A recent study has shown that the number of UK tourists choosing to visit Tunisia has doubled. Figures for July 2012 show an increase of 50.7% on the same period for 2011. More than 180,000 tourists from the UK have chosen to take luxury holidays in Tunisia so far in 2012. One of the reasons for this is that tourists now have more options available to them when it comes to visiting Tunisia. There has been an increase in travel routes, more luxury hotels opening, and a number of new attractions in the region.

The Shamwari Game Reserve can be found in the Eastern Cape of South Africa, close to the popular tourist destination of Port Elizabeth, and the work that is being done there has just been rewarded with a total of six nominations in the World Travel Awards.

The Palais Namaskar is one of the top luxury hotels in Morocco and has just announced that it is to launch a new programme based on yoga. A yoga specialist, Perumal Koshy, will run this programme. The aim is to create a whole new holiday experience for guests at the hotel. Koshy was born in India and has been teaching yoga since the age of 12. He has developed his own yoga system, which is known as Dynamic Progressive Fusion Yoga.

The Four Seasons luxury hotels are to expand to include properties in Africa and luxury safaris. While in the past the brand has played safe with city locations, the future is looking a little more exotic. Four Seasons is to take over the Bilila Lodge resort. This is located within the Serengeti National Park and it will be upgraded and re-launched in time for autumn this year. This is located in Tanzania and the National Park has been officially listed as a UNESCO World Heritage Site.

The Sofitel group of luxury hotels has just signed a management contract with the owners of a hotel in the Ivory Coast (Abidjan). The Hotel Ivoire will serve to strengthen the presence of the group in the region and will join other properties that have already been acquired by the brand, including the Sofitel Jardin des Roses in the Moroccan city of Rabat. The hotel group will take over the management of the brand by the end of the year following a changeover period.

Those who are taking luxury holidays at the Savute Elephant Camp and the Khwai River Lodge in Botswana will now find it even easier to keep an eye on the animals that they have come to observe with the addition of sliding glass doors on their thatched tents. The resorts are owned by Orient Express and they are fairly small in size.

Cape Town is filled with luxury hotels and some of these are award-winning establishments. Travel & Leisure magazine has just undertaken a survey to pick out some of the top hotels and holiday providers around the world, and the Victoria & Alfred Hotel has made the list of the top 15 luxury hotels in Africa and the Middle East, hitting the list at number four.

Two of South Africa’s top luxury hotels have opted to enlist the services of Hamilton Public Relations in order to promote the facilities and luxury holidays. The hotels in question are the Steenberg, which is in Constantia Valley in Cape Town, and the Fancourt, which is on the ‘Garden Route’. South Africa is becoming very popular as a luxury destination and many hospitality companies are investing there in order to attract more tourists to the country.

One of the top luxury destinations in South Africa is to become part of the Hilton Worldwide brand. The Pezula Resort & Spa will now come under the brand following the development of a new management agreement. The resort is expected to move to the new brand towards the end of this year.

The Palais Namaskar has opened in Marrakech. This new addition to the city’s luxury hotels is part of the Leading Hotels of the World group and the design has managed to blend the traditional features with contemporary ones to provide the finest luxury surroundings for all guests.

The Morgan group of luxury hotels is to open two new properties in the Moroccan city of Marrakech. One of these is to be under the Delano brand and will have 73 rooms, and the other will be a Mondrian property. The Delano will open later this year, while the Mondrian’s opening has been scheduled for the end of 2013.

The Kempinski group of luxury hotels has plans to expand during 2012. The group will open property in a number of countries in Africa and there are plans for even more in the future. The group is actually based in Geneva, but will be expanding into Angola, Ghana and Kenya. Kenya in particular is seen as one of the main gateways to the sub-Saharan area of the continent. Future hotels are to be opened in Zambia, Zimbabwe, South Africa and the Democratic Republic of Congo.

Guests who are staying at some of the world’s luxury hotels will soon be able to take advantage of a new family package, as Sofitel has launched the Magnifique Family package. Nearly 90 luxury hotels are taking part in the package and it means that families taking luxury holidays in locations as diverse as Cairo and London are able to enjoy a great holiday.

The Sofitel group of luxury hotels is launching a new property in Agadir, Morocco. The Sofitel group is French-based and the new property is a spa hotel. The new property is to be named the Sofitel Agadir Thalassa Sea & Spa, and it will be the second property for the group in that particular area. The first is the Sofitel Agadir Royal Bay resort.

The Okoume Palace Hotel in Libreville, Gabon has come under the management of the world-famous Rezidor group of luxury hotels. The group is considered to be one of the fastest growing hospitality companies in the world and it has declared that it is delighted with the new acquisition.

It seems that in some areas luxury hotels are simply not enough. There is a growing trend for fashion hotels which offer glamorous surroundings that was formerly only reserved for celebrities. The luxury touches which are offered by these hotels include presidential suites that have everything a person could dream of, from a personal chef to a private cinema. The Italian branded hotels are the leaders in this trend, ensuring that guests have access to a lifestyle experience with designer touches.

Lonrho is to open a new five star hotel at Masa Centre in Gaborone. The developers have negotiated a 15-year lease. This will be the second five star hotel in the region, with the Peermont Grand Palm Hotel being the other. The hotel will open with the brand name of the Lansmore Hotel; the original plans were for it to be a Holiday Inn brand, but this deal did not come to fruition.

The Raffles Makkah Palace has been named as the World’s Leading Luxury All Suite Hotel at the World Travel Awards, which were held in Doha. The awards are decided by travel professionals who are working in the industry; more than 200,000 voted for the various categories.

The Fairmont Hotels & Resorts group of luxury hotels has announced that it is to open a new hotel in Jordan. It will be the Fairmont Amman and the expected opening date will be 2014. The hotel is to be located right in the heart of the city and will be just a 30-minute journey from the airport. This will be close to the embassy district as well as convenient for the business districts in the city.

For anyone who is looking for luxury holiday deals then there is no better place to begin than a hotel that is winning awards for excellence and high standards. The JW Marriot Hotel Cairo has proven itself again to be head and shoulders above the rest in the hospitality industry. 2011 has been a big year for awards for the JW Marriott Hotel Cairo as it is the second year in a row it has been awarded the Best Business Hotel Award from Business Traveller magazine.

El Gouna is a luxury holiday resort in Egypt, located on the edge of the Egyptian desert and on the Red Sea. Billionaire Samih Sawiris developed the resort around a house and boat jetty that he built for himself. Since then it has gone on to become one of the leading luxury destinations in North Africa, attracting the wealthy from all over the world.

Luxury hotels group Premier Hotels of the World has announced that it is adding the Premier Collection to its brands. This will be a group of 50 hotels that are in different luxury destinations around the world, each of which has been chosen because it is unique and offers not only impeccable service but also because guests can expect a unique luxury holiday in each of the collection’s hotels.

Malindi is one of Kenya’s most popular luxury destinations and offers everything from luxury hotels to some of the cleanest beaches. It is particularly popular with Italian tourists and is ideal for night owls, as the entertainment venues do not really get into their stride until around midnight. There are resorts for one-off holidaymakers and those who want a luxury second home for holidays.

The luxury hotels group Qatar National Hotels Company is to convert a palace in Tangier into a five star luxury hotel. This hotel will have around 120 rooms and the project is expected to cost QNH around $55 million. The hotel will boast all the facilities required for luxury holidays, including VIP villas, a royal villa, a spa offering a wide range of holistic and beauty treatments, a fully equipped fitness centre, and a business and conference centre.

Luxury holidays come in all shapes and sizes, and a popular option at the moment is the safari holiday. Many of the safari companies did struggle during the recession but now that recovery is in place, they are beginning to see customer numbers rising.

The Sofitel Luxury Hotels group has just reopened the Old Cataract hotel located in Aswan, Egypt. The hotel has been closed for three years for renovation. The hotel is well known for having inspired Agatha Christie to write one of her most famous books, Death on the Nile.

Four Seasons Resort Sharm El Sheikh has been named the Leading Luxury Resort in Africa at the World Travel Awards. The prizes given at this awards ceremony are prestigious and can help to cement the reputation of luxury hotels and resorts as the place to visit. The Four Seasons resort is one of the most popular in Africa and shows that tourism in Egypt is flourishing even after the recent political troubles.

Egypt has managed to recover from recent political unrest in time to secure a number of awards in the African regional section of the World Travel Awards. Naturally tourism in Egypt dropped dramatically after the revolution, but a number of awards were given to the country in a ceremony that took place last week in the capital city of Cairo.

Luxury holidays provide travellers with an additional measure of pleasure, style and comfort. Travelling can be demanding and anything going amiss can drain away the sense of excitement and fun. Therefore, preparation is extremely important when you are planning your luxury holiday.

According to research, UK travellers enjoy safari, wildlife and adventure holidays. Many people who attend conferences in Africa, especially South Africa, find themselves extending their visit so that they can take a safari and enjoy the wildlife. Africa is a continent that is popular for its attractions and for having all of the wild animals within their natural environment. This has resulted in an abundance of UK tourists.