Tag Archives: Dubai Tourism

Dubai’s Department of Tourism and Commerce Marketing (Dubai Tourism), in collaboration with Celebrity Cruises, commemorated the inaugural visit to Dubai of Celebrity Constellation during her maiden voyage in the region. Marking the occasion at a welcome reception, held at Dubai Cruise Terminal in Mina Rashid were Jamal Humaid Al Falasi, Director of Dubai Cruise Tourism, Mohammed Al Mannaei, Director of Mina Rashid, DP World and Lakshmi Durai, CEO of Travel Matrix, the Middle East representative for Celebrity Cruises. Attended by dignitaries from Dubai Immigration, Dubai Customs, Dubai Police, Environment Health and Safety (Trakhees) and PCFC Security, the arrival of Celebrity Constellation commenced with a traditional Plaques and Keys ceremony held aboard the luxury cruise liner, in which an honorary plaque was exchanged between government dignitaries and the ship’s captain. Event attendees were then invited on a tour of the 13-deck-high vessel, to experience the entertainment, culinary and wellness offerings available on board. Celebrity Constellation is the latest premium cruise ship to visit Dubai. The 91,000-tonne, 294-metre-long vessel features extensive family amenities, with some of the most expansive children’s facilities in the Celebrity fleet. The luxury liner is set to sail two nine-night cruises within the UAE and Oman, as well as longer trips from the UAE that follow the ancient Spice Route to the Indian cities of Cochin, Mangalore, Goa and Mumbai, before returning to home port in the UAE. The ship is scheduled to have four overnight and six day calls to Dubai between 29 November 2016 and 16 April 2017, contributing over 15,000 cruise tourists towards the record number of 600,000 expected to visit Dubai in the 2016/2017 cruise season. These projected numbers follow the 19% season-on-season increase …

Dubai’s Department of Tourism and Commerce Marketing (Dubai Tourism) highlighted its new initiatives aimed at further enhancing the overall visitor experience and boosting green tourism practices, as part of the activities that are being held during UAE Innovation Week from November 20-26. Dubai Tourism has set up an exhibition stand at BOXPARK, the offbeat outdoor destination by Meraas that is showcasing a new version of the Dubai Calendar App, two exciting concepts developed under the Dubai Sustainable Tourism Initiative, and information on the Dubai Expert training programme. The annual UAE Innovation Week was launched in 2015 by His Highness, Sheikh Mohammed Bin Rashid Al Maktoum, UAE Vice President and Prime Minister, and Ruler of Dubai to help create and sustain a culture of innovation in the UAE and help position the country as a global hub for innovation. Dubai Tourism is one of the government entities that are organising activities to celebrate Innovation Week in each emirate. Open daily from 3-9pm, the free-to-attend outdoor exhibition at BOXPARK features an upgraded Dubai Calendar App, a digital smart hub that is being displayed on an interactive screen designed as a mobile phone frame and offering visitors the opportunity to view all upcoming events in Dubai, buy tickets and make seat reservations through just one click. There are also video screens on site, highlighting Dubai Calendar activities. Visitors to the Dubai Tourism stand at BOXPARK can also learn about the Hospitality Sustainability Board Game and the Carbon Calculator, two concepts developed under the Dubai Sustainable Tourism Initiative. Workshops will be held daily during the exhibition to allow representatives from the hotel industry to play the Board Game, an educational tool that was created …

Dubai’s Department of Tourism and Commerce Marketing (Dubai Tourism) hosted the Hospitality Sustainability Board Game, the inaugural activity of the Dubai Sustainable Tourism Initiative. Created specifically for the hotel industry, the game, held recently at Media One Hotel, engaged industry professionals from across the city, as they gained insight into Dubai’s commitment to adopting sustainable practices and their role in achieving the goals. Designed by Dubai Tourism in collaboration with Emirates Wildlife Society-WWF, Royal International and Insignia, the game was created as an educational tool for Dubai’s world-class hospitality industry to contribute towards the city’s goal of sustainability. Participants at the event included staff across all aspects of hotel operations, who worked in teams of 2-3 people to measure consumption baselines and identify opportunities to reduce consumption. Speaking at the event, Solaiman Alrifai, Senior Manager, Tourism Development, Dubai Tourism, said that Dubai’s hospitality industry, which recently crossed the 100,000 room threshold, has been a cornerstone of the city’s economy. As they look forward to capacity expansion and increased visitor volumes in the lead-up to 2020 and beyond, it is paramount to implement measures for this industry to reduce consumption and conserve resources. Raising awareness of conservation practices is a key pillar of the Dubai Sustainable Tourism Initiative, making this game a very significant step towards creating ä clear understanding of how powerful hospitality employees are in bringing about change.

Dubai’s Department of Tourism & Commerce Marketing (Dubai Tourism) and Airbnb, the community-driven hospitality company, have signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) to help promote responsible hosting and help grow and diversify tourism in the emirate. It follows the introduction of enhanced regulations last month that make obtaining a ‘holiday home’ license more streamlined for individual tenants and homeowners who want to rent their homes to guests.The MoU will bolster collaboration between the two parties and help enhance and diversify the emirate’s holiday home sector, boosting competition through a safe and transparent holiday home segment. Under the agreement, Airbnb will cooperate with Dubai Tourism on preventing breaches of the regulation by informing all host members of the Dubai Tourism regulations via its website and through email reminders of the rules. The two parties will also explore joint marketing and promotional activations for Dubai as a tourism destination. The MoU agreement states Dubai Tourism and Airbnb will work together to help grow and diversify tourism in Dubai, and promote innovative forms of tourism; Airbnb will raise awareness on the positive impacts of the Airbnb community by sharing aggregated, anonymised data about short term rental hosts; Airbnb will help promote responsible sharing of holiday homes by creating a “Hosting Page” on its platform, informing hosts of the rules and linking to official information and Airbnb will send regular reminders to its hosts in Dubai to remind them of the rules around responsible home sharing Airbnb is an increasingly popular way for guests from around the world to experience Dubai by staying with local hosts. There are almost 3,500 Airbnb listings in Dubai. This number and the number of guests choosing Airbnb when …

Dubai’s Department of Tourism and Commerce Marketing (D TCM) unveiled new Desert Tour & Camp Regulations aimed at further elevating the popular Dubai desert experience to best-in-class standards.  As part of the initiative, Dubai Tourism has established quality benchmarks for all desert tour operators, including those managing outdoor, cultural and hospitality activities. Operators will be evaluated on a number of categories including, visitor experience, health and safety, insurance coverage, marketing and advertising as well as transport and logistics. The new Regulations will also focus on the implementation of environmentally sustainable practices. By empowering operators to improve their services and provide detailed information on the activities included in their packages, Dubai Tourism aims to position the Dubai desert tour industry as a safe, authentic and dynamic extension of the destination experience. The new Regulations will come into effect in three months’ time giving the industry a sufficient window to adopt the standards.