Local hotelier Jumeirah Group is taking over management of a beach resort in China, the group's fourth management deal in the country.

The Watergate Hotel, part of the complex made famous by a US presidential scandal, has failed to attract any bids at auction and has been taken back by the lender that holds the $40 million note on it.

Airline invited more than 20 agents for four-day familiarisation trip.

The number of tourists in the last two months has declined by 7.7 per cent compared with the same period in 2008, higher than the two per cent decline predicted by the WTO for 2009.

The Watergate Hotel, the faded jewel in the Washington complex that brought down President Richard Nixon, is to go under the auctioneer's hammer Tuesday.

Etihad Guest, the loyalty programme of Etihad Airways, has announced that Australian hotel group Rendezvous Hotels and Resorts International (RHI) will be its new hotel partner.

Residents avoid travel to the US and Europe but other destinations help offset losses.

Abu Dhabi is eyeing a 59 per cent growth in cruise passenger arrivals in the 2009/2010 season. Forecasts by the Abu Dhabi Tourism Authority (ADTA), which manages and the emirate’s tourism industry and promotes the destination, point to some 199,113 arrivals in the season, which will run from the end of November to the beginning of May, compared to a passenger arrivals total of 125,200 last season.

Domestic tourism is likely to rise this summer, with local and regional experts predicting that around 31 per cent of UAE residents will spend their summer in the country.

ADTA multi-million-dirham investment aims to make summer event the biggest yet.