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Below are excerpts from an interview with the Director General of the Government of Dubai’s Department of Tourism and Commerce Marketing, Mr. Khalid A. Bin
Sulayem.
Q) How have the events on the 11th of September affected the tourism business in Dubai?
· The events on September 11th have affected the tourism industry worldwide, however, Dubai has been very proactive in turning around the circumstances to a large degree by going ahead with our commitments as planned.
· While the international tourism industry generally employed a “wait and see” approach - we led the way forward in supporting the local and international travel trade.
· The result is that Dubai’s hotel establishment guests have grown by more than 6.04% to cross the 3.6 million mark in 2001. The guest nights have grown by almost 4% to over 9.1 million along with a fair growth in the number of operating hotel establishments.
Q) What measures did Dubai take in support of the industry following September 11th?
· We continued with our integrated marketing campaign with targeted promotions in key markets and stepped up
· marketing activity, thereby sustaining the momentum of growth.
· We have undertaken a series of promotions since September 11th to boost confidence in our key tourism origin markets across Europe and the AGCC targeting the travel trade as well as the consumer.
· A major initiative we undertook was the development and promotion of an exceptional Christmas Shopping Package designed to appeal to a worldwide audience just before the festive season.
· Another strategic initiative in support of the local tourism industry in Dubai titled the ‘Taste of Dubai’ was launched and executed targeting 1,500 international travel agents - who were given the opportunity to savor the Dubai experience between January 20th and February 28th.
Q) In real financial terms what was the revenue earned by the hotel establishments in 2001?
· Dubai’s hotel establishments earned in excess of AED 3.2 billion (US$ 874 million) during 2001 registering a growth of 7.5% over the previous year.
Q) So is the tourism industry in Dubai back on track?
· Indeed we are back on track and hotel establishment guests for the first quarter of 2002 have gone up by a phenomenal 24% in 2002 to reach 1.2 million as compared to 2001.
· What is even more encouraging is the fact that the number of operating establishments has increased substantially by 7% to reach 403 in 2002.
Q) What does the future hold for Dubai’s tourism industry?
· Dubai is already well established as the leading tourist destination in the region and has what it takes to become increasingly popular and be counted among the world’s top international tourist destinations.
· The major infrastructure developments taking place in Dubai such as The Palm, Dubai Marina, Dubai Festival City, Dubai International Convention Centre and a series of private sector investments will ensure that we are well placed to meet the demands of the future.
· The DTCM, in the meanwhile, along with its international network of overseas offices will do everything it takes to expand Dubai’s share further. |
