Dubai casts the net wider

Tourists pounding the pavements of Dubai the current peak season may look different than in previous years, with tongues more foreign than usual being heard through the city's souqs and in hotel receptions.

The worst global economic conditions for a generation may be bearing down on the industry. Specialists in the emirate say Dubai is moving fast to shake off the worst of the impact, bringing changes that could in fact restructure both tourism and the city in the long term. This includes luring visitors from new origins, such as Brazil and the Far East.

The traditional mainstay of the industry here, Western European, and particularly UK tourists, are feeling the pain of recession and dreams of spending time on the UAE's beaches have moved down the priority list for many households. A fall in the exchange rates of the pound and euro compared with the dirham has also hit the spending power of such tourists. "If you look at the segmentation in Dubai they have relied heavily on Western Europe and the UK," said Elie Armaly, Director of Business Development at hospitality and leisure consultancy firm Roya International. "Due to the reduction in that they are looking elsewhere."

And those markets being specifically targeted include countries surviving the credit crunch, with potentially curious globetrotters who are more cashed-up than others. This is in addition to continuing to pursue traditional nationalities of Dubai's tourists. The DTCM efforts include searching elsewhere for visitors. The DTCM are working to "entice more tourists from countries that have shown signs of better economies against the backdrop of gathering recessionary clouds," said Eyad Ali Abdul Rahman, Executive Director of Media Relations and Acting Director of Business Development at the DTCM.

Sven Gade, Director and Head of Consulting at consultancy firm PKF also point to the fact that tourism is not only driven by the destination - which impacts market share. Absolute visitor numbers originate from the travel motivations in generator markets.

New ground being broken include the Far East and South America, while the footfall from Russia and Eastern Europe seems to be proving robust. "Go East is the trend," said Samir Hamadeh, Director of Sales and Marketing for Alpha Tours.

He also pointed out the recent increase in the intrepid from Brazil, something he feels is set to continue. "Brazil has been an existing market," said Hamadeh. "But with the Emirates flight to Sao Paolo there has been a boom - we are witnessing a marked increase."

Targeting new markets is however only part of a strategy that hopes to build a stronger, more reliable type of tourist - those from the surrounding GCC countries. And analysts and industry leaders are more than upbeat about such an initiative. "The GCC market was not getting what it deserved in the past," said Hamadeh. "You cannot depend on long-haul visitors," he explained. "For example, Spain and France depend on their surrounding countries. This is why we need to invest more in our surrounding countries as a basis."

Many in the tourism trade believe that building a strong basis of visitors from surrounding states will be a key change, helping Dubai avoid exposure to global risks in the future as well as developing new opportunities.

Global market researchers, Euromonitor International, called for such initiatives as early as April of last year when they released reports on tourism in the Middle East and the UAE specifically. "For the region to be successful, it needs to first develop the regional market, as is similarly done in the European and Asian tourism markets, and then develop tourism related infrastructure for the international market," the report reads.