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Dubai Launches Dh50m Tourism Campaign

DUBAI — The Dubai government is betting its hefty Dh50-million tourism campaign is just the needed shot in the arm to lure back tourists to the financial and tourism hub.

The three-month ‘Keep Discovering Dubai’ campaign kicked off on Wednesday in which more than 2,000 frontline travel staff, including 300 media representatives from 50 countries, are expected to arrive from March to April. The guests will be treated to a three-day familiarisation tour of Dubai.

The campaign, spearheaded by flag carrier Emirates Airlines and the Dubai Department of Tourism and Commerce Marketing hopes to bring back tourists whose numbers have been shrinking since the global recession.

“‘Keep Discovering Dubai’ will provide global representatives from the travel trade with a distinctive first-hand experience of Dubai. Tourism is an integral part of Dubai’s economy and we are committed to maintaining the strong visitor figures we have witnessed throughout the last several years,” said Mohammed Khamis bin Hareb, executive director of the Dubai Department of Tourism and Commerce Marketing.

Dubai, whose primary growth drivers include tourism, is feeling the pain of the global economic slowdown. A marked slide in tourists arrivals is also hurting the retail sector.

Previous figures from Dubai’s Department of Tourism and Commerce Marketing show that for the first two quarters of 2008 visitor arrivals from the regional blocks of Europe and Russia fell by 17 per cent and 16 per cent respectively from the previous year, while tourists from the Americas dropped 
26 per cent.

As the worldwide economic meltdown worsened in the last quarter, hotel occupancy rates have also dropped.

“No doubt the slowdown worldwide has affected tourism in Dubai, but I firmly believe there is also a huge untapped market,” said Nabil Sultan, senior vice-president of Emirates Airlines Europe, adding this is the first time the tourism industry is mounting a campaign on such a large scale.

He said that Emirates Airlines has experienced in recent months at least a 3 per cent drop in passenger traffic, but putting that in perspective, “I think Dubai tourism still stands firm and robust. It is still the best destination and the setback is going to be short-lived,” said Sultan.

Sultan said the campaign will cast a net wider than Dubai’s traditional European markets such as France, United Kingdom and Italy. He said the campaign will also be focused on new emerging tourism-rich markets such as Australia and Russia.

Peter Payet, vice-president of Arabian Adventures, one of companies participating in the campaign, said that the local tourism industry hopes to counter-act the barrage of negative news about the emirate and the industry.

“Everytihng about Dubai has been exaggerated, especially the bad news. But the fact is that the tourism trade is still strong. The industry is merely reacting to changes in the market, which is why we are trying to stimulate the market again. In the tourism business, a bit of a downturn makes us react quickly and get business back up on track.”

Olivier Louis, general manager of the One and Only Royal Mirage Hotel said: “Our biggest problem is not recession, but the exchange rate. With the US dollar strengthening against the currencies in our key markets, a lot of hotels here have had to adjust rates 
to reflect this.”

Louis said however, that Dubai is faring better than other top tourist destinations, with premiere beach hotels enjoying an occupancy rate of 80 to 95 per cent.

rocel@khaleejtimes.com