The Dubai Department of Tourism and Commerce Marketing conducted a five-city roadshows in India to enhance Dubais visitor appeal across the market and effectively create a distinctive place in the minds of prospective travel trade professionals to sell the destination to different types of tourists.
From the Indian market, we have been attracting a large number of business and leisure visitors, however, we are making efforts to position Dubai as a year round and complete destination, differentiating it from our competitors on characteristics that are meaningful to visitors and that will give us a competitive edge, said DTCM Manager Overseas Promotions, Ibrahim
Ahli.
He noted that Dubais hotel establishments had received 215,093 guests from India recording a growth of 8.4% in 2000.
We targeted five main cities in India including Mumbai, Delhi, Chennai, Bangalore and Hyderabad and met and briefed key travel agents and tour operators from each metropolis, Mr. Ahli stressed.
More than 350 travel professionals attended the roadshow in Mumbai and the attendance in Delhi was around 280 with the combined attendance at all cities exceeding 1,000 professionals.
Mr. Ahli remarked that the perception of Dubai in the Indian market thus far was that of a shopping destination only and DTCM used the opportunity to emphasize the myriad attractions of Dubai that combine to make the complete tourism experience.
We have successfully conveyed Dubais attractions as one of the most exciting new destinations to emerge on the incentive travel market, said Mr.
Ahli.
As many as 14 travel industry co-participants accompanied the DTCM on the roadshows including ten five-star hotels.
The roadshows were co-sponsored by the Net Group of Companies and Emirates airlines. |
