Tag Archives: Dubai Tourism

Dubai’s Department of Tourism and Commerce Marketing (Dubai Tourism) hosted its inaugural Dubai China Conference on September 19-20 at Atlantis The Palm, Dubai. The two-day event, which welcomed over 900 attendees, featured integrated workshops and informative guest speakers offering valuable insights from both Chinese and local industry experts. With panel discussions strongly attended throughout the event, guests were invited to deep dive into Dubai’s China-readiness strategy, along with  engaging into presentations led by industry partners. Breakout periods were also built into the two-day schedule to allow industry players to share knowledge during networking opportunities alongside partners such as Huawei, Ctrip and Tencent. There was also a series of engaging workshops hosted by Mafwengo, Fliggy and Alipay enabling attendees to meet the teams for discussing further potential collaborations, as well as Meituan and DaZhongDianPing which delved into the digital cooperation trends in Dubai. With exponential growth in overnight visitors from China, the event offered a clear indication of the market’s rising prominence as one of Dubai’s fastest growing source markets, after closing the first eight months of 2018 with a record 578,000 visitors – a growth of nine per cent over the same period in 2017. While demand from Chinese travellers is increasing at a quicker rate than capacity, visitation growth is supported by a 9.5 per cent increase in air capacity over the last five years, and increasingly competitive ticket pricing. Furthermore, the percentage of those on China-Dubai flights who stay in Dubai has increased by 29.2 per cent highlighting the increase in demand for elongated stopovers for Chinese tourists.

Dubai welcomed a record 8.10 million international overnight tourists during the first six months of 2018, representing a consistent increase on the same period last year. Figures released by Dubai’s Department of Tourism and Commerce Marketing (Dubai Tourism) have confirmed the continued success of the emirate’s tourism sector. A destination of choice for a number of global markets, Dubai is on track for projected growth into the second half of 2018. Top source markets continued to witness stable year-on-year performances in the first half of 2018, with India, KSA and the UK retaining their top three positions when compared to the same period last year. India again brought in the highest number of international guests, once again crossing the 1-million-mark over a six-month period, up by 3 per cent year-on-year. KSA and the UK retained their spots as the second and third largest feeder markets respectively, with the former rallying to a slight increase and remaining as the highest traffic driver from the GCC region. His Excellency Helal Saeed Almarri, Director General, Dubai Tourism, commented, “The first six months of 2018 have both generated and sustained a steady performance, supporting strong growth across our global feeder markets. Attracting 8.10 million visitors during the first half of 2018 stands us in good stead as we accelerate momentum towards our visionary aspiration of becoming the most visited city in the world.”

Dubai’s Department of Tourism and Commerce Marketing (Dubai Tourism) recently hosted an immersive workshop to provide hotels with a refreshing outlook of its innovative Sustainability Board Game and encourage hospitality stakeholders to enrol their properties in the Carbon Calculator, to further enhance Dubai’s position as the world’s leading sustainable tourism destination. The Board Game and Carbon Calculator have been created specifically for the hotel industry and serve as integral awareness tools used by the Dubai Sustainable Tourism (DST) initiative, launched by Dubai Tourism to support and encourage hotels to actively drive sustainable tourism practices, efficiently manage their resources and reduce the collective carbon footprint of Dubai’s tourism industry. 74 hospitality professionals from 51 hotels attended the workshop in addition to representatives from Dubai Municipality who presented the Dubai Lamp, the world’s most energy efficient lamp designed by Philips Lighting and Dubai Municipality. The industry event held at Zabeel House by Jumeirah, Al Seef was hosted by Tourism Development & Investments at Dubai Tourism. Yousuf Lootah, Executive Director – Tourism Development & Investments, Dubai Tourism, explained the mechanics of the Board Game and highlighted DST’s Carbon Calculator programme, emphasising the ways in which private sector collaborations can be key to achieving the wider objectives of DST and further raise awareness of adopting eco-friendly practices in hotels across Dubai.” Ahmad Saeed Al Badwawi, Director of Applied Sustainability and Renewable Energy Department, Dubai Municipality, said, “The applied sustainability and renewable energy department at Dubai Municipality participated with Dubai Sustainable Tourism by presenting “Dubai Lamp” the most efficient lamp in the world.”

Dubai’s Department of Tourism and Commerce Marketing (Dubai Tourism) has developed an interactive training programme led by prominent industry experts to help ensure Dubai’s resilient hospitality sector continues to maintain global price competitiveness. The Revenue Management Workshop programme will bring together hotel revenue managers, reservation managers, sales and marketing managers for a hands-on and practical session, to share fundamental best practices in yield management and forecasting, in addition to monitoring applications and tools. The programme spread across 24 workshop sessions, facilitated in partnership with InsightsOut, specialises in both research and revenue management across the hospitality and service industry. With the aim of training 600 professionals, each session has been designed to host a maximum of 25 participants in a personalised and immersive learning environment. Trainees will be educated on key aspects of revenue management including data analysis, optimising demand and evaluating industry standards to set best possible pricing strategies. H E Helal Saeed Almarri, Director General, Dubai Tourism said, “With hospitality roles quickly evolving to meet the needs of a fast-paced industry, understanding revenue management tools and how to apply the concepts to manage inventory and rates remain key to designing effective strategies to thrive in prevalent market conditions. Such training programmes are therefore crucial as we look to further empower Dubai’s hotel industry professionals to play a larger role in contributing to the city’s thriving tourism landscape and ultimately drive better revenue.”

In its first biannual city briefing event of the year, Dubai’s Department of Tourism and Commerce Marketing (Dubai Tourism) highlighted its strategic framework, activities and campaigns in line with the Tourism Vision for 2020. Hosted for hotel establishments, destination management companies, event organisers, tourism attractions and government departments, the event was held at the Conrad Dubai with approximately 1,000 attendees. Keynote speeches at the latest briefing led by His Excellency Helal Saeed Almarri, Director-General, Dubai Tourism, provided valuable insights into the growth drivers behind Dubai’s record year-to-date international visitation, providing stakeholders with an in-depth analysis of the city’s visitor demographics and visitor satisfaction results from the annual Dubai Visitor Survey. Key successes and learnings from international marketing and business campaigns were also discussed. In addition, these keynotes covered the significance of Dubai’s robust calendar of retail and festival events spearheaded by Dubai Festivals and Retail Establishment (DFRE), and Dubai College of Tourism’s first-of-its-kind multi-disciplinary educational platform for the region. Both of these are key elements of the future outlook for tourism in Dubai and set to transform the city’s fast-evolving industry and the overall visitor experience. Another keynote was delivered by Manal Al Bayat, Senior Vice President – Business Development and Integration at Expo 2020 Dubai, who provided crucial insights into what can be expected in the lead up to the event and the legacy it will leave behind.

Dubai’s annual citywide summer celebration, Dubai Summer Surprises (DSS) is set to return to the city from June 22-August 4, 2018, offering a six-week extravaganza of sales, retail experiences and events. Organised by the Dubai Festivals and Retail Establishment (DFRE), an agency of the Department of Tourism and Commerce Marketing (Dubai Tourism), the 21st edition of the popular summer event will feature a line-up of spectacular sales, retail experiences, chances to win and weekly performances to keep the family entertained this summer. Ahmed Al Khaja, CEO, DFRE said, “Dubai Summer Surprises is one of the most popular events on Dubai tourism’s retail calendar, and we are excited to announce this year’s dates. Together with our partners across the emirate, we are putting the final touches to a jam-packed, six-week schedule of sales, retail promotions and events that we know will make Dubai the ultimate summer destination.  We encourage residents to stick around for the summer and experience the full line-up of not-to-be-missed surprises we have in-store!” The highlights of this year’s DSS include a mega Opening Day 12 Hour Sale, a daily Deal of the Day (DOTD) offer, weekly Weekend Destination surprises and the Final Weekend Sale.

Tencent has signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with Dubai’s Department of Tourism and Commerce Marketing (Dubai Tourism) to jointly enhance Dubai’s reputation as a sought-after destination and spearhead smart tourism along the route of the Belt and Road Initiative. Poshu Yeung, Vice President,Tencent International Business Group (IBG), and Issam Kazim, CEO, Dubai Corporation Tourism and Commerce Marketing (DCTCM), signed the MoU as a continued commitment to promoting Dubai tourism. Making use of Tencent’s expertise in Chinese consumer engagement and Dubai Tourism’s influence and network in Dubai, the partnership aims to foster the development of the tourism industry in Dubai through elevating Dubai Tourism’s marketing outreach efforts to China consumers, enhancing Chinese visitors’ travel experience in Dubai with Tencent’s leading digital platforms in China as well as deepening local merchants’ understanding of Chinese travelers’ consumption behavior via WeChat user insights. With more than 1.04 billion monthly active users as of Q1 2018, WeChat and Weixin offer an excellent integrated platform to raise brand awareness among Chinese travelers. Tencent IBG’s “Social Ad Solutions” will enable Dubai Tourism to optimize the return on media investments and reach out to the key target audience segments. Tencent also provides support to other stakeholders in formulating in-market solutions that are customized to fit specific brand objectives.

Dubai’s Department of Tourism and Commerce Marketing (Dubai Tourism) has signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with Fliggy, the online travel service platform of Alibaba Group. Aimed to boost the number of Chinese tourists visiting Dubai, the MoU was signed by Issam Kazim, CEO, Dubai Corporation for Tourism and Commerce Marketing (DCTCM) and Jerry Hu, VP, Fliggy and Alibaba Group, as part of a broader long-term alliance discussion at the Alibaba headquarters in Hangzhou in China. The MoU entails among other aspects, collaboration between the partners to deliver an enhanced travel experience for Chinese visitors to the emirate by providing easy access to Dubai’s travel products and information, initiating a payment scheme, etc. In addition, Dubai Tourism would continuously maintain and update the ‘Dubai Destination Mall’ page on Fliggy, providing a comprehensive overview of the city’s tourism proposition to the broad customer base that Fliggy delivers. As a major online travel platform in China, Fliggy is a strategic travel partner for Dubai Tourism within China, allowing Dubai’s entire travel and tourism ecosystem to set up and operate their own ‘shop’ on the Fliggy virtual marketplace. Additionally, being extremely popular amongst the younger generation of Chinese tourists, Fliggy is an even more relevant partner for Dubai as there is a clear priority to build a strong base within this segment as potential visitors to the city.

The Dubai Maritime City Authority (DMCA) supported by the Department of Tourism and Commerce Marketing (Dubai Tourism)  has organised a workshop for key government entities, yacht operators and manufacturers as part of wider efforts to develop Dubai’s maritime industry. The workshop was held following the announcement of the economic stimulus by His Highness Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, the Vice President and Prime Minister of UAE and Ruler of Dubai to reinforce Dubai’s economy. This important sector has significant potential to grow by expanding into the lucrative luxury yachts sector plus ensuring leisure maritime pursuits are easier to enjoy with the overall aim to further broaden Dubai’s tourism offering. With the global yacht industry expected to reach $74.7 billion by 20221, driven by luxury cruising among high net worth individuals, Dubai aims to be well-placed to ensure maritime regulations and infrastructure match the demanding expectations of this significant sector. Already the world’s fourth most visited city2, Dubai’s existing tourism proposition is hugely attractive for global visitors and is perfectly positioned to capture an increasing share of the high-end superyacht market. The leisure maritime sector is also expected to continue on an upward curve due to an easing of regulations encouraging recreational boating activities. Local stakeholders have highlighted a number of challenges that are being addressed to facilitate easier access and drive increased visitation from maritime enthusiasts who seek sea based experiences.

Dubai’s Department of Tourism and Commerce Marketing (Dubai Tourism) has launched Dubai Pass for visitors to enjoy the city’s range of attractions, experiences and tours. It is an all-inclusive pre-paid card, grants cash-free access to 33 key events and venues across Dubai, making it the perfect way for tourists to explore the city’s world-class destination proposition. It will be available to redeem from May 16, 2018. Starting at AED399, the pass offers ‘Select’ and ‘Unlimited’ packages, with a specially-curated list of popular attractions and experiences. These include Burj Khalifa, Dubai Parks and Resorts, IMG Worlds of Adventure, Wild Wadi Waterpark, Ski Dubai, Desert Safari Tours, and many more. With every purchase, visitors will also receive a 50% discount on tickets to La Perle – the city’s one-of-a-kind live entertainment show with acrobatics and aerial stunts – by simply presenting their Dubai Pass when buying a ticket to the show. The ‘Select’ package is priced at AED399. It allows card users to enjoy a range of attractions – one from each of the three-tiered attraction pools. The pass is valid over seven consecutive days, beginning with the first day of use. Meanwhile, the unlimited package is available for AED899. Users can choose unlimited events and activities, and the pass is valid for three days. The year-round Dubai Pass has been introduced following the success of previous seasonal DSS and DSF passes. It will provide a streamlined way for people to experience Dubai, save money and make the most of their trip with family and friends.