DTCM participates in CMO Summit Middle East

Addressing the gathering, Mr. Hamad bin Mejren, DTCM Executive Director Business Tourism and Dubai Convention Bureau, said the global recession has affected almost every business in the world, the foremost being the tourism industry.

"The spotlight is on the role of marketing professionals, especially the CMOs, as organisations try to keep up their businesses in the most economically challenging time in the history. Many of you might have realized that there are opportunities in every threat that comes in our way. It is up to us to overcome the challenges and write new success stories."

Sharing information about how DTCM handled the situation in the past one year in terms of promoting and marketing Dubai, he said long before the global financial crisis intensified, the department created a task force with experts and representatives of Dubai tourism industry players, to review the market trends and take appropriate measures.

Based on the inputs provided by the industry players and experts, the department took measures which resulted in hotel occupancies getting a boost in the first half of 2009.

DTCM enhanced promotion and marketing in tourism source markets through its network of 18 Overseas Representative offices. The department conducted several initiatives to boost hotel occupancies and facilitate more visitors enjoy Dubai's impressive tourism product offerings.

"We also encouraged more co-participants in travel exhibitions and road shows for Dubai across the world, creating more awareness about the destination and networking with the industry players who were looking for new business leads and newer growth opportunities," he said.

The department, in cooperation with the Emirates Airlines, DMCs and hotels, conducted 'Keep discovering Dubai' familiarization programme for about 2000 tour operators, travel agents and Media representatives from about 60 countries over a three month period.

DTCM launched Kids Go Free promotion as part of its summer season promotions to boost the number of visitors to the emirate. More than 75 hotels and hotel apartments participated in the three month promotion.

The department also carried out attractive media campaigns in various markets, especially in Dubai's traditionally strong source markets of the UK, Germany, India, Russia, China, Japan and GCC states.

Mr. bin Mejren said: "We continue to attract visitors in good numbers; our hotels are fairly doing well and our economy remains stable. Dubai has invested heavily in the tourism sector and better placed to emerge stronger than other destinations. We strongly believe that Dubai may emerge faster than other regions when the global economy improves."