Tag Archives: georgia
DSS brings in hordes of visitors
DSS brings in hordes of visitors Staff Reporter / 29 June 2013 Malls and tourist services in Dubai are reporting customer increases of up to 17 per cent on the same period last year, more than two weeks into one of the city’s major shopping festivals. The month-long Dubai Summer Surprises festival, which will run till July 7 just before the expected start of Ramadan, has seen “tens of thousands” of visitors flood the emirate, organisers said in a Press release. Organisers said they were expecting this year’s festival figures to top those from last year, which featured 4.4 million participants and Dh12.3 billion in sales, based on the strong showing exhibited so far, the release said. “The 16th edition of Dubai Summer Surprises has posted excellent growth in its first two weeks boosted by the arrival of tens of thousands of visitors to Dubai that has led to high occupancy levels at hotels and sharp increases in footfall and sales at over 70 malls and more than 6,000 retail outlets across the city,” organisers said. Meanwhile, Dubai’s malls are reporting positive signs as the festival reaches past the halfway point. Mercato & Town Centre Jumeirah Corporate Communication Manager Nisreen Boustani said there was a 17 per cent in crease in footfall so far this DSS compared with the same period last year, while sales were up 13 per cent. “Thousands of shoppers and visitors have been descending on Mercato to avail themselves of great promotions and prizes that are up for grabs this Dubai Summer Surprises. As a result of all the live entertainment and in-mall promotions, we have noticed an increase in the mall’s footfall as well as in sales during the first half of DSS 2013.” The campaign was an important strategy to keep Dubai recognised as the worldwide tourist destination, she said. Dubai Duty Free executive vice-chairman Colm McLoughlin said his company had also had a high retail turnover in the first half of the festival. “Our sales year to date is up 13 per cent over the same period last year. This is a great indication that successful events such as the Dubai Summer Surprises, which attracts visitors to Dubai, have a positive impact on the retail sector.” Currency exchange Al Fardan Exchange general manager Osama Hamza Al Rahma said the company had registered a 10 per cent increase in transactions during the first two weeks of DSS — “and we expect this momentum to continue until the end of DSS 2013”. With each passing year and successive DSS, Dubai became an increasing global tourist attraction, he said. “All these attractions and activities have had a positive impact on the business of exchange houses. In fact, there is increasing demand for the Emirati dirham from the huge numbers of visitors coming from GCC and European countries.” Hotels were also benefitting from the shopping festival, with visitors, particularly from the GCC region, flooding the emirate this summer. Emirates Grand Hotel administration director Nader Abu El Ezz said the hotel’s occupancy rate had been at 99 per cent since the start of summer, due to various promotions and DSS. The occupancy rate, helped out by many GCC tourists, was a “great” improvement on the same period last year, he said. “Since January due to various occasions and festivities such as Dubai Shopping Festival and the holidays for public schools in the GCC countries, we have had an excellent period in terms of occupancy levels.” DSS 2013, organised by the Dubai Festivals and Retail Establishment, an agency of the Department of Tourism and Commerce Marketing, will feature more than 100 events and activities, as well as numerous shopping offers including promotions and discounts of up to 75 per cent. — news@khaleejtimes.com Continue reading
Cyber security risks on the rise, study reveals
Cyber security risks on the rise, study reveals Issac John / 28 June 2013 Cyber security risks in the UAE are potentially increasing with social media becoming more available within companies, new study reveals. While 65 per cent of IT experts in the UAE believe the region is a prime target for cyber criminals, 63 per cent believe that the number of “successful cyber attacks” will decrease in the next 12 months, the research conducted by Gulf Business Machines (GBM) said. Across the globe, cyber crimes are growing and by 2017, the global cyber security market is expected to skyrocket to $120.1 billion. The estimated annual cost over global cyber crime is $100 billion, latest data reveals. The total global volume of cybercrime in 2011 was $388 billion, and in 2012, consumer cybercrime alone caused losses of $110 billion. In the UAE, experts estimate that three-quarters of Internet users in the country will become victims of cybercrime. Of that figure 75 per cent of the hacking is slated to happen around our bank accounts. And only one out of 10 is estimated to have installed anti-virus software on mobile phones. The GBM survey results reveal that 35 per cent of incidents are staff related, which can be avoided by increasing employee awareness. “ The security landscape in the UAE has continually evolved in recent years, largely due to the increase of cyber crime. The results of the research also highlights that 21 per cent of respondents said their organisations have not been conducting regular proactive screenings to ensure that their IT infrastructure and critical data are protected. Respondents are expressing a false sense of security as the survey shows that 63 per cent of respondents believe that the number of successful attacks will decrease in the next 12 months,” the GBM report said. “Companies are more aware of IT security issues than ever before. Although organizations are showing more interest in pre-emptive measures against possible cyber threats, they are not always taking the appropriate measures,” said Hani Nofal, director of Intelligent Network Solutions (INS) at GBM. “Nearly half of the organizations polled spend up to 10 per cent of their IT budget on security. However, we expect this number to increase in the future,” said Nofal. Similar GBM research conducted last year showed that just over a third of those polled claimed that their organisations’ IT policies completely prohibited access to social networking websites. Today, this number has been cut in half, indicating that more businesses are adopting and embracing social media. “Companies in the region have been exploring social media as a new way of communicating with the public. Enterprises are, therefore, opening their internal networks and allowing access to social media. This is increasing the potential of cyber risks for organizations and making them more vulnerable to cyber security attacks,” said Nofal. A report published in the January issue of 999 Magazine, the official English monthly of the Ministry of Interior, revealed that cyber-attacks had mostly targeted the banking sector, including both the ATM and Internet banking applications, in the UAE. The banking sector topped the list of the most eyed target (35%) while the remaining 65% attacks were launched against the government’s e-services, telecommunication systems, and educational institutions’ systems, according to the report. To address this problem, most of police general headquarters in the UAE have established cybercrime and organisational security units. They also have computer forensics teams that specialise in obtaining, recovering, examining, analysing, and presenting electronic evidence stored on computers or other electronic devices. Cloud computing has also become an ideal target because of its reliability and scalability. In 2012, a new legislation came into force in the UAE codifying the full range of cyber crimes that can be committed and the resulting penalties. The UAE is the first country in the Middle East to implement such a wide-ranging cyber crime law. The law has been introduced in response to increasing levels of cyber crime in the UAE, brought about by rapidly evolving technology and the growth of transactions conducted via the internet. The new law, which builds on the previous 2006 law, is far more comprehensive in its nature and scope. — issacjohn@khaleejtimes.com Continue reading
Obama heads to South Africa with Mandela on his mind
Obama heads to South Africa with Mandela on his mind (Reuters) / 28 June 2013 US President Barack Obama heads to South Africa on Friday hoping to see ailing icon Nelson Mandela, after wrapping up a visit to Senegal that focused on improving food security and promoting democratic institutions. Obama is in the middle of a three-country tour of Africa that the White House hopes will compensate for what some view as years of neglect by the administration of America’s first black president. Before departing Dakar, Obama was scheduled to meet with farmers and local entrepreneurs to discuss new technologies that are helping farmers and their families in West Africa, one of the world’s poorest and most drought-prone regions. But it was Mandela, the 94-year-old former South African president who is clinging to life in a Pretoria hospital, who will dominate the president’s day even before he arrives in Johannesburg. Asked on Thursday whether Obama would be able to pay Mandela a visit, the White House said that was up to the family. “We are going to completely defer to the wishes of the Mandela family and work with the South African government as relates to our visit,” deputy national security adviser Ben Rhodes told reporters in Senegal. “Whatever the Mandela family deems appropriate, that’s what we’re focused on doing in terms of our interaction with them.” Obama sees Mandela, also known as Madiba, as a hero. Whether they are able to meet or not, officials said his trip would serve largely as a tribute to the anti-apartheid leader. “I’ve had the privilege of meeting Madiba and speaking to him. And he’s a personal hero, but I don’t think I’m unique in that regard,” Obama said on Thursday. “If and when he passes from this place, one thing I think we’ll all know is that his legacy is one that will linger on throughout the ages.” The president arrives in South Africa on Friday evening and has no public events scheduled. He could go to the hospital then. Obama is scheduled to visit Robben Island, where Mandela spent years in prison, later during his trip. On Friday morning, Obama will take part in a “Feed the Future” event on food security. That issue, along with anti-corruption measures and trade opportunities for US companies, are topics the White House wants to highlight on Obama’s tour. Obama, who has been in office since 2009, has only visited Africa once in his presidential tenure: a short trip to Ghana at the beginning of his first term. While acknowledging that Obama has not spent as much time in Africa as people hoped, the administration is eager to highlight what it has done, in part to end unflattering comparisons to accomplishments of predecessors George W. Bush and Bill Clinton. Food security and public aid are two of the issues the Obama team believes are success stories. “Africa has seen a steady and consistent increase in our overall resource investment each year that we’ve been in office,” said Raj Shah, head of USAID. “And sustaining that in this political climate has required real trade-offs to be made in other areas, but we’ve done that.” Continue reading
