Announced today is Dubai’s latest hospitality venture - The Out of this World Hotel. A hospitality experience which is being billed as the latest space craze from Dubai, The Out of this World Hotel offers guests the amazing opportunity to sleep among the stars.

In this edition of TravelTalk focus is on the MICE market in the Middle East with Phil Blizzard talking to Ali Abu Monassar, chairman of the Dubai-based destination management company The Vision Arabia. He talks about the state of the MICE sector post the global economic crisis, what the Middle East, and in particular the UAE, can offer to MICE guests and the resurgence of the countries involved in the Arab Spring.

The 2014 edition of the Gulf Incentive, Business Travel & Meetings show at the Abu Dhabi National Exhibition Centre has closed with over 74 first-time participants attending the show. These included delegations from Kazakhstan, Russia, Morocco, South Africa and South Korea, all of whom launched exhibitions at the this exciting business to business event.

JA Resorts & Hotels - the Dubai-based international hospitality company - has announced the acquisition of a high-end all inclusive resort soon to launch in the Maldives. JA Manafaru, located in the Northern Haa Alifu Atoll of the Maldives, will present couples and families a high-end holiday offering all year round - and marks the second international property in the company’s robust longer term global expansion strategy.

Phil Blizzard here speaks with Alain St. Ange, minister for tourism & culture, Republic of the Seychelles, about the island’s tourism growth in 2013, the importance of ITB Berlin and the German tourism market, along with their development plans for 2014 and the introduction of a new master plan.

Serviced apartments are becoming a credible alternative to the world’s finest hotels, attested by the arrival of a striking new collection of 97 serviced and 62 extended stay luxurious apartments, Cheval Three Quays; which opened on March 10th next to the Tower of London alongside the River Thames.