A villa at Six Senses Zil Pasyon in the Seychelles. Courtesy Six Senses
A villa at Six Senses Zil Pasyon in the Seychelles. Courtesy Six Senses

Travel news: Seychelles welcomes the Six Senses and more

Plus: Qatar starts route to Namibian capital; Slide into new resort in the Maldives; Be Intrepid with cycling trips; Generator gets revved up in Rome.

Rosemary Behan

06 October, 2016

Qatar starts route to Namibian capital

Qatar Airways has launched a new direct route from Doha to Windhoek, the capital of Namibia. The south-west African country is an emerging tourist destination, with locations such as the Skeleton Coast proving popular with more-adventurous visitors. The flight time from Doha is nine hours and tickets cost from 3,030 Qatari rials (Dh3,056). For more information, visit www.qatarairways.com.

Slide into new resort in the Maldives

The luxury hotel group Soneva has opened its third property in the Maldives: Soneva Jani. The 24 over-water villa resort is on Medhufaru, a 60-hectare island cluster in Noonu Atoll, towards the northern end of the country that's a 35-minute seaplane trip from the capital, Malé. Special features include retractable roofs, an outdoor cinema and slides from the top deck of some of the villas straight into the ocean. Villas cost from US$3,449 (Dh12,669) per night, including taxes. For more information, visit www.soneva.com.

Be Intrepid with cycling trips

The tour company Intrepid Travel has launched 14 new cycling trips, and is offering 20 per cent off new bookings made by November 7. The trips, to locations including Thailand, Myanmar, Morocco, Japan and South Africa, last between seven and 15 days. They cost from $1,295 (Dh4,757) per person, including accommodation, some meals and all internal transport, but excluding international flights. For more information, visit www.intrepidtravel.com.

Generator gets revved up in Rome

The budget design hotel group Generator Hostels has opened a 73-room property in the Italian capital, with smart, stylish rooms from €78 (Dh322) per night, including taxes. The hotel is situated close to the city's main train station on Via Principe Amedeo. For more information, visit www.generatorhostels.com.

Seychelles welcomes the Six Senses

The Six Senses hotel group has opened an exclusive new property in the Seychelles. The 30-villa Six Senses Zil Pasyon is on the small private island of Felicite, east of Praslin and La Digue, a 20-minute helicopter ride or about 100 kilometres north-east of Seychelles International Airport on the main island of Mahé. Its Six Senses Spa will open in January, but until then, a temporary spa is available. Rooms cost from €1,200 (Dh4,946) per night, including breakfast, tax and service charge. For more information, visit www.sixsenses.com.

rbehan@thenational.ae

The five pillars of Islam

1. Fasting

2. Prayer

3. Hajj

4. Shahada

5. Zakat

The view from The National
THE SWIMMERS

Director: Sally El-Hosaini

Stars: Nathalie Issa, Manal Issa, Ahmed Malek and Ali Suliman 

Rating: 4/5

Traits of Chinese zodiac animals

Tiger:independent, successful, volatile
Rat:witty, creative, charming
Ox:diligent, perseverent, conservative
Rabbit:gracious, considerate, sensitive
Dragon:prosperous, brave, rash
Snake:calm, thoughtful, stubborn
Horse:faithful, energetic, carefree
Sheep:easy-going, peacemaker, curious
Monkey:family-orientated, clever, playful
Rooster:honest, confident, pompous
Dog:loyal, kind, perfectionist
Boar:loving, tolerant, indulgent  

Sunday:
GP3 race: 12:10pm
Formula 2 race: 1:35pm
Formula 1 race: 5:10pm
Performance: Guns N' Roses

More on animal trafficking
While you're here
While you're here
2020 Oscars winners: in numbers
  • Parasite – 4
  • 1917– 3
  • Ford v Ferrari – 2
  • Joker – 2
  • Once Upon a Time ... in Hollywood – 2
  • American Factory – 1
  • Bombshell – 1
  • Hair Love – 1
  • Jojo Rabbit – 1
  • Judy – 1
  • Little Women – 1
  • Learning to Skateboard in a Warzone (If You're a Girl) – 1
  • Marriage Story – 1
  • Rocketman – 1
  • The Neighbors' Window – 1
  • Toy Story 4 – 1
Company Profile

Company name: Hoopla
Date started: March 2023
Founder: Jacqueline Perrottet
Based: Dubai
Number of staff: 10
Investment stage: Pre-seed
Investment required: $500,000

Mercer, the investment consulting arm of US services company Marsh & McLennan, expects its wealth division to at least double its assets under management (AUM) in the Middle East as wealth in the region continues to grow despite economic headwinds, a company official said.

Mercer Wealth, which globally has $160 billion in AUM, plans to boost its AUM in the region to $2-$3bn in the next 2-3 years from the present $1bn, said Yasir AbuShaban, a Dubai-based principal with Mercer Wealth.

“Within the next two to three years, we are looking at reaching $2 to $3 billion as a conservative estimate and we do see an opportunity to do so,” said Mr AbuShaban.

Mercer does not directly make investments, but allocates clients’ money they have discretion to, to professional asset managers. They also provide advice to clients.

“We have buying power. We can negotiate on their (client’s) behalf with asset managers to provide them lower fees than they otherwise would have to get on their own,” he added.

Mercer Wealth’s clients include sovereign wealth funds, family offices, and insurance companies among others.

From its office in Dubai, Mercer also looks after Africa, India and Turkey, where they also see opportunity for growth.

Wealth creation in Middle East and Africa (MEA) grew 8.5 per cent to $8.1 trillion last year from $7.5tn in 2015, higher than last year’s global average of 6 per cent and the second-highest growth in a region after Asia-Pacific which grew 9.9 per cent, according to consultancy Boston Consulting Group (BCG). In the region, where wealth grew just 1.9 per cent in 2015 compared with 2014, a pickup in oil prices has helped in wealth generation.

BCG is forecasting MEA wealth will rise to $12tn by 2021, growing at an annual average of 8 per cent.

Drivers of wealth generation in the region will be split evenly between new wealth creation and growth of performance of existing assets, according to BCG.

Another general trend in the region is clients’ looking for a comprehensive approach to investing, according to Mr AbuShaban.

“Institutional investors or some of the families are seeing a slowdown in the available capital they have to invest and in that sense they are looking at optimizing the way they manage their portfolios and making sure they are not investing haphazardly and different parts of their investment are working together,” said Mr AbuShaban.

Some clients also have a higher appetite for risk, given the low interest-rate environment that does not provide enough yield for some institutional investors. These clients are keen to invest in illiquid assets, such as private equity and infrastructure.

“What we have seen is a desire for higher returns in what has been a low-return environment specifically in various fixed income or bonds,” he said.

“In this environment, we have seen a de facto increase in the risk that clients are taking in things like illiquid investments, private equity investments, infrastructure and private debt, those kind of investments were higher illiquidity results in incrementally higher returns.”

The Abu Dhabi Investment Authority, one of the largest sovereign wealth funds, said in its 2016 report that has gradually increased its exposure in direct private equity and private credit transactions, mainly in Asian markets and especially in China and India. The authority’s private equity department focused on structured equities owing to “their defensive characteristics.”

Zayed Sustainability Prize
A QUIET PLACE

Starring: Lupita Nyong'o, Joseph Quinn, Djimon Hounsou

Director: Michael Sarnoski

Rating: 4/5

‘FSO Safer’ - a ticking bomb

The Safer has been moored off the Yemeni coast of Ras Issa since 1988.
The Houthis have been blockading UN efforts to inspect and maintain the vessel since 2015, when the war between the group and the Yemen government, backed by the Saudi-led coalition began.
Since then, a handful of people acting as a skeleton crew, have performed rudimentary maintenance work to keep the Safer intact.
The Safer is connected to a pipeline from the oil-rich city of Marib, and was once a hub for the storage and export of crude oil.

The Safer’s environmental and humanitarian impact may extend well beyond Yemen, experts believe, into the surrounding waters of Saudi Arabia, Djibouti and Eritrea, impacting marine-life and vital infrastructure like desalination plans and fishing ports. 

Globalization and its Discontents Revisited
Joseph E. Stiglitz
W. W. Norton & Company

COMPANY PROFILE

Company name: Klipit

Started: 2022

Founders: Venkat Reddy, Mohammed Al Bulooki, Bilal Merchant, Asif Ahmed, Ovais Merchant

Based: Dubai, UAE

Industry: Digital receipts, finance, blockchain

Funding: $4 million

Investors: Privately/self-funded