DTCM taking up new initiatives for Emiratisation in tourism sector

The DTCM Director General, Mr. Khalid A bin Sulayem, said: " The main aim is not only to attract the bigger number of tourists and visitors to Dubai every year, but also to improve the expertise of those who works in the tourism industry in order to make sure the tourists get more than they expect."

Among the new initiatives, the MAHARAT hospitality training will be approved by the American Hotel and Lodging Association (EI-AH&LA). The MAHARAT programme is designed to provide job-linked training to the UAE nationals to enable them join the Dubai hotels.

He said this will encourage the number of AGCC nationals to join the tourism industry. As an added step, DTCM will take initiatives to conduct tour guide Diploma courses at the Tourism Department in collaboration with the Sultan Qaboos University in Oman. This agreement will be signed in the first quarter of 2007.

He said the DTCM has been organizing two competitions every year to select the best hotel receptionist and best concierge. From next year, it will add a new competition to choose the best tour guide to acknowledge the work of the tour guides operating in the emirate.

He said the number of tour guides increased to 146 in the first half of 2006 compared to last year's 124. The number of MAHARAT graduates increased up to 75 from last year.

He emphasized that DTCM was very keen to boost the Emiratisation and encourage more UAE nationals join the tourism industry.

The number of UAE nationals working in hospitality sector will increase to 600 by the end of this year.

He said the average number of hours of training hours that DTCM employees undergoes each year went up to 40 this year from last year's 36 hours.

He also said the DTCM was the main sponsor of Careers Fair for the UAE nationals for the second consecutive year.

He concluded that DTCM is taking all necessary steps to offer the best services and facilities to the tourists by providing advanced courses and training sessions to the workers of the tourism sector.