Dubai Tourism Shares Destination Insights with Key Stakeholders and Partners in Russia

• In a series of strategic meetings Issam Kazim, CEO of Dubai Tourism, highlights Russia’s high growth potential and emergence as the city’s sixth largest source market
• Stakeholder engagements with tourism and media companies part of efforts to further increase arrivals from Russia and other traditional and emerging markets

Dubai, United Arab Emirates, 09 September 2019: Dubai’s Department of Tourism and Commerce Marketing (Dubai Tourism) hosted a series of strategic meetings with tourism and media companies in Russia recently, highlighting the industry’s positive performance during H1 2019 and providing an update on major developments and new attractions, as well as outlining marketing initiatives aimed at further boosting tourist arrivals from the city’s sixth largest source market.

The meetings in Moscow and St. Petersburg are an extension of similar engagements that Dubai Tourism is continuing to hold with stakeholders and media in traditional strongholds and emerging markets in elevating consideration for Dubai as the destination of choice for travellers worldwide. The Dubai Tourism delegation was led by Issam Kazim, CEO of Dubai Corporation for Tourism and Commerce Marketing (DCTCM), and included representatives of the Department’s offices overseeing Russia and CIS countries.

Tour operators and destination management companies, who attended the meetings, included TUI - Russia & CIS, Karlson Tourism, Space Travel TO and Art Tour while Dubai Tourism also held wide-ranging discussions with key media companies including Kommersant Style, Spbdnevnik.ru, Proturizm.club, as well as TV and radio broadcasting company Travel.Vesti.  Dubai Tourism also hosted networking events in Moscow and St. Petersburg, which were attended by over 200 travel trade representatives.

At one-on-one discussions with chief executives of tourism companies and senior editors, as well as during a media roundtable, Mr. Kazim explained the tourism strategy of making Dubai the most visited destination, in addition to being the most recommended city with the most repeat visitors, in line with the goals of Dubai’s Tourism Vision 2022-2025. 

The strategic meetings drew attention to Russia’s emergence as one of the emirate’s top source markets with Mr. Kazim observing that Russian tourist traffic continued to play an important role in helping Dubai maintain steady tourism volumes. He also noted that following an exceptional resurgence in Russian visitors to Dubai in 2018, largely due to the visa-on-arrival enablement, growth from Russia levelled off to more sustainable volumes in H1 2019. The number of Russian tourists has grown exponentially over the past few years, from 240,000 in 2016 to 678,000 in 2018 and in the first seven months of this year, Dubai has welcomed 392,000 visitors from Russia.

Mr. Kazim also provided updates on the much-awaited event of the Middle East, the Expo 2020 Dubai and insights into Dubai Tourism’s future growth plans and marketing initiatives, new developments and sought after attractions and experiences across local culture and heritage, gastronomy, retail, entertainment and adventure. The discussions also looked at ways in which Dubai Tourism could work even more closely with trade partners and media in providing greater visibility for the diversity of Dubai’s offerings and promote the emirate to target audiences in Russia.

Commenting on the meetings, Issam Kazim, said: “Dubai Tourism remains committed to maintaining robust global partnerships and deep-rooted stakeholder networks across our markets that allow us to showcase the emirate as a year-round ‘must-visit’ destination. Our stakeholder engagements are not only aimed at further enhancing relationships with all our local and international partners but also ensure they are well aligned with Dubai’s tourism strategy and well placed to leverage diverse campaigns to ensure Dubai remains a firm favourite for travellers from both traditional and fast growing markets like Russia.

“We will continue to build on the visa-on-arrival enablement to attract more Russian tourists and seek to increase the number of visitors from well-performing segments such as couples and families, luxury and business travellers, as well as other high growth potential segments including groups of young travellers. Ultimately, in increasing awareness of Dubai’s offerings through such outreach efforts, we will be counting on the support of our stakeholders across all these strategic markets to promote Dubai’s exceptional experiences that inspire people to visit and return to Dubai time after time.”

Dubai Tourism’s efforts to create targeted and customised experiences for Russian tourists is reflected in the Department’s market-specific approach through targeted strategic activations, always-on marketing campaigns and ongoing trade and business partnerships with key industry players to keep the city front-of-mind for these travellers.  In H1 2019, Dubai Tourism for the first time organised a ‘reality TV’ style production, the “To Dubai with Love” campaign, showcasing five Russian celebrity couples mentoring participants, and highlighting Dubai as the perfect holiday getaway for young Russian couples.  The contest had a huge response with 60 couples winning invites to celebrate 2019 Valentine’s Day in Dubai, and was further enhanced by a pan-European tactical promotions campaign with adapted messaging tailored to be most relevant for Russian audiences.

About Dubai’s Department of Tourism and Commerce Marketing (Dubai Tourism)

With the ultimate vision of positioning Dubai as the world’s leading tourism destination and commercial hub, Dubai Tourism’s mission is to increase the awareness of Dubai among global audiences and to attract tourists and inward investment into the emirate. Dubai Tourism is the principal authority for the planning, supervision, development and marketing of Dubai’s tourism sector. It markets and promotes the Emirate’s commerce sector and is responsible for the licensing and classification of all tourism services, including hotels, tour operators and travel agents. Brands and departments within the Dubai Tourism portfolio include Dubai Business Events, Dubai Calendar, and Dubai Festivals and Retail Establishment.