The Dubai Department of Tourism and Commerce Marketing (DTCM) discussed with key tourism industry representatives a number of new initiatives to promote Dubai across the world.
Held at the DTCM Head Office, the meeting was chaired by the DTCM Director General, Khalid A Bin Sulayem, and attended by Mohammad Khamis Bin Hareb, DTCM Executive Director for Operations and Marketing, and Eyad Ali Abdul Rahman, DTCM Executive Director Media Relations and Acting Director Business Development. It was attended by representatives from the hotels and tourism companies.
The meeting reviewed the global tourism industry market trends and a number of new initiatives aimed at attracting more visitors to Dubai from across the world, especially the Arabian Gulf Cooperation Council (AGCC) states, and boosting hotel occupancies which remained during the months of January and February this year.
Bin Sulayem said the new initiatives over the remainder of the year will help generate even better levels of hotel occupancies and help draw more tourists from different parts of the world.
During the meeting, it was agreed that the hoteliers will offer best rates and holiday packages to the visitors, especially during the summer months, details of which will be announced in due course.
The high occupancy levels recorded by hotels since the start of this year has prompted the DTCM and its tourism industry partners to come out with new initiatives to capitalize on the encouraging market scene.
Dubai retained its strong position with its hotels posting all-time high record revenues of Dh15.25 billion and a double-digit increase in room inventory in 2008, one of the most economically-challenging times for the global tourism industry.
Dubai hotel establishments played a host to 6,996,449 guests in 2008, up from 6,951,798 visitors in the previous year. In 2004, Dubai hotels received 5.4 million guests followed by 6.16 million in 2005.
The slight increase in guest numbers enabled Dubai hotels and hotel apartment posting Dh15.25 billion in revenues, an impressive increase of 15 per cent over the previous year.
In the year 2007, the revenues were to the tune of Dh13.26 billion on the back of a 22.4 per cent growth.
A 15.9 per cent increase was also recorded in the number of hotel rooms and hotel apartments, which stood at 49,598. In 2007, the number of hotel rooms and hotel apartments were 42,807 after a 4.8 per cent growth over the previous year.
The tourism and hotel sectors directly contribute 19 per cent to Dubai's GDP, while their indirect contribution to GDP stands at 32 per cent in 2008. In the last week of February, the average occupancy of five-star beach hotels was 95 per cent with the average room rate for the five-star hotel being Dh1239.
A three-month familiarization programme –Keep Discovering Dubai- targeting 2000 tour operators, MICE agents and Media representatives had been launched by DTCM in cooperation with Emirates Airlines and other key players of Dubai's tourism industry to provide them a hands-on experience of Dubai.
