Dubai Tourism Dept gears up for World Travel Market 2008

The Dubai delegation will be headed by the Director General Mr. Khalid Bin Sulayem who will be accompanied by other key Executive Directors and Directors of DTCM and co-participating firms.

A spokesperson from DTCM said that this year's participation faces a challenge to all international participants in general and to Dubai in particular because of the undulating economical crisis the effect of which has also reflected on global tourism. However DTCM is confident and will assure that Dubai is not affected by the global economic downturn through its various efforts in promoting Dubai as a world class tourism hub. DTCM's participation this year will focus toward increasing the tourist numbers from all over Europe.

This is DTCM's 19th consecutive participation at WTM focusing on further strengthening Dubai's leading position in this all-important European source market. The expected growth in tourists from the European markets looked promising with the number of visitors from UK and Europe exceeding 1.3 million so far this year, a 10% increase from the same period in 2007.
Among the representatives that will accompany DTCM from the Government sector are the Arabian Travel Market (ATM), Dubai Heritage Vision, Dubai Airport, Dubai Duty Free, Dubai Naturalisation and Residency Department (DNRD), Dubai Shopping Festival (DSF), Dubai Summer Surprises (DSS) and Dubai Police.

During the pre-fair meet, Mr Saleh Al Geziry Director of Overseas Promotions took the opportunity to explain about the special efforts that were being made through DTCM's representative office in UK to make this year's WTM participation a thriving success. The swell co-participants number this year also indicated their confidence in a noticeably dynamic destination Dubai.

The Dubai stand which is expected to measure over 616 square meters will help attract and explore new business opportunities from the UK and Europe, which has remained the largest source market for Dubai's booming tourism industry since 2002.

With the demand for activity holidays and soft adventure, in-bound tour operators are also set to make their presence felt. The newly opened world's largest shopping mall the Dubai Mall and the world's biggest hotel resort on the manmade island The Palm Jumeira are also set for an impressive showdown at the WTM 2008.

Visitors to the Dubai stand will also benefit from additional information about upcoming projects from companies like Nakheel and Emaar, leisure developers of the Palm Islands and the Dubai Waterfront properties - and the Dubai Marina and the world's tallest tower Burj Dubai.
Statistics from the first half of 2008 show that Dubai received more than 405,376 British guests alone, a resonating increase of 14 percent from last year. DTCM seems determined to increase these visitor statistics not only from UK but all around Europe through the WTM 2008.