DUBAI SHOWCASES EXPERIENCES AT ATM 2015
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Dubai’s Department of Tourism and Commerce Marketing (Dubai Tourism) will use this year’s Arabian Travel Market (ATM), to showcase why Dubai’s breadth of offer and its appeal to a diverse range of audiences continues to drive the growth of tourism numbers to the Emirate. The Dubai stand at ATM will portray a multitude of different ways to experience the city through a series of content and on-stand activations.
Particular focuses will include the cultural heritage of Dubai, family attractions and the city’s year-round calendar of events. During the exhibition, Dubai Tourism will also be releasing its inaugural Annual Visitor Report, a collation of key tourism metrics, trends and insights that provide background into why Dubai continues to rise through the ranks of most-visited global tourism destinations.
Commenting on Dubai’s participation at ATM, Issam Kazim, Chief Executive Officer, Dubai Corporation for Tourism and Commerce Marketing (DCTCM) said, “ATM brings the global travel industry to Dubai, thus providing the perfect opportunity to promote our destination offering and showcase why the emirate continues to rise through the ranks of the most visited cities in the world. Month on month, the offering continues to be enhanced with new hotels, attractions, restaurants and experiences, and a vital part of our role is to demonstrate that there are many different ways to experience Dubai, and many different audiences that can create their perfect holiday or business trip here.”
Providing a completely different perspective, 12 mini-documentaries following the journeys of 12 of the world’s most popular instagrammers experiencing tailor-made itineraries of Dubai will be on show. Titled ‘MyDubaiTrip’, the project was a partnership between Dubai Tourism and social-travel experts Peeta Planet, and saw the instagrammers visit Dubai in late 2014 to experience itineraries curated by 12 of the Emirate’s most popular social-media storytellers.
With a view to showcasing the cultural aspects of Dubai, the Sheikh Mohammed Centre for Cultural Understanding (SMCCU) will have a dedicated area on the stand, where SMCCU representatives will give various presentations on all aspects of Emirati culture throughout the four days of the show, including raising awareness of the unique attraction of Ramadan as a period to visit Dubai. Meanwhile, a special gastronomy area will showcase homegrown dining concepts as well as authentic Emirati and fusion restaurants, complete with daily food tastings for guests.
With events one of this year’s key focuses, Dubai Festivals & Retail Establishment (DFRE), an agency of DTCM, will be on the stand to promote Dubai’s world-class festivals calendar, including its upcoming summer programme.
“Our focus this year is on using different forms of content to showcase Dubai through different perspectives, whether that’s the breath-taking views offered by Dubai 360; talks about Emirati heritage and the culture of the region from SMCCU; food from the kitchens of our home-grown restaurants; or the experiences of the city as shared by its residents and visitors through His Highness Sheikh Hamdan bin Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum’s #MyDubai initiative,” Kazim added.
The three-storey Dubai stand will host 100 co-participants including government bodies such as Dubai Healthcare City, Dubai Police, Dubai Culture, Roads and Transport Authority (RTA), Department of Naturalisation and Residency Dubai (DNRD), and Dubai Health Authority (DHA), as well as travel industry partners such as hoteliers, tour operators and destination management companies. The 2015 Dubai Pocket Guide will also be launched during ATM.