Dubai positively surprises everyone

As Dubai Summer Surprises (DSS) is drawing to a close, Gulf News finds it timely to talk with Laila Suhail about the challenges and secrets behind the success of the annual summer event. She has worked closely with Dubai Tourism and Commerce Marketing and other agencies to promote DSS.

Gulf News: DSS has grown to become one of the favourite summer events for families, how did that come about?

Suhail: DSS was born out of a clear vision and quality of leadership which filtered down to an excellent team work that redirected all its forces in rejuvenating the retail trade during the relatively slack summer months. The growth of the annual summer event encouraged people to come down to Dubai thus making the emirate a popular family destination during the holiday period.

Gulf News: Since its inception in 1998, DSS has designed a slew of attractive activities to stimulate the summer economy. What has it achieved so far?

Suhail: The biggest achievement thus far is that the DSS has turned Dubai into a year-round destination. This is evident from the total expenditure and visitor figures, which has shown a meteoric rise from a total spend of Dh850 million in the first year to Dh1.72 billion in 2005 with the visitor numbers rising from 600,000 to 1,510,000 last year.

There is no doubt that the DSS has grown bigger and better with each passing year. Every year, the 10-week long fiesta attracts tourists from neighbouring countries as well as many other countries.

Gulf News: How responsive are the companies in Dubai? Do we see more sponsors coming in next year?

Suhail: The private sector is very cooperative and it's their unflinching support that has made the DSS what it is today. We owe a great deal of our success to the government-private sector alliance vis-a-vis our sponsors whose numbers are increasing every year and who have always stood by us and supported us in every endeavour. They participate with a lot of enthusiasm and bring about new deals and offers every year to generate renewed public interest.

Gulf News: What has been your biggest challenge in organising the summer activities?

Suhail: Our pet project, the Dubai Shopping Festival, which was launched a couple of years before the DSS was an immediate success and we had to live up to the perception and make the DSS an equally grand event and come up with new and innovative events year after year.

Gulf News: What have been the most important factors that contributed to the growth of DSS?

Suhail: There are many factors that contributed to the growth of DSS. Most importantly Destination Dubai itself in which everybody contributed with the government and private sectors working together and adding that extra lustre in making Dubai a shining city. The commitment of the Rulers flowed down to everyone in making Dubai an ideal family destination for all visitors.

Gulf News: DSS is drawing to a close, are you happy with the results?

Suhail: Although we need to calculate the exact figures, but the trend so far looks very positive. The newly-introduced DSS Summer Deals have shown good results as they offered great deals to the shoppers who also benefited through the various raffle draws.