What makes UAE a safe destination for travellers

The UAE has accomplished remarkable achievements in providing several safe passages with the help of its national carrier, while remaining fully committed to following the best health and safety standards to ensure the well-being of its travellers, said Dr Ahmad Belhoul Al Falasi, Minister of State for Entrepreneurship and SMEs and Chairman of the UAE Tourism Council, attended the opening ceremony of the 28th edition of Arabian Travel Market (ATM) exhibition — ATM 2021 — which is being held in Dubai under the theme ‘Reuniting the travel trade industry.’

The minister underlined the need to build strong partnerships between various markets and tourism destinations in the region and the world to open safer passages for travel, facilitate procedures and ease entry restrictions for some countries, as it is a key pillar for the sector’s speedy recovery from the Covid-19 pandemic crisis.

The UAE has accomplished remarkable achievements in providing several safe passages with the help of its national carrier, while remaining fully committed to following the best health and safety standards to ensure the well-being of its travellers.

Al Falasi said: “The UAE’s tourism sector was affected just as much as other countries’ were by this crisis. However, thanks to the directives of our wise leadership and its forward-looking vision, we were able to overcome these challenges and accelerate the pace of recovery and growth in the sector. This was achieved through the adoption of a wide array of measures, most notably the introduction of economic stimulus packages at the federal and local levels, which had a tangible positive impact in alleviating the crisis on the country’s tourism sector.”

Despite the challenges, the UAE witnessed exceptional tourism activity during the past year, as it launched its unified tourism identity and ran the ‘World’s Coolest Winter’ campaign to stimulate domestic tourism. This enabled our hotel establishments to generate revenues exceeding Dh4.5 billion during 2020.”

He pointed out that the proactive measures adopted by all tourism establishments yielded positive results and allowed the UAE to achieve better results compared to other major global tourism destinations. He noted that during the first quarter of 2021, the hotel establishments managed to achieve an occupancy rate of 63 per cent and witnessed a 34 per cent growth in the number of guests in March 2021 compared to March 2020.

The World Tourism Organisation data proved that the UAE’s tourism sector was the least affected in the region and the world, as the drop in its number of hotel guests coming from abroad was the least globally. As a result, these establishments maintained a high occupancy rate of 54.7 per cent during this period compared to the global average occupancy that did not exceed 37 per cent.

The minister called on tourism authorities around the world and through the Arab Travel Market platform, for concerted global efforts to support and revitalise tourism at the global level. He urged them to continue to support the sector due to its great potential and important role in driving the full economic recovery of global markets from the pandemic’s impact during the coming period. — business@khaleejtimes.com