Dubai expects faster recovery of Russian outbound tourism
Contributors are not employed, compensated or governed by TD, opinions and statements are from the contributor directly
The recent 11th Natalie Tours Congress focused on Dubai’s firm commitment towards the Russian outbound tourism market and anticipation of a ‘faster’ recovery from the ‘difficult and challenging’ economic times triggered by Rouble devaluation.
Marc Bennett, senior vice president for international operations at Dubai Corporation for Tourism and Commerce Marketing addressed over 220 executives from 10 Russian cities. He said that strong signs of recovery were already visible from strong bookings in Dubai hotels from Russian travel agents and tourists.
“It is not the first time that difficult times have surfaced. Russia will recover and tourism business will recover. We will support you in every way we can to ensure strong Russian tourist visitations with longer stay,” he assured.
The decline in Russian tourist numbers began late last year (last two quarters of 2014) and continued with about a 40% in first half of 2015, he remarked, adding that the average holiday stay of Russian tourists in Dubai remains 10 days.
In recent times, massive marketing, promotion and networking initiatives have been taken up by Dubai Tourism to boost the outbound markets in the Russian and CIS markets. Stating that Dubai in the world’s fourth most-visited destination, he said about 16 million tourists are expected in Dubai in 2016. By 2020, the hotel beds inventory will reach 150,000, up from the present 92000. Dubai intends to double the tourist visitation by 2020 from the 2010 position.
Comments are closed.