Category Archives: Govt

This year, Dubai Tourism has provided alternate higher education options for high school leavers, who dont wish to take the traditional academic route to university. The newly inaugurated Dubai College of Tourism, a government-backed institution that will specialise in vocational training for the Emirate’s thriving tourism and hospitality sectors, is now accepting applications for its September 2017 ‘Introduction to the Tourism Industry’ course. The vocational courses offered by DCT have been designed to provide a middle ground between on-the-job training and a purely theoretical degree. Students will learn practical and marketable skills that have a direct application in real life, and the training will open new doors, allowing students to explore a myriad of exciting and rewarding career opportunities. DCT’s courses are focused around five core faculties – Tourism, Events, Hospitality, Retail and Culinary Arts – and aims to help young people learn various trade and soft skills from established professionals in the industry. The college aims to educate and empower the future leaders, entrepreneurs and employees of Dubai’s expanding tourism industry, ensuring a steady pipeline of highly trained hospitality professionals for the city. Until now, there have been very limited options for this type of vocational training within Dubai. According to a 2014 Deloitte study, only one to three percent of Dubai’s students enrol in vocational education after high school, something which could lead to labour shortages within key industries in the future. With Dubai’s tourism and hospitality sectors set to employ a workforce of more than half a million by 2020, the dedicated industry-focused vocational training offered by DCT, has never been more important.

Hotels and desert camps in Dubai have just one more month to enter the 2017 Dubai Sustainable Tourism Awards. Part of the Dubai Sustainable Tourism (DST) initiative, the awards will recognise hotels and individuals who are adopting tangible measures to contribute to enhanced sustainability within the Emirate’s tourism sector. Establishments can enter the awards via the Dubai Sustainable Tourism website; nominations will close on September 14 and winners will be announced at a ceremony in mid-November. Inaugurated this year, the Dubai Sustainable Tourism Awards feature 20 categories; 13 main awards targeted towards different types of hospitality establishment, and seven special awards that recognise individuals who are true champions of sustainability. Winners of the seven special awards will be leaders and teams who truly embody the sustainability principles of DST, and who have inspired remarkable changes within their organisations. The awards criteria have been designed to meet the challenges outlined in Dubai’s Carbon Abatement Strategy; issued by the Dubai Supreme Council of Energy, this commits to reducing carbon emissions by 16 per cent by 2021. The awards also support the UAE’s Green Growth Strategy that aims to build an economic system that has sustainability at its core. These initiatives in turn, are in line with Dubai Plan 2021 and Dubai Integrated Energy Strategy 2030. The deadline for hotels to enter the Dubai Sustainable Tourism Awards is September 14. This will be followed by an evaluation process and approval by the final DST committee to select the winners. Adjudication of the awards will cover both strategic and operational initiatives, which will be benchmarked against standards set by highly qualified subject matter experts representing various entities. This process will be supervised by a …

Dubai Business Events (DBE), the city’s official convention bureau, has reported strong results for the first half of 2017, with 97 bids submitted to host business events being successfully awarded to the city. There are 97 more that have been submitted and the city is awaiting verdict on them. Key wins include: Baby Care Annual Incentive (2018), World Conference on Desalination and Water Re-Use (2019) and Congress of the International Association for Child and Adolescent Psychiatry and Allied Professions (2022). DBE has also ramped up efforts to highlight the city’s business events offering to international audiences. DBE representatives have attended over 50 trade events in the first half of the year, interacting with over 4500 business event buyers and planners. The bureau has also facilitated a total of 16 site inspections with 38 clients and hosted 144 buyers from around the world as part of four in-depth Dubai study missions. Steen Jakobsen, Director, DBE, said, “We’ve had a stellar start to the year, and are well on our way to achieving our targets set for 2017. As we continue to work towards further strengthening Dubai’s reputation of being a premier host destination for business events, we have a steady pipeline of initiatives planned for the year ahead. We are also focusing on expanding our network and reach globally, enabling businesses, event buyers and planners to benefit from our expertise.”

The CEO of Ras Al Khaimah Tourism Development Authority (RAKTDA), Haitham Mattar, has been appointed as the Middle East representative for the United Nations World Tourism Organisation affiliate members board. Mattar has also been named a full-time advisory board member of the Global Thinkers Forum (GTF), an international platform that brings together a diverse network of thought leaders to share their vision for the future, create meaningful conversations around them and effect positive change in the world. “While I am personally humbled by these dual board member appointments, my strategic objective now is to leverage them to raise the profile of Ras Al Khaimah and highlight our sustainable tourism work and progress initiatives that we are championing to influence global audiences. These board appointments will increase our collective capacity to underline our tremendous destination performance across all tourism and hospitality products, as well as highlight the abundant investment and partnership opportunities available in the emirate,” he added.

A record total of 8.06 million international overnight tourists arrived in Dubai during the first six months of 2017, reflecting a stellar 10.6 per cent increase over the same period last year. Figures released by Dubai’s Department of Tourism and Commerce Marketing (DTCM) affirm the foundational strength and sustained acceleration of the emirate’s tourism sector, as it stayed the course of its impressive growth trajectory from January this year, underscoring the expanding appeal of Dubai as a global tourism destination of choice. Most of Dubai’s top 20 inbound visitor source markets saw positive or near-stable year-on-year performances in H1 2017, with five of the top 10 delivering double-digit growth. India continued to top the list of traffic generators and for the first time crossed the 1 million mark in a six-month period, with 1,051,000 Indians visiting the city between January and June. Saudi Arabia and the UK retained their spots as the second and third largest feeder markets respectively, with the latter delivering reliable volumes, backed by a solid 4 per cent year-on-year growth.

The Jeju Island Tourism Organisation, South Korea has revealed a 20 per cent increase in the number of UAE tourists that have visited South Korea’s Jeju Island during the first half of 2017. The figures were presented in a special promotional event held recently at the JW Marriott Marquis in Dubai. The event was aimed at further promoting the increasing popularity of Jeju Island to a potential UAE and Middle East market. Jeju Island, the largest island off the coast of the Korean Peninsula, has become a top destination for tourists visiting the country, primarily because of its natural World Heritage Site, Jeju Volcanic Island, and Lava Tubes. Other top attractions in the island include Mount Halla, the Cheonjeyeon Waterfalls, Hallim Park, Yakcheonsa Temple, Manjanggul and the Jeju Stone Statue Park. Jeju is also rich in beautiful beaches and posh countryside and seaside hotels & resorts.

Sharjah Commerce and Tourism Development Authority (SCTDA) has launched ‘Sharjah Summer’, a two-month campaign aiming to drive entertainment, leisure, retail and tourism sales, underpinned by discounts of up to 50 per cent. It is the emirate’s first summer campaign that integrates offers from airlines, hotels, government institutions, travel agencies, shopping centres and other private sector companies. So far, about 30 public and private sector organisations have joined the campaign, which offers visitors entertainment, special hotel packages, retail promotions, and much more. Although the hot summer months are typically less busy for the Gulf’s inbound travel and tourism sector, SCTDA expects ‘Sharjah Summer’ to appeal strongly to the regional markets as families often consider inbound holiday plans during the shorter breaks in the summer. Last summer, Sharjah International Airport saw a 13 per cent increase in the number of passengers in July, August and September, in comparison to the same quarter the previous year. Both the airport and Sharjah-headquartered budget airline Air Arabia are taking part in this year’s summer campaign.

Ras Al Khaimah Tourism Development Authority (RAKTDA), which develops the emirate’s tourism infrastructure and initiates its domestic and overseas promotions, has revealed Ras Al Khaimah’s hotels have reported a 10 per cent year-on-year increase in international guest arrivals during the first six months of the year. Also, the average hotel occupancy in H1 saw a 4.7 per cent year-on-year increase in comparison to the corresponding six-month period in 2016, jumping to 72.7 per cent. With RAK targeting 900,000 visitor arrivals during 2017, it has already recorded 390,499 guest arrivals between January and June, which is a year-on-year increase of 6.5 per cent in comparison to H1 arrivals last year. Haitham Mattar, CEO of RAKTDA, says, “While our excellent H1 results highlight continued year-on-year growth in Ras Al Khaimah’s visitor numbers, it is the Ramadan and June results that are particularly promising,” said Mattar. “Our best-ever figures during these typically lower periods of occupancy are a direct result of strategic initiatives and promotional activities undertaken in domestic and international source markets.” The successful Ramadan and June figures follow RAKTDA launching a dedicated summer campaign called ‘Feel Free this Summer’ in April to leverage the emirate as an ideal summer holiday destination on the global platform.

Owing to the continuously increasing number of women travellers in the kingdom, the Tourism Authority of Thailand (TAT) is bringing back its Women’s Journey Thailand campaign in August, with a vast spectrum of activities, special deals, discounts and privileges, especially for the female tourists, for one whole month. Srisuda Wanapinyosak, TAT Deputy Governor for International Marketing – Asia and the South Pacific, says, “Today, women have become the decision makers and quite powerful, with high spending power. They expect and deserve optimum luxury and variety in holiday products and services. Thailand can prove to be the perfect destination for each of these holiday elements. This is why we have brought back the Women’s Journey Thailand campaign as it is a platform to showcase our woman-centric holiday products and services of unparalleled quality and variety, at unbelievable prices.” Some of the highlights of this season of Women’s Journey Thailand campaign include the Lady Golf Challenge, Lady Celebrities to Thailand, Thailand through Her Eyes, Lady in Thai Fabrics and Lady Bloggers.

The Dubai Festivals and Retail Establishment (DFRE), an agency of the Department of Tourism and Commerce Marketing (Dubai Tourism), is gearing up to usher in the 10th edition of the “Eid in Dubai” celebrations with a diverse line-up of events designed to offer families, residents and visitors many memorable moments during the upcoming Eid Al Fitr. This year’s ‘Eid in Dubai – Eid Al Fitr’ celebrations promise to be as exciting as it can get with a range of events and activities for everyone to enjoy including concerts by Arab stars, family oriented events hosted by malls and Modhesh World, one of the most popular indoor edutainment destinations in the region. To celebrate the 10th edition, ‘Eid in Dubai’ will also have plenty of surprises and prizes for Eid shoppers including a six week sale from July 1 to August 12 by Dubai Summer Surprises, the ‘Shop, Spin & Win’ promotion run by the Dubai Shopping Malls Group, with the support of DFRE, and offering AED 250,000 in instant prizes. Saeed Mohammad Measam Al Falasi, Executive Director, Retail and Strategic Alliances, DFRE, said, “As an annual celebration that unites people from different nationalities from across Dubai, there is a great deal of anticipation surrounding Eid in Dubai events. In celebrating a decade of success, this year we want to ensure that everyone in the emirate feels the joy of Eid, in keeping with the true spirit of the slogan of Eid in Dubai – ‘United in Celebration’.”