Dubai has established itself as a must-see destination and the list of reasons to visit
continues to grow. With the declared aim of becoming ‘a new world capital’ at the centre
of the map, Dubai’s service industry economy is booming. Oil revenue now accounts for
less than three per cent of Dubai’s GDP and its success in marketing itself as a tourism
destination for business and leisure travellers alike, helped it achieve record visitor arrivals
and room nights last year.
Hotel occupancy is said to be the highest in the world at 87 per cent, with many leading
properties reporting consistent 100 per cent occupancy in the peak months of the year.
Tens of thousands more hotel rooms, plus new exhibition venues and entertainment
options, are planned in the next few years, and few are doubting that Dubai can reach
its goal of 15 million visitors a year by 2010.
MODERN PLAN
Part of the Dubai Strategy 2015, a master plan formally announced in February last year,
aims to ensure a life after oil for the emirate.
The plan includes growing Dubai’s meeting, exhibition and convention business.
Take Dubai Festival City, just one of scores of mixed-use projects suffixed ‘City’ opening
from this year until 2015. Featuring a huge shopping mall, concert venues, an 18-hole golf
course, residential apartments and marina, Dubai Festival City also has an events centre
and 1,000 luxury hotel rooms managed by InterContinental Hotels Group (IHG). Tom
Meyer, Area general manager IHG Dubai Festival City, says IHG is expecting 30 per
cent of its rooms to be taken by MICE groups.
The Dubai World Trade Centre (DWTC) had its busiest year last year. More than one million visitors attended 106 exhibitions and conferences at the Dubai International Convention and Exhibition Centre. DWTC has also broken ground on Dubai Exhibition City and Dubai Trade Centre District.
FORWARD OUTLOOK
DWTC director-general Helal Saeed Al Marri says the DWTC is “a step closer towards our vision of making Dubai the world’s leading destination for all major exhibitions, conferences and events, in line with Dubai Strategy 2015”.
The only clouds in Dubai’s always sunny skies are the traffic and airport, which are
struggling to cope with the increase in visitors. But this is Dubai and solutions are well in
hand. A public light-rail system will open next September and out in the desert, the world’s
largest airport, Dubai World Central, with six runways and a passenger capacity of more
than 120 million, is under construction.
THE RISE AND RISE OF DUBAI
New hotels, bigger convention space, the world's tallest building " what will be next?Ruth Williams reports
