About Highway New Time

Highway New Time Tourism L.L.C is a Dubai-licensed tour operator (Trakhees licence 1237379, outbound and inbound) and a subsidiary of the High Way Travel & Tourism group. Within the group we are the company that takes travellers from the UAE and the wider Gulf to China: private holidays, school and university study tours, and business trips built around trade fairs and company visits. Our itineraries are planned for Muslim travellers from the start, with halal meals, prayer-friendly hotels and guides who speak Chinese, English and Arabic.

Part of a Dubai travel group founded in 2010

High Way Travel & Tourism L.L.C was established in Dubai on 1 May 2010 and became a member of IATA in 2011. It began as a ticketing office with four staff and has grown into a destination management company with reservation, contract, media, finance, HR and IT departments. The group reports around 550 employees across 18 subsidiaries and approximately 100,000 guests handled each year.

• 2010 – Company and air-ticketing department founded in Dubai
• 2011 – IATA membership
• 2012 – Own coach fleet and desert-safari vehicle fleet
• 2013 – Media department and in-house booking system; trade magazine Overseas Travel launched
• 2016 – Co-hosted the MEET CHINA Tourism Summit
• 2017 – Chinese-language tour-guide training programme run with the Dubai tourism authority
• Highway New Time set up as the group's China-facing subsidiary; licensed under Trakhees, Dubai

What Highway New Time does

Our brief inside the group is to bring its service standards and supplier network to travel between the Gulf and China. We specialise in three lines of business: private and group tourism in China, study tours with Chinese universities and research institutions, and exhibition and business travel. Our stated mission is to promote cultural exchange between China and the Arab world by helping Muslim travellers see China first-hand. The company is led by its founder and general manager, Liu Jian.

Built for Muslim travellers

Every itinerary is designed around the needs of Muslim guests rather than adapted afterwards. We book hotels that suit Muslim living habits, arrange halal-compliant meals throughout the trip, and can add prayer arrangements or religious observances to the schedule on request. Cultural activities such as calligraphy, paper-cutting and tea ceremony are offered alongside the classic sights of the Great Wall, the Forbidden City and the Terracotta Army.

• Halal-compliant catering on every day of the trip
• Hotels selected for Muslim guests (prayer facilities, halal food)
• Muslim tour guides familiar with both Chinese culture and Islamic customs
• Tailored itineraries by preference, time and budget

Our team

Highway New Time is run by a general manager, six full-time tour operators and a pool of around 50 licensed guides, including Arabic-speaking guides who accompany our Gulf groups, and a dedicated Arabic–Chinese translation team. A planning team designs each tourism, study-tour or exhibition programme to the client's brief, and our customer-service line is staffed 24 hours a day while your group is travelling.

• Operations team: 6 full-time operators
• Guide team: Arabic-speaking guides on every Gulf programme; Chinese and English guides
• Translation team: Arabic and Chinese
• Customer service: 24-hour support during travel

Where we take you in China

Our current programmes cover Beijing and Xi'an, Shanghai and the Yangtze Delta (Hangzhou, Suzhou, Zhejiang), Guangzhou, Yunnan and Harbin, with ground partners also in Jiangxi and Chongqing. Each destination is handled with a local partner that quotes and operates to a fixed standard, so pricing and itineraries stay consistent from one group to the next.

Working with UAE travel agencies

Since the second half of 2025 we have visited more than 100 travel agencies in the UAE and now hold standing quotations with 21 partner agencies, most of which book with us regularly. In 2026 we are extending this network to Abu Dhabi and neighbouring Gulf countries, with study tours and corporate travel as the priority. If you are an agency looking for a China ground handler that understands Gulf clients, see our page for travel agencies or write to us.

Group assets behind every trip

The wider group operates its own transport and hospitality businesses in the UAE, which is the same operating model we apply in China through our partner network.

• Transport: coach and desert-safari fleets; Bastaki International Transport (Dubai); WAYGO Bus Rental (Abu Dhabi); INDEX vehicle fleet, maintenance and parts
• Desert Express camp: 6,000 sq m desert camp with 40 off-road vehicles and 30 desert motorcycles (est. 2018)
• Wahat Al Maraa restaurant: Chinese group-dining restaurant at Al Boom Tourist Village, Dubai (opened 2018)
• Heritage Home Guest House: traditional Arabian-furnished guesthouse in old Dubai, near the metro, museums and souks
• Bastakiya Heritage art centre: restored Arabian villa selling carpets, handicrafts and traditional goods

Recognition received by the group

The following awards were presented to the parent company, High Way Travel & Tourism, by airline, hotel and attraction partners:

• 2011 Dusit Thani – Best Partner; Atlantis The Palm – Best Partner
• 2012 Atlantis – Contribution Award; Air China – Silver Award
• 2013 Radisson Blu – Best Partner
• 2014 Ferrari World – Best Partner; Radisson Blu – Best Partner
• 2015 Ferrari World – Best Partner and Gold Sales Award; Travelport – Best Partner; Yutong – Best Contribution
• 2016 Sichuan Airlines – Best Sales; Millennium Hotels – Best Partner; Aloft – Best Partner; Yas Island – Best Partner, China & East Asia; Yas Viceroy – First-Class Sales Award
• 2017 Sichuan Airlines – Best Sales of the Year; Thai Airways – Special Support Award (40th anniversary, Dubai); Yas Waterworld – Best Sales, China market; Phoenix Holidays – Outstanding Partner
• 2018 China Southern Airlines – Best Partner; Wild Wadi Waterpark – Letter of Appreciation