DUBAI, May 10 (Xinhua) -- Although geopolitical tensions have been increased in recent months in the Middle East region, decision makers of air carriers and holiday resorts took bold steps to expand their business.
Earlier on Wednesday, United Arab Emirates (UAE) international carrier Emirates Airline presented its annual results for 2017-2018, reporting its annual profit was 124 percent better than the previous fiscal year.
The airline added that for 2018-2019, it would add new routes to London, Santiago, Edinburgh, and an additional flight between Dubai and Auckland via Bali.
Low-cost airline Ai Arabia reported an eight percent year-on-year profit increase and added three new routes from its hubs in the UAE and Egypt in the first quarter of 2018.
Emirates Airline also keeps an eye on costs amid a rising price of oil, after U.S. Donald Trump announced his government would pull out of the Iran nuclear deal.
"While expanding our business and growing revenues, we also tightened our cost discipline. Across the Group, we progressed various initiatives to rebuild and streamline our back office operations with new technology, systems and processes," said Sheikh Ahmed bin Saeed Al Maktoum, Chairman of Emirates Airline.
Meanwhile in Dubai, the renowned Jumeirah Beach Hotel with 618 rooms will undergo a major refurbishment which started this month "with interior works are scheduled to finish by October 2018," according to Jumeirah's website.
In Bahrain, at the first Gateway Gulf Investor Forum on Wednesday, Bahrain's sovereign wealth fund Mumtalakat and Jumeirah Group, a firm controlled by state-owned Dubai Holding, launched the 250 million U.S. dollar five-star Al Sahel Resort on the kingdom's southwest coast.
Also at the forum, aired on Gulf Arab television channels, Klaus Kleinfeld, CEO of Saudi Arabia's 500 billion U.S. dollar mega project Neom, said "the project has almost the size of Belgium. It is located at Saudi Arabia's northwest coast and already has hotels. It will have more resorts at the end of this summer."
Saudi Arabia revealed earlier in April, when the kingdom started to issue tourist visas, it will add 84 new hotels this year to its portfolio.
Bahrain's national carrier Gulf Air also aims to add eight new routes in 2018, according to Gulf Air CEO Kresimir Kucko who spoke at the Gateway Gulf forum.
