Dubai: Heavily discounted hotel rates and DSF tourist packages have contributed to a revitalised tourism market at the start of the year.
While tourist arrivals leveled off in the 2009-10 season, which ran from October to May, early indications suggest the tourism market is expected to pick up in the 2010-11 season, according to Citigroup's Dubai Macro View Report.
The Dubai Shopping Festival (DSF) which spans the first two months of 2010 has contributed to this boost with hotels offering numerous promotions throughout the period.
"All our properties in Dubai — all 13 hotels — are running at high occupancy during DSF 2011 with most of the hotels full due to the huge campaigns that DTCM [Department of Tourism and Commerce Marketing] did this year. We started February with a slight increase in occupancy, and we expect to close February with at least 8 per cent higher occupancy than 2010," Naeem Darkazally, Associate Vice-President of Sales and Revenue at Rotana told Gulf News.
Other participating hotels such as Ibn Battuta Gate Hotel recorded an average occupancy of 70 per cent in the first two weeks of DSF while Pullman Dubai Mall of the Emirates hotel has seen an increase of 30 per cent.
"We are projecting an average of 70 per cent occupancies for the remaining days of DSF," said Leonard Theng, Director of Sales and Marketing at Pullman Dubai Mall of the Emirates.
Kempinski Mall of the Emirates has also reported an increase compared to the same period last year and is expecting to close February with a 5 per cent higher occupancy compared to 2009.
Naser Fawzi, Sales and Marketing Manager, anticipates a 7 to 10 per cent increase in occupancy levels for Kempinski during the festival period.
Attractive packages
In a bid to bring in tourists and boost passenger traffic to Dubai, DSF has also teamed up with airlines, immigration and several hotels to offer attractive packages.
Dubai Events and Promotions Establishment (DEPE), in cooperation with its retail, tourism and hospitality partners launched a "Discounted Travel to Dubai for DSF 2010" package.
"The new travel initiative was a concerted attempt by the hospitality, tourism and retail sectors to give a boost to visitor inflows, and is a significant example of how the government works in close coordination with the private sector to drive economic growth," said Laila Suhail, CEO of DEPE.
The package offers a 40 per cent discount on hotel rates, reduced airfares, shopping vouchers from participating malls and complimentary airport and shopping mall transfers.
"As always, there will be a surge in passenger traffic to the UAE during DSF and thousands of shoppers will enjoy Emirates' world-class service. The success of DSF can be gauged from the visitors and visitor spending figures over the past few years," said Ahmad Khoory, Senior Vice-President of Commercial Operations for the Gulf, Middle East and Iran at Emirates.
According to Khoory, 1.6 million visitors spent about Dh2.15 billion during the inaugural DSF in 1996. By 2009, visitor numbers reached 3.35 million and the total spend hit Dh9.8 billion.
The influx of tourists during DSF is driven mainly by visitors from the GCC.
