Dubai Expo 2020 will be a benchmark for Dubai tourism. One of the most coveted events, Dubai Expo 2020 is speculated to draw 25 million visitors between October 2020 and April 2021. In an
exclusive interview with Travel and Tour World, Dr Ahmad Belhoul, CEO of Strategy and Tourism Sector Development, Dubai’s Department of Tourism and Commerce Marketing (DTCM), shares his thoughts about the event.
“Dubai’s Expo bid is part of long-term vision that ensures sustainable national development and a prosperous future for the UAE. As mentioned briefly, in May 2013, His Highness Sheikh Mohammed approved our Tourism Vision for 2020, a strategy which sets a clear path towards developing our tourism industry and furthering its contribution to Dubai’s economy. Although this Vision is separate to the Expo bid, we can now leverage the hosting of Expo 2020 and the focus it will place on Dubai as a means to attract visitors to Dubai.
The impact on the tourism industry will be substantial – between October 2020 and April 2021, Expo will attract more than 25 million visitors, 70% of which will be from outside the UAE – the largest number of international visitors in Expo history.
A number of sectors will benefit, including construction, engineering and transportation, and of course the hospitality, retail and aviation sectors will experience a significant positive impact.
It is incredibly important to us that we continue to work closely with the travel trade and our tourism partners, both in government and the private sector, to put in place the infrastructure and processes needed to meet the demand of the 25 million visitors we expect at Expo 2020.
We are working on a number of initiatives to enhance our promotion of Dubai to the world and these will be brought into the spotlight next year, but a large part of our role is also to enhance the destination offering, ensuring that Dubai has the infrastructure, attractions and experiences to both attract and cope with the targeted visitor numbers.
Working with Dubai Taxi Corporation, part of RTA, earlier this year we announced the signing of an MoU to better facilitate the movement of tourists around Dubai and ensure that taxi drivers are fully equipped to act as ambassadors for the city – including providing training to taxi drivers on Dubai’s tourism offering and increasing the taxi supply at critical times and locations.
In September we also announced an initiative to incentivise the hotel industry to develop more 3 and 4 star hotels in Dubai, in line with our objective to broaden the hospitality offering. This is a demonstration of how DTCM will continue to work with governmental and private stakeholders to develop the tourism industry in Dubai.
Our network of 20 overseas offices is also an important part of our strategy. With DTCM offices promoting Dubai in virtually every major market across the globe, we will continue to work with trade partners around the world to increase repeat visitors and to attract first-time visitors to Dubai.”
To read the full interview, check out the upcoming February issue 2014of Travel and Tour World.
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