Economic Ill Wind Expected To Breathe Fresh Life Into Dubai’s Tourism Industry
Its economic downfall may have been swift, but that means Dubai is expected to reap benefits when it comes to its reputation as a holiday destination for 2010.
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Economic Ill Wind Expected To Breathe Fresh Life Into Dubai’s Tourism Industry
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In past years it has been seen as a preserve of the jet-set, with hotels and facilities geared towards the top end of the market. The opening of the latest incumbent of the title of the world’s tallest building, the Burj Dubai, in January 2010 once again focused attention on the city. With more than 160 inhabitable floors, it is more than twice the height of New York’s Empire State Building.
But now, with cash scarce, and badly needed to help fund some of the massive investment which has taken place, the Emirate is likely to be making a major play to attract visitors over the coming year. Despite the economic crisis both there and elsewhere in the world, Dubai has stuck steadfastly to its stated ambition of attracting 15 million visitors a year by 2015. But in order to do so, its marketing has undergone a definite change of tack.
“It has moved away from highlighting Federer and Agassi playing tennis on top of the Burj Al Arab, and is trying to highlight Dubai as a place for all segments of the market,” according to Dr Ian Michael, a marketing professor at the city’s Zayed University.
The UK is clearly a target for much of this marketing, with Emirates Airlines unveiling a series of television adverts following a British tourist around the city as he visits some of the attractions and meets residents. These include footage of him exploring the Satwa district, one of the city’s poorer and more run-down areas.
The city is also not shying away from moves to attract the more budget-conscious visitor, with value hotel chains increasing their presence steadily over the past two years. UK-based Premier Inns, which has two hotels in the city, has substantially cut its room rates, while easyGroup (of easyJet) fame is due to open its first hotel here this year.
Their motives are easy to see five-star hotels, with their more luxurious facilities and higher staffing costs, have less leeway for aggressive price-cutting, while the budget hotels are starting from a far lower cost base, so can respond more readily to market conditions.
“With cheaper hotels and the Metro running, Dubai will become more affordable to the traveller who has a 100 dollars-a-day budget,” Dr Michael says.
“And I think only then can the tourism authorities say that their targets of 15 million tourists a year are attainable.”
The emirate has also seen the opening of its new 75km (45-mile) metro system, the vital first phase of substantial improvements in its public transport network, and greatly improved feeder bus services will soon follow.
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