As part of its 2012’s marketing strategy to boost the overall number of Indian travelers to Dubai, the Department of Tourism and Commerce Marketing (DTCM), conducted tourism workshops to network with the Indian travel industry covering the cities of Mumbai, Hyderabad, New Delhi and Ahmedabad.
The workshops targeted over 1,000 Indian trade professionals comprising major travel and tour operators, wedding planners and up-market leisure operators across India.
The aim of the marketing and promotional initiative was to provide updated information on Dubai, both from DTCM and its co-participating hoteliers, tourist attractions and destination management companies.
The delegation included an official from the General Directorate of Residency and Foreigners Affairs – Dubai who are responsible for the issuance of visas.
The DTCM representatives from Dubai and India focused on presenting Dubai in a new light, highlighting its new marketing strategies for India that focuses on niche segments such as student groups, senior citizens, sporting enthusiasts, heritage and culture enthusiasts, up-market leisure travelers and the lucrative wedding segment. Through this initiative Dubai’s position was reinforced as a year round destination providing varied tourism product offerings that offer comfort, quality at affordable pricing.
Mr. Saleh Al Geziry, DTCM Director of Overseas Promotions and Inward Missions, who led the delegation across the four cities, said: “It was a pleasure to lead a delegation of 17 organizations comprising hotels, resorts, hotel apartments, attractions and destination management companies along with our national airline, Emirates.”
The workshops across the four cities in India were supported by Atlantis – The Palm, Royal Arabian Tours and Emirates Airlines. Other participants included Accor Hospitality Middle East, Al Rais Tours & Travels, Bonton Tours & Travels, Discovery Travel & Tourism, Dubai Dolphinarium, Dubai Marine Beach Resort & Spa, Golden Sands Hotel Apartments, Jumeirah Hotels & Resorts, Kempinski Hotel – Mall of the Emirates, Lama Tours, National Desert Travel, Sea View Hotel, Royal Ascot Hotel and The Address Hotels & Resorts.
He said: “Dubai is a vibrant destination that attracts traveller’s year on year. These workshops represent a vital component in bringing in the overall number of inbound travellers into Dubai from across the world.”
Commenting on the Dubai Roadshow 2012, Mr. Carl Vaz, Director of DTCM’s India office, said: “The Dubai Tourism India Roadshow 2012 has met with immense success which proves that Dubai as a destination is most sought after. It is an honour to witness such a large turnout of our Indian travel fraternity.”
He added: “During this roadshow we have seen a large number of members comprising TAAI (Travel Agents Association of India), TAFI (Travel Agents Federation of India) and ETAA (Enterprising Travel Agents Association of India).”
The programme for the workshops included presentations by officials of Emirates, Atlantis – The Palm and Royal Arabian Tours and included detailed networking session between the Dubai delegation and leaders of the Indian travel community.
India is a major source market for Dubai’s vibrant tourism industry. In 2011, India topped for the strongest passenger growth in passengers numbers at the Dubai International airport which closed the year with over 51 million passengers.
India is expected to produce 50 million outbound tourists each year by 2020, according to the UN World Tourism Organisation, with India’s per capita income forecast to surge over the next decade. Hoteliers and the travel trade are increasingly turned to emerging markets such as India to attract holidaymakers.
India today exhibits exponential growth for inward visitor traffic into Dubai. A large segment of Indian visitors utilise hotels and hotel apartments in the Emirate making India the top source market.
In 2009, over 529,500 Indian travellers stayed in Dubai’s hotel and hotel apartments, which crossed to over 638,100 in 2010 representing an annual growth rate of 21 per cent. In 2010, India was the second on the list of top source markets for Dubai hotels which numbers 570 with over 70,000 rooms. In 2011, the number of Indian guests in Dubai hotels crossed the 700,000 mark.
Dubai-based carrier Emirates is planning more flights to India to cater to rising demand from the Indian business and tourism sectors. The carrier, which is awaiting clearances from the government to fly its Airbus A380 aircraft to Delhi and Mumbai, said there are insufficient capacities out of India to meet rising demand from business and middle-class travellers.
At present, Emirates operates from 10 locations in India including Delhi, Mumbai, Chennai, Kolkata, Hyderabad, Kochi and Kozhikode. It said it has high-seat factors in and out of many Indian points. Dubai’s budget carrier, flydubai, currently has connectivity to Dubai from three Indian cities including Hyberabad and Ahmadabad. In addition to this, several other carriers including Air India, Indian Airlines, IndiGo, Jet Airways and Kingfisher operate flights on Dubai-India sector.
DTCM has had a representative office in India for over eight years which has been functioning as an initial contact point and query-processing centre for the Indian travel trade interested in doing business in Dubai.
The India office aims at promoting commerce and tourism, through the organization of marketing activities such as presentations, road shows, advertising, brochure distribution, direct sales meetings and media education programmes, which include familiarization visits for business and travel journalists to Dubai. The presence in Mumbai brings to 18 the total number of offices in the DTCM’s international network.
