Dubai-Brazilian officials review tourism growth opportunities

He assured the visiting group, which included two senators, Mr. Neuto Fausto De Conto and Mrs. Ideli Salvatti, about the strong support of the emirate for the World Travel and Tourism Council's (WTTC) 9th Global Summit to be held in Santa Catarina's capital city of Florianopolis on May 15 and 16 this year.

Held at Madinat Jumeirah on Tuesday (February 10), the meeting was attended among others by Mr. Jean-Claude Baumgarten, President and CEO of WTTC, Mr. Ghaith Al Ghaith, CEO of FlyDubai airline, Mr. Gerald Lawless, Executive Chairman of Jumeirah Group of Hotels, and Ms. Ufi Ibrahim, Chief Operations Officer of WTTC.

DTCM officials who attended were Mr. Mohammed Khamis bin Hareb, Executive Director for Operations and Marketing, Mr. Eyad Ali Abdul Rahman, Executive Director for Media Relations and Acting Director Business Development, and Mr. Hamad bin Mejrin, Executive Director for Business Tourism.

Mr. bin Sulayem attributed the success of 8th WTTC Global Summit in Dubai last year to the inspiring partnership between the public and private sectors in the tourism domain.

He extended support for this year's summit from Dubai's tourism industry which remained proactive and supportive to DTCM's efforts in promoting tourism in these challenging times in line with the vision of His Highness Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Vice President and Prime Minister of UAE and Ruler of Dubai.

Santa Catarina Governor Mr. Luiz Henrique da Silveira, who headed the 30-member delegation, described Dubai as a dynamic and beautiful city and sought the support and expertise of DTCM and its tourism industry partners in making this year's WTTC Global Summit a grand success.

He expressed his country's desire to expand relations with the emirate and learn from Dubai's success story considering the fact that tourism accounts for a major share in Santa Catarina's GNP of over $35bn.

In order to attract visitors from the UAE and other Gulf states, Santa Catarina government has published destination promotional literature in Arabic while working with the Emirates Airlines which operates a daily flight to Sao Paulo, about 700 kilometres from Florianopolis. In October 2007, Emirates became the first Middle Eastern airline to offer services to South America. There has been a 100% increase in tourists from Brazil to Dubai after the introduction of this air service.

Mr. Jean-Claude Baumgarten underscored the importance of meaningful public-private sectors partnership for the long-term development of tourism. The WTTC Global Summit in Santa Catarina will be yet another opportunity to highlight this key growth component which was Dubai had amply showcased last year, he added.

"In these challenging economic times," he said, "when it is almost impossible to predict short-term trends - let alone make long-term forecasts - it is more critical than ever for the public and private sectors to forge close partnerships so they can work together to ensure the longer-term prosperity of travel and tourism."

Dubai officials answered queries from the Brazilian delegation on a wide range of issues, ranging from freehold properties market to DTCM promotional and marketing initiatives and Dubai hotels performance and Emirates Airlines expansion agenda. On their part, Brazilian officials enlightened their Dubai counterparts about their tourism industry's major highlights, growth plans and future development roadmap.