São Paulo – It all started with a blog. Soraya Chiah, a Brazilian of Lebanese ascent, moved to Dubai, the United Arab Emirates, and decided to write about the city online. High demand for information on Dubai ultimately drove her to establish GED Travel, an agency in Brazil that takes Brazilians to the UAE and mostly assists them with getting visas.
GED Travel is based in Curitiba, the capital of Paraná state, and has specialized in visa assistance. Presently, travellers need a sponsor, such as the hotel they are staying in, in order to get an entry permit. According to Chiah, the visa can also be obtained from local airlines Emirates and Etihad, for people travelling with them, but if a tourist is flying into the UAE with another airline, they can seek assistance from companies like GED Travel.
This is the market GED Travel thrives in. The agency is partners with a tour operator in the UAE, which acts as the sponsor. Chiah explains that although her company is headquartered in Paraná, it serves people from all over Brazil and even foreigners from countries like Portugal and Angola. Most of GED Travel’s customers are leisure travellers. “A portion of them travel on business,” she says.
GED Travel doesn’t sell airline tickets, but it does sell bookings at hotels and itineraries. Chiah explains that in the UAE, Brazilians usually want to know the modern-day Dubai and the ancient, traditional one. “People want everything good Dubai has to offer, the luxury and glamour, the way it is now and the way it was before,” she explains.
GED Travel’s itineraries often include landmarks of Dubai, such as the gold and spice markets and picture-taking stops with the Burj Al Arab Hotel in the background (a restaurant reservation is required in order to enter the hotel), in addition to a desert tour. Burj Al Arab is one of Dubai’s most luxurious hotels and is shaped as a sail. However, leisure options are tailored to each group or tourist’s tastes, according to Chiah. The tour guide service is offered in Portuguese.
Soraya Chiah runs the company with her sister and partner Nesrin Chiah. They chose Curitiba to set up GED because they were born in the city. Soraya moved to the UAE due to family issues. Before that, in Curitiba, she worked as an entrepreneur and ran a newspaper for the Arab community in Paraná.
The blog is named Guia em Dubai (www.guiaemdubai.com), went online in 2010 and the agency was established last year. Prior to GED Travel, the Brazilian woman worked as a freelance tour guide in Dubai. Strong visitation to her blog led her to realize how much Brazilians required information about the city.
GED Travel
Telephone: +55 (41) 3057-9700 or +55 (41) 9289-9007
Email: guia@guiaemdubai.com
Site: www.guiaemdubai.com
*Translated by Gabriel Pomerancblum
