Dubai on track to receive 20 million visitors

Sheikh Mohammed affirmed that the UAE has succeeded in placing itself amongst popular tourist destinations on the global map of tourism, walking confidently into the future through launching ambitious developmental initiatives and high quality projects. He also noted that building a robust infrastructure with high capacity and providing quality high-end services to all the visitors of the UAE is an ongoing process that also necessitate keeping up the pace of development to meet the requirements of the global markets, bearing in mind changes that may occur in such requirements so as to preserve the country’s gains and earn more achievements in the tourism sector that is full of opportunities.

 

Sheikh Mohammed stressed on the economic importance of the tourism sector, the hopes the county is pinning on it and the potentials mobilized so as to put the UAE at the forefront of regional and global tourism; essential elements to tourism that have earned Dubai a reputation as a global tourism destination. In fact, the increased number of visitors is strong evidence to this, as Dubai was able to double the number of tourists from only five million yearly to ten million tourists a year during the past eight years. He also said that he firmly believes in Dubai’s ability to reach even a substantial tourist influx in light of the fact that Dubai will shortly witness the implementation of wide new range of projects that will represent new elements of attraction and will open the door to welcoming larger numbers of visitors into the country.

 

Sheikh Mohammed said: “We are aware that such goals are ambitious, but more important than ambition is realizing these goals in reality. We are confident that the Department of Tourism and Commerce Marketing is capable of achieving what it aims for given the previous

accomplishments and the positive results attained”.

 

However, Sheikh Mohammed said, “We need to bear in mind that tourism is a broad service sector that one entity cannot solely be held responsible for its development; therefore, it is important that other government departments and institutions share this responsibility and join in developing this sector in order to strengthen our macroeconomic capabilities. Moreover, we expect the private sector to play a similar role in supporting this goal within the framework of the partnership that we have established decades ago. This partnership between the government and private sectors is a source of our pride and we will do all what it takes to make it a success.”

 

Developed by the Department of Tourism and Commerce Marketing (DTCM) under guidance from Sheikh Mohammed, the Vision sets out how the city will both double its annual visitor numbers from 10 million in 2012 to 20 million in 2020, and increase the economic contribution of the tourism sector. Early estimates from a study currently being conducted indicate that the current economic contribution is in the range of Dh100 billion.

 

Helal Saeed Almarri, Director-General, DTCM, said: “The strategy behind the Dubai Tourism Vision for 2020 will further leverage a sector which has been a central pillar in the city’s economic growth, success and diversification. It is based upon two central tenets: the first being to widen our range of tourism offerings across events, attractions, infrastructure, services and packages and to enhance the overall visitor experience from arrival to departure. The second tenet is to adapt our marketing approach in order to showcase Dubai to a wider audience and grow the conversion rate of awareness to bookings. There are a range of initiatives we will put in place in both of these areas which will work together to attract more visitors to the city and encourage them to stay longer and spend more money during their time with us.

 

“Our role at DTCM is to act as a facilitator of growth, harnessing the collective power of stakeholders in the city and deepening engagement with parties outside of Dubai, so that we deliver the vision.”

 

The target of 20 million visitors will be achieved through meeting a number of objectives. First, maintaining existing market share of the outbound tourism of all source markets: economic and demographic factors will increase the amount of outbound tourists in each market, therefore maintaining Dubai’s existing percentage market share will deliver an up-lift in visitor numbers. Second, increasing awareness and consideration to visit in a number of source markets which DTCM has identified as having significant potential for growth, such as Latin America, China and the emerging economies of Africa. Third, increasing the number of repeat visits, already a significant driver for tourism in the city.

 

Meeting these objectives in addition to driving up the average length of stay (currently at 3.76 days) and increasing the amount of money spent by tourists during their visits will lead to the trebling of the economic contribution that tourism makes to the emirate’s Gross Domestic Product (GDP).

 

To widen the range of tourism offerings, there are three key areas of focus, such as the UAE should be the world’s leading family destination; focus on Dubai as an event destination as well as a business destination.

 

Almarri said: “We see no distinction between the business traveller and the leisure visitor. Today’s conference delegate is tomorrow’s holidaymaker and there are a number of steps we can take to encourage the business traveller to extend their stay or return for leisure trips with friends and family.”