It may be up for sale, but that hasn’t dampened spirits at Virgin Atlantic, with the airline confirming a recruitment drive today. In total Virgin Atlantic – recognised by the World Travel Awards as offering the World’s Leading Airline Business Class – hopes to create 350 cabin crew roles and 50 pilot posts, with a further 50 jobs added at head office.

While thousands of visitors thronged through the gates of ITB Berlin, Johannesburg Tourism Company was taking a more relaxed approach, hosting an invitation only event at the South African embassy. Guests were treated to presentations from leading members of the organisation, including JTC chief executive Lindiwe Kwele, as the destination recounted the successes of 2010 and look forward to the coming year.

World Travel Awards has today unveiled the regional nominees for the 2011 awards at ITB Berlin. Over 5,000 organisations from across 160 countries will be competing in over 900 categories, with the nominees of the World categories to be announced at the end of September.

Dubai has reported a strong surge in interest as the United Arab Emirate continues to recover from the global economic slump. Releasing its latest figures earlier, Dubai Tourism & Commerce Marketing confirmed destination had hosted 8.3 million international guests in 2010, a 9.4 per cent increase over 2009.

A resurgent cruise industry has lifted the Caribbean’s travel and tourism industry back to pre-recessionary levels, according to the latest statistics from the CTO. St Lucia, which was voted “World’s Leading Honeymoon Destination” at the 2010 World Travel Awards, registered a double-digit growth in arrivals.

European and North American airlines are falling behind due to unions, poorly-located hubs and outdated infrastructure, according to James Hogan, the chief executive of Etihad Airways. He made the remarks in response to British Airways, Chief Executive, Willie Walsh who said European export credit agencies are unfairly subsiding the growth of Middle Eastern carriers.