of Hotels opened its first four-star property in Deira last year to tap into the Indian business traveller market. It expects to have a property near Dubai World Central’s Al Maktoum International Airport.
Tourist numbers from India are forecast to grow to 50 million by 2020, having risen from 3.7 million in 1997 to 9.8 million in 2007, according to the United Nations World Tourism Organisation.
Travel agencies such as Thomas Cook have started to offer package holidays from India for as little as 35,000 rupees (Dh2,056) for a five-day tour of Dubai that includes flights, hotels and sightseeing.
India was the second-largest source market for Dubai and the largest for Abu Dhabi last year.
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Juventus 1 (Dybala 45')
Lazio 3 (Alberto 16', Lulic 73', Cataldi 90 4')
Red card: Rodrigo Bentancur (Juventus)
Company profile
Company name: Dharma
Date started: 2018
Founders: Charaf El Mansouri, Nisma Benani, Leah Howe
Based: Abu Dhabi
Sector: TravelTech
Funding stage: Pre-series A
Investors: Convivialite Ventures, BY Partners, Shorooq Partners, L& Ventures, Flat6Labs
Key changes
Commission caps
For life insurance products with a savings component, Peter Hodgins of Clyde & Co said different caps apply to the saving and protection elements:
• For the saving component, a cap of 4.5 per cent of the annualised premium per year (which may not exceed 90 per cent of the annualised premium over the policy term).
• On the protection component, there is a cap of 10 per cent of the annualised premium per year (which may not exceed 160 per cent of the annualised premium over the policy term).
• Indemnity commission, the amount of commission that can be advanced to a product salesperson, can be 50 per cent of the annualised premium for the first year or 50 per cent of the total commissions on the policy calculated.
• The remaining commission after deduction of the indemnity commission is paid equally over the premium payment term.
• For pure protection products, which only offer a life insurance component, the maximum commission will be 10 per cent of the annualised premium multiplied by the length of the policy in years.
Disclosure
Customers must now be provided with a full illustration of the product they are buying to ensure they understand the potential returns on savings products as well as the effects of any charges. There is also a “free-look” period of 30 days, where insurers must provide a full refund if the buyer wishes to cancel the policy.
“The illustration should provide for at least two scenarios to illustrate the performance of the product,” said Mr Hodgins. “All illustrations are required to be signed by the customer.”
Another illustration must outline surrender charges to ensure they understand the costs of exiting a fixed-term product early.
Illustrations must also be kept updatedand insurers must provide information on the top five investment funds available annually, including at least five years' performance data.
“This may be segregated based on the risk appetite of the customer (in which case, the top five funds for each segment must be provided),” said Mr Hodgins.
Product providers must also disclose the ratio of protection benefit to savings benefits. If a protection benefit ratio is less than 10 per cent "the product must carry a warning stating that it has limited or no protection benefit" Mr Hodgins added.
The biog
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The flights
Emirates flies to Delhi with fares starting from around Dh760 return, while Etihad fares cost about Dh783 return. From Delhi, there are connecting flights to Lucknow.
Where to stay
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Company profile
Name: Infinite8
Based: Dubai
Launch year: 2017
Number of employees: 90
Sector: Online gaming industry
Funding: $1.2m from a UAE angel investor