UAE's travel and tourism market looking good

Dubai - Market recovering from slowdown, will sustain upward trend

The UAE's travel and tourism market is emerging fast from the slowdown and will see exciting times ahead, says an industry expert.
Peter Payet, chief executive of Desert Adventures, said incoming tourism to the UAE was affected due to several economic and political factors in Eastern Europe last year. The international travel market also witnessed a slowdown, but now the trend is changing in line with the positive indicators on the economic front.
"Starting 2015, the market has been a bit soft and has not yet fully recovered from last year's decline. We are optimistic about the end for 2015 to start a good season, moving onto a more prosperous 2016," Payet told Khaleej Times in an interview.
The tourism industry is one of the major pillars of the UAE economy as it contributed Dh124 billion, or eight per cent to the emirate's gross domestic product last year. It is expected to register a four per cent growth this year and will contribute Dh130 billion to the national economy. The emirate is likely to welcome 20 million tourists this year.
"It is important to remember that tough times never last, [but] tough people do," Payet said.
In reply to a question, he said the tourism industry will sustain the upward trend in coming five years and even after World Expo 2020 due to major initiatives taken by the government to promote tourism in the country.
"I would certainly like to think this way. The enormous amount of work, effort and investment that will be put into the additional infrastructure by the Dubai government must be leveraged," he said.
Elaborating, he said the continuous development of the city and new attractions that are being added are boosting the tourism portfolio of Dubai.
"Economic and political stability, leisure activities, beautiful accommodation choice, accessibility made it so easy with Emirates airline and the promotional and marketing activities by the DTCM play an important role in promoting the emirate to international business partners and travellers."  
To a question, he said desert safari and cruise dinning remain an important part of tourist itinerary as approximately 90 per cent of visitors are keen to enjoy Arabian hospitality during their trip to the UAE.
Desert Adventure is a leading destination management company, or DMC, in the Middle East and managing destinations such as the UAE, Oman, Jordan and Qatar. It recently announced a partnership deal with Bahrain Mumtalakat Holding Company to establish the first destination management firm in the kingdom.    
"Desert Adventures has signed up the agreement during Arabian Travel Market 2015 in Dubai with Bahrain Mumtalakat Holding Company to set up a fully-fledged Bahrain office. The company will called 'atBahrain' and will complement our existing operations in Dubai, Abu Dhabi, Muscat and Amman," he said. In reply to a question, he said mega events like World Expo 2020 in Dubai and the 2022 Fifa World Cup in Qatar will boost tourism in the region.
"Yes, these major events will boost awareness and stimulate the interest from international travellers to visit the region, and to be part of such big events," he said.
About the potential markets for the company in coming years, he said Desert Adventures established a very strong base to reach different market segments from Europe all across to Australia, Asia and Latin America.
"We observe a steady growth on Latin America font as well as Asia Pacific market."  
Regarding competition within travel and tourism industry, he said some destination management companies are primarily competing on price and compromising on quality of services will be phased out in due course of time.
"I also see that the industry is consolidating. The companies focusing on quality and service standards will be left standing tall in the DMC segment. With technology moving forward, a focus on service quality and clear brand identity, we are poised to be leading the industry evolution in the DMC space," Payet concluded.
- muzaffarrizvi@khaleejtimes.com