Tourism has for a long time served as a key foreign exchange earner for countries. Consequently, national governments, state governments, as well as city authorities across the world engage in campaigns aimed at positioning their countries, states, or cities as prime tourist destinations. Notably, the success rates of such campaigns vary as evidenced by the number of tourists that visit various destinations across the world. Based on existing statistics, Dubai seems to be doing well on this end. Consequently, this paper examines the tourism promotion efforts of Dubai with a focus on the body that is charged with the responsibility of overseeing tourism within the emirate.
Dubai is one of the most famous tourist destinations across the world (Dubai for Tourism, 2014). Like other countries or states, it has an established body that oversees all tourism related matters. This body is known as the Department of Tourism and Commerce Marketing (DTCM) (Dubai for Tourism, 2014). It was set up in 1997 as a replacement for the Dubai Commerce and Tourism Promotion Board (DCTPB) (Dubai for Tourism, 2014).
Over the years, it has risen to become quite elaborate in terms of structure and organization. All tourism related matters, as mentioned above, are conducted under the auspices of DTCM. It plans, supervises, and develops the entire tourism sector (Dubai for Tourism, 2014). Further, it licenses and classifies all tourism related services such as accommodation and tour operation among others (Dubai for Tourism, 2014). Hotels and travel agencies are also licensed and supervised by this body to ensure that world-class quality prevails in all services rendered to tourists (Dubai for Tourism, 2014).
As of 2014, DTCM established an affiliate body known as the Dubai Corporation for Tourism and Commerce Marketing (DCTCM) to take charge over the marketing and promotion of the emirate as a premium destination for tourism and business (“Dubai sets up body to promote tourism,” 2014). This affiliate body works under DTCM to give the emirate the desired global publicity ahead of the planned Dubai Expo 2020. Apparently, the DTCM is reducing the burden of its direct involvement in all tourism related matters by allocating responsibilities to specialized bodies. This way, it will only play a supervisory role to ensure that Dubai, as a tourist destination, keeps getting better.
Additionally, the DTCM runs a website by the name definitelydubai.com (Definitely Dubai, 2014). This website features as the official tourism portal for Dubai. It provides plenty of information regarding tourism in Dubai including the best attractions, a travel guide, and events as well as festivals that may be of interest to tourists. It further provides instructions for tourists on how to get to Dubai from the rest of the world. Essentially, everything that a potential visitor may want to know about Dubai is featured on the website.
An analysis of the endeavors of DTCM insofar as tourism promotion in Dubai is concerned reveals that it focuses on some key areas of strength. First, Dubai has marketed itself to potential tourists across the world as the luxury destination of choice. Luxury lovers have every reason to visit Dubai because true to its dominant promotional message, Dubai features unique and spectacular architecture, excellent infrastructure, and most importantly, relatively affordable accommodation in some of the best hotels the world over (Robertson, 2014). Therefore, to answer the second question, yes, Dubai has a clear message that it uses to market itself. It depicts itself as a tourist paradise since it has everything a tourist may desire.
According to an analysis conducted by the Travel Trade Gazette (TTG), earlier this year, Dubai was voted the leading luxury destination (Robertson, 2014). Its strengths included the relatively affordable luxury accommodation, tranquility, and excellent infrastructure. This analysis confirms that Dubai’s effort to pass itself as a luxurious tourist destination is not mere marketing hype. It does everything it can to ensure that its services are consistent with its marketing theme or slogan.
Besides depicting itself as a luxury destination, Dubai also features strongly as a shopping paradise. It ranks second after the U.S. as a leading shopping destination (Robertson, 2014). Considering that most tourists are also active shoppers, this attribute adds to the appeal of Dubai as a tourist destination. More importantly, it adds to the luxury associated with Dubai. Further, it undoubtedly shows the emirate’s commitment to its marketing slogan.
Dubai is an intriguing tourist destination not because it has state-of-the-art facilities, but because the approach it uses to handle its tourism industry is quite optimistic. It engages in intensive marketing campaigns and follows with an expansion of its facilities beforehand. For example, the Dubai Expo 2020 is a tourism-oriented event that is still way off. Nonetheless, Dubai has already established a body charged with the responsibility of publicizing the event.
More interestingly, plans are already underway to expand the accommodation capacity of the emirate with up to 80,000 new rooms to be added (Dubai for Tourism, 2014). This preparation is in line with the emirate’s desire to clinch the position of the leading tourist destination in the world by 2020. As such, other preparations such as expansion of the transport industry are also ongoing. The proactive and optimistic nature of Dubai’s tourism promotion is definitely intriguing.
References
Definitely Dubai: The Official Tourism Portal of the City of Dubai. (2014). Web.
Dubai for Tourism: Dubai Department of Tourism and Commerce Marketing. (2014). Web.
Dubai sets up body to promote tourism. (2014). MEED: Middle East Economic Digest, 58 (5), 19.
Robertson, E. (2014). Dubai ‘best for luxury’. Travel Trade Gazette UK & Ireland, (3079), 19-20.