The Ras Al Khaimah Tourism Development Authority has been quick to move the emirate out from the shadow of Dubai, emphasising a more natural, sustainable form of tourism. Here Breaking Travel News talks with chief executive Haitham Mattar about his achievements to date and what the future might hold.

Ras Al Khaimah has reaffirmed its position as the UAE’s fastest growing tourism destination for international travellers following increased year-on-year visitor numbers during the first quarter of 2017.

Ras Al Khaimah is celebrating further success this year as the emirate welcomes the results of its first visitor satisfaction survey, revealing that the majority of visitors to the region’s fastest growing destination were very satisfied, or satisfied, with their holiday in Ras Al Khaimah.

Mahmoud Mokhtar, country manager, Hilton Hotels, Ras Al Khaimah, speaks to Breaking Travel News about the portfolio of property’s he oversees in this rapidly developing emirate.

Jannah Hotels & Resorts is preparing to expand in Ras Al Khaimah, with a new property opening on February 1st. As the company looks to tap into the undersupplied market in the emirate, the Abu Dhabi-based hotel operator expects to open the 100 hotel apartment and 24 villa Jannah Resort & Villas in just under two weeks.

A trio of contenders in the inaugural Ras Al Khaimah 2016 Golf Challenge experienced ‘High Tee’ with a difference, as they scaled the towering Jebel Jais, the UAE’s highest mountain, before firing a series of blistering drives into the rocky caverns of the lunar-like landscape of the Al Hajar mountains. Sweden’s Joel Sjöholm, Dutchman Jurrian Van der Vaart and Monaco’s Sandro Piaget were a couple of hundred metres short of Jebel Jais’s 1,934 metre peak for the elevated tee box specially created by Ras Al Khaimah’s Tourism Development Authority.