Tapping mass market will boost Dubai's visitors to 15m by 2015

Dubai: Dubai expects to attract 15 million tourists by 2015, but this will not be achieved unless it extends its focus to include the mass market as well as luxury.

According to Dubai Tourism and Commerce Marketing (DTCM) the first quarter of 2008 saw nearly two million visitors, an increase of around seven per cent compared to the same period last year.

The UK and Ireland markets continued to drive these figures with hotel occupancy reaching 224,457, an 11.3 per cent increase compared to the same period last year.

In 2007, 6.9 million visitors chose Dubai as their destination and the DTCM projects these figures to surge to 15 million by 2015.

However, chief executive of Alpha Tours, Gassan Aridi, said Dubai needed to start tapping in to markets outside the luxury one, which is its prime focus at present, in order to achieve such a growth in the number of visitors to the emirate.

"Dubai prides itself as a luxury destination, but it needs to be a destination for the masses as well... in order to achieve this growth, it needs to be both," he said.

"I think the focus is too much on the luxury market, we are off course enjoying the benefits of the luxury market, but there are a lot of other markets to explore."

Aridi said more budget and four star hotels were needed to fill the gap in the market and reach middle income and mass market tourists.

"If we are going to target big numbers of tourists we need more hotels that can accommodate the medium class people who need quality but are not the big spenders," he said.

This could be a reason why many of the tourists in these markets were visiting other emirates instead.

The DTCM said large scale developments planned over the next seven years would continue to drive the burgeoning hotel industry in Dubai with the number of hotels and hotel apartments are expected to increase to 488 by 2010, increasing from 452 in 2007.

By 2016, this number was expected to surge to 554, with a room capacity of 127,000.

"Over 100 leisure related projects worth some £35 billion (Dh240 billion) are currently underway in the emirate and the tourism industry now accounts for almost a quarter (22.6 per cent) of Dubai's annual GDP," the DTMC said.

"Additionally this sector is expected to generate £40 billion in revenues and contribute 6.4 per cent directly to the UAE's GDP in 2008, expanding to almost £70 billion by 2018."

Luxury developments to open this year include Atlantis The Palm and The Address, Downtown Burj Dubai, a 63-storey tower offering a five-star experience close to the world's tallest building, the Burj Dubai and the world's largest shopping and entertainment destination, the Dubai Mall.