Dubai is keen to increase Indian MICE tourist arrivals as leisure travel continues to generate a majority of demand. India remained the number one source market for Dubai in 2018.
From Jan to October, the emirate received more than 1.5 million Indian visitors and overall around 13 million visitors. Leisure segment contributed about 80 per cent to the tourist arrival numbers from India to Dubai.
“Dubai has state-of-the-art MICE facilities. One of the biggest MICE movements of South-East Asia was hosted in Dubai as per the Limca book of records. In spite of such vast opportunities for the MICE segment pertaining
Talking about the travel trade plans for the Indian market, Al Awar said, “We are exploring the smaller Indian cities where a lot of tourism boards have not yet reached. We on our part have been to cities like Jaipur, Lucknow, Pune and Ahmedabad. Direct air connectivity from Dubai to these markets enhances their potential for us. So, apart from metro cities, secondary markets are in our roadmap for the Indian market.” Dubai Tourism will support travel consultants who are strong in tier-I and tier-II Indian cities and will undergo joint promotions with them.
“We will continue to focus on
Talking about the repeat travellers, Al Awar shared that their calendar of events like Dubai Shopping Festival and Dubai Food festival has helped to maintain the interest of such travellers in Dubai. Bollywood has played an important role in promoting Dubai as a tourist destination in India.
“We understand the importance of India and affinity of Indians to Bollywood. Dubai has been one of the most popular shooting locations in Bollywood and they talk about Dubai without any endorsements. We would like to leverage on this through activities like #Be My Guest campaign with Shahrukh Khan,” said Al Awar. Khan, the biggest Bollywood star takes visitors through Dubai, introducing characters and personalising each of their experiences in the city as part of the campaign.
The first #BeMyGuest video, which debuted in 2017, garnered more than 45 million views across multiple social media channels.
The video also reached number three on YouTube’s worldwide trending list within 48 hours of its launch and became one of the top 10 most viewed videos on the website globally. It also won the Grand Prix, as well as first prize in the Tourism Destination category at the International Tourism Film Festival held in Riga, Latvia.
Dubai’s Department of Tourism and Commerce Marketing (Dubai Tourism) has officially launched recently its B2B Attractions Marketplace to the industry as a powerful online platform that connects attractions and experiences across the city with global audiences and relevant channel partners. Creating a seamless technological framework to stimulate industry cohesion, the initiative has been designed to help attractions access the industry’s network of B2B resellers, increasing productivity across the breadth of Dubai’s destination offering.B