DTCM Successfully Hosts an Additional 100 "Dubai Experts"

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. October 14, 2008

LONDON, UK, March 7, 2006. The Government of Dubai, Department of Tourism and Commerce Marketing (DTCM) has successfully hosted an additional 100 British travel agents - qualified "Dubai Experts" - on a familiarisation trip to Dubai (26-30 January 2006). This ongoing initiative, which is being run in conjunction with Emirates Airline, follows a similar familiarisation trip in October 2005 and illustrates the DTCM's continuing success in creating awareness and knowledge about Dubai as a premier tourist destination. A further 200 qualified travel executives are also scheduled to go to Dubai on familiarisation trips in June and September 2006 completing the series of four trips for 400 UK "Dubai Expert" travel agents.

Baerbel Kirchner, director of the UK and Ireland Office of the DTCM, commented that: "The UK is now Dubai's top tourist generating market with over 605,000 visitors in 2004. The Dubai Department of Tourism and Commerce Marketing recognises the importance of providing training and information about the emirate to the travel industry to ensure that this trend continues."

"The DTCM has set new standards since the launch of the Dubai Expert Training programme in March 2005 with over 2,500 organisations registered - almost 800 tour operator reservation staff and some 1,750 travel agents - that have successfully completed 9383.5 hours of training to date. By hosting 400 of our top "Dubai Experts" on four familiarisation trips in Dubai, we are showing our commitment to the travel trade for further training which will, in turn, help executives to increase sales," she concluded.

Each fam trip is arranged by the DTCM with support from Dubai-based organisations for 100 top-scoring, qualified "graduates" from the UK who have passed both levels of the comprehensive 18 module course. On the familiarisation trips, agents gain experience of Dubai's product leading to destination knowledge.

Emirates are providing all 400 seats for the series of four educationals. The Dubai Experts are travelling from three of its five UK departure airports: Heathrow, Gatwick and Birmingham enabling them to sample some of the airline's direct routes from the UK and its award-winning in-flight service.

The newly qualified Dubai Experts provided positive feedback about the trip with comments including Desislava Peneva, travel consultant from Thomas Cook, saying: "The familiarisation trip was well organised, informative and enjoyable. We visited a selection of fantastic hotels which is extremely useful for our work. The additional meetings and activities also helped us gain a better insight into the history and culture of Dubai".

The DTCM manager of Inward Missions, Hamad bin Mejren, gave a presentation in January to the "Dubai Experts" on the emirate's socio-economic aspects and also focussed with the main sponsors on Dubai's key tourism and leisure projects. While Alpha Tours organised the ground handling which included a city tour, desert safari & dune dinner, and dhow dinner cruise. The groups stayed at a mixture of beach and marina hotels - Habtoor Grand Resort & Spa, Jumeirah Beach Hotel, Le Meridien Grosvenor House and Le Royal Meridien Beach Resort & Spa. Hotel site inspections and other meals were provided by Al Khaleej Palace Hotel, Burj Al Arab, Fairmont Dubai, Le Meridien Mina Seyahi Beach Resort & Marina, Madinat Jumeirah, One&Only Royal Mirage and Shangri-La.

To receive an application form and more information about the Dubai Expert training programme, e-mail [email protected] with name, company, address and telephone number.