ISO 9001:2008 CERTIFIED NEWSPAPER 25 January 2014 24 Rabial I 1435 - Volume 18 Number 5955 Price: QR2 ON SATURDAY Gmail down for users around the world SAN FRANCISCO: Google Inc suf- fered a service outage yesterday that briefly took down Gmail, the Internet email service used by hundreds of mil- lions of people and many businesses across the globe. Google, which first acknowledged the outage at 11.12am Pacific Time (19.12 GMT), said roughly one hour later that service had been restored for some users and it expected “a resolution for all users in the near future.” It remained unclear what triggered the outage, which affected users in at least India, Britain and the United States and prompted a stream of complaints on Twitter from users in many more countries. Syrian govt, oppn to discuss aid for Homs GENEVA: The Syrian government and opposition have agreed to discuss over the next two days a possible deal to provide humanitarian access to the besieged city of Homs as part of con- fidence building measures, diplomatic sources said yesterday. In Homs, rebels are surrounded in cen- tral districts by forces loyal to President Bashar Al Assad. “The practical aspects have been worked on, things are ready and if the government doesn’t put a block on it then it could happen quickly.” The two parties are set to begin for- mal talks with international mediator Lakhdar Brahimi today. TRAVEL BOOM See also page 8 Wave of deadly THE ISSUE bombings hits Egypt CAIRO: A car bomb struck Cairo The tour and travel business in overseas and want classy transport arrange- worldwide due to increasing popularity of air- police headquarters Friday, the first of Qatar has been booming with ments in those places,” said the official. line and hotel bookings online. four blasts in Egypt’s capital that killed However, talking generally about the travel According to the report, more than 20,000 six people on the eve of the anniversary operators reporting revenue industry’s growth here, market sources say it travel agencies in the US had closed down Design: Abraham Augusthy of the 2011 uprising. growth in double digits in the is mainly propelled by the rising population. since the 1990s, and their number was now The bombings, all targeting the past few years. The sector’s The sector has seen extraordinary growth 13,000, down from the good old days in 1990s police, came as street clashes between since 2007, when the country’s population was when they totalled 34,000. Islamist supporters of deposed president exact annual revenues are hard less than a million. In 2006, it was even lower, “An increasing number of younger people Mohammed Mursi and backers of the to know as no official figures are at 885,359. are relying on the Internet for airline and military killed 14 people, the latest in available, and market sources The population, fuelled by a heavier influx hotel and tour bookings rather than approach violence that has killed hundreds. of foreign workers for the FIFA 2022 develop- a travel agency,” said the CNN Arabic report. They struck a day before police were refuse to make guesstimates. ment projects, has more than doubled since “Travel agencies worldwide are, thus, facing to deploy across the capital for the third and breached the two million-mark now. the biggest challenge to their survival from anniversary of the Arab Spring uprising rising population and more airlines Travel agencies in Qatar depend largely the Internet.” that unseated autocratic president Hosni operating here with increasing fre- on business from companies that must com- In Qatar, though, the official from the ace Mubarak. quencies can be cited as reasons for pulsorily provide air tickets to their foreign travel agency who spoke to this newspaper See also page 9 A an almost 15 percent yearly growth workers, and their dependents in many cases, on grounds of anonymity about most Qataris in the tour and travel trade’s revenues in the to travel home (and back) during their annual preferring to travel premium class, said the Setback for Britain’s past five to six years. leave. Internet was no threat to travel and tour Some bigger travel agencies privately admit Considering that companies have also operators here EU referendum their year-on-year business growth is even multiplied considerably in number over the “Internet usage for airline, hotel and tour larger, at between 25 and 35 percent. past several years and now total more than bookings is minimal in Qatar,” said the official. LONDON: Britain’s planned 2017 ref- Cash-rich Qataris, according to market 80,000 employing more than a million work- Talking of customer complaints, travel erendum on whether to stay in the sources, constitute the majority (almost 60 ers, travel agencies are bound to thrive, argue agencies say most such grievances pertain European Union was close to collapse percent) of the premium class clientele. Tour market sources. to airlines. yesterday. operators have multiplied manifold in number Some travel agencies have faced payment “We get calls from customers, sometimes A vote in the House of Lords, the upper in the country over the past several years. woes with their client companies and closed from the airport, claiming that they were chamber of parliament, means that a bill An official of a large and popular travel down. Then, there are others that complain being charged extra for luggage. Sometimes proposing the referendum looks likely to agency said, asking not to be named, that of stiff competition in the trade due to the people call us saying they were being heavily run out of time to become law. after the massive salary raise for Qatari industry being overcrowded. But, trade penalised for no-show,” said an official from The original wording of the question in public servants and defence personnel in sources say, generally speaking, the sector is a medium-sized travel agency. the bill was: “Do you think that the United PAGElate 2011, leisure travel6 in premium classes doing fairly well. “As you can yourself see, those are the Kingdom should remain a member of the by Qataris rose enormously. A CNN Arabic report on the global travel problems of airlines, not of our making,” said European Union?” Members of the Lords “Most Qatari premium class travellers trade last November said travel agencies were the official. voted to amend it after determining that insist on bookings in top-class luxury hotels facing formidable challenges to their survival See also page 2 question was misleading. AGENCIES www.thepeninsulaqatar.com [email protected] | [email protected] Editorial: 4455 7741 | Advertising: 4455 7837 / 4455 7780 JANUARY 25, 2014 ON SATURDAY 02 www.thepeninsulaqatar.com Home Travel grows despite problems Increasing population and incomes sustaining the industry BY MOHAMMED SHOEB new airlines (figures include only formal body, which will be working for buying stocks and investing in for such sharp growth, despite stringent conditions and very lim- IATA member airlines) started in close cooperation with all con- other lucrative businesses enjoying many people opting for online ited rescheduling flexibility. DOHA: The road map for devel- flying to Qatar, accounting for cerned authorities, such as Qatar leverage on us,” said Fahad. booking, he said: “A significant “Sometimes the difference oping a vibrant and competitive nearly 20 percent of the 211 new Civil Aviation Authority, Qatar Comparing IATA and non-IATA increase in the frequency of travel in fare or fee charged on date tourism and travel industry in airlines that have entered five of Airways, Qatar Tourism Authority travel agencies, he said: “Non- is one of the important reasons. rescheduling on a promotional Qatar has started taking shape, the six GCC countries (except and QC to address the problems IATA operators are like motorists “Earlier, the majority of people ticket is so high that people pre- following double-digit growth in Saudi Arabia) since 2009, accord- and obstacles faced by the travel without any driver’s licence and used to travel only once a year, but fer to buy a new ticket instead the number of travel agencies ing to figures provided by IATA. industry.” road permit. If they violate rules as a result of high income growth of paying the fee,” said the travel and airlines over the past sev- “We are looking forward to a “We are looking forward to two or meet with accidents, it is dif- and prosperity, people are travel- agent. eral years. year of strong passenger growth important policy reforms: One, ficult to take legal action against ling more frequently, especially the “For us, whenever there is an Massive public spending in of 13 percent, and increasing information about clients with them.” Qataris.” offer we struggle to make a profit preparation for the 2022 Fifa industry profitability to a record poor payment records should be To obtain IATA accreditation, With growth in the size of the because in such cases the base fare World Cup and for realising the QR8.74bn ($2.4bn) for the Middle passed on to all agencies to save travel agencies are required to sat- market, the prices of tickets have is very low. At times it can be as goals laid down in Qatar National East, which is good news for cus- others, and secondly, non-IATA isfy many conditions, such as have gone down substantially over the low as QR300. So if we charge Vision 2030 has created several tomers and the economy of the agencies should be asked to join a valid licence, other legal docu- past several years, enabling a large even seven percent commission hundred thousand jobs, resulting region,” said Hussein Dabbas, IATA with a given time frame or ments, qualified staff and business chunk of people in the lower mid- on QR300, the amount will be too in the influx of a large number of Regional Vice President at IATA quit air booking,” noted Hussain, experience, in addition to main- dle-income group to travel more meagre to work with”, added the foreign workers.