Recall that at the end of March in Moscow was held the XIII annual International Exhibition of Travel and Tourism (Moscow International Travel & Tourism). The Dubai Department of Tourism and Commercial Marketing (DTKM) received the high title "Best National Tourism Office in Russia". The editors of Russian Emirates magazine were pleased to congratulate S. G. Kanayev, director of the representative office of DTKM in Russia, the CIS and the Baltic states, and to talk about the activities of the Department.
Dear Sergey Georgievich! Could you tell us more about this merit? What are the main factors, in your opinion, for the first time affect the decision of readers of TTG-Russia.
For the second year in a row, the representative office of the Department of Tourism and Commercial Marketing of Dubai in Russia has received a prestigious award. The organizers of the MITT exhibition (ITE and the professional tourist newspaper TTG-Russia) in the framework of the annual Russian Travel Industry Awards awarded it in the nomination "Best Foreign Travel Representation". These prizes were established over seven years ago. Their peculiarity is that they are awarded based on the results of a readership poll conducted by the TTG-Russia newspaper during the year, i.e. among travel agencies that regularly receive newspapers. And there are 12 thousand of them after all! This fact alone makes the prize prestigious. On the other hand, we are pleased that our work is visible to professionals in the tourism business and they highly value its quality. This is a common merit of the employees of the Moscow representative office and the main office in Dubai engaged in promoting the principality as a tourist destination in the markets of Russia and the CIS.
We would like to learn more about the activities of the Department of Tourism and Commercial Marketing of Dubai in Russia. What was undertaken by the Department to constantly increase the number of arriving Russian tourists, in particular over the past year?
The activities of our representative office cover a vast territory - Russia, the CIS and the Baltic states. Over the years, the strategy of representation has been to expand its presence in the regions. Accordingly, the number of events in which we participated or which we carried out increased. One of the most successful in recent years was the Road Show, which covered the main cities of southern and central Russia. It was a trip from a number of Dubai travel companies and hotels with a series of presentations and business meetings. In my opinion, then we achieved the main thing - the confidence of the regions in our area. But the regions make up 75% of the total flow of tourists from Russia to Dubai!
This year we are considering the possibility of holding such an event again, focusing this time on the cities of Siberia and the Urals.
Many believe that representing the Principality of Dubai, we work with ease, we have a very large budget. This is actually not the case. Our budget is more than modest, especially compared to our competitors. But we successfully work and compete even with those countries that allocate millions of euros to the Russian market. Remember the saying of Alexander Vasilievich Suvorov "fight not with number, but with skill"? This is how we try to act.
What today can attract Dubai sophisticated Russian tourist? What are the improvements and updates of the tourism business in Dubai expressed, if you do not take into account the opening of new travel agencies and hotel complexes?
You see, Dubai has a special place in the ranking of tourism priorities. There are no historical monuments like the pyramids, the Acropolis or the Coliseum, there are no mountain landscapes of Switzerland or the purest lakes of Finland, but Dubai attracts more and more tourists from year to year, not only from Russia but also from around the world. Because the modern generation of tourists more often wants to look into the future than the past - and where, if not in Dubai, you can see this future!
The phenomenon of Dubai lies precisely in the fact that there is not what is in other countries. It has a special flavor, its own exotic. Among the main advantages of Dubai is its traditional hospitality and a high level of comfort. Recently, the level of security has become increasingly important.
With increasing demand for the Dubai destination, hotel prices have also risen markedly. Has Dubai in recent years turned into an expensive destination with a standard set of services for any world resort?I agree with you: Dubai is not a cheap destination. And it would be wrong to compare it with Turkey. But despite the fact that Dubai has a rather high price position on the Russian market, it has a huge advantage over many other expensive or exclusive destinations - this is the optimal price-quality ratio! The high price not only implies, but also provides high quality guarantees. I think that it is quality that is appreciated by many tourists who make their choice in favor of Dubai. On the other hand, one should not forget that Dubai, with its developed network of hotels and apartments, awaits guests with a very wide range of budget options. It’s no secret that for the most part tourists from Russia stay in hotels for three or four “stars”.
The Department of Tourism is not only engaged in increasing the flow of tourists wishing to visit the UAE, but also ensures that Dubai hotels and travel companies maintain a high level of service. Do you work with complaints about the poor quality of service from tourists and Russian travel companies? Are there many such complaints?
The Department has a Department of Business Development, whose functions include receiving and handling complaints. If the facts of violations by hotels or Dubai travel companies are confirmed, then the measures are very strict. But I want to tell you that in recent years we have received only isolated complaints. To count them, enough fingers of one hand, and even then a couple will remain!
Are there unresolved problems today that adversely affect the increase in the flow of tourists to the UAE? What are these problems? What is being done to eliminate them?
Yes, there are problems. Over the past 2-3 years, the flow of tourists to Dubai has grown so much that even with the highest construction rates in Dubai, the number of hotel rooms does not keep up with demand. On the one hand, this indicates the success of the destination, and on the other, some tourists cannot realize their needs. There is no doubt that the grandiose construction the city has turned into, including its coastal waters, will serve to solve this problem. I have no doubt that in the very near future it will be successfully resolved, and the number of guests will almost double.
Everything seems to be known about the holidays in the Emirates. But lately, businessmen and investors have been drawn to Dubai. This has become especially noticeable in the last two years, since the start of real estate sales to foreigners. Does the DTCM relate to this category of tourists, and if so, what is being done for them? What can Dubai offer businessmen and investors today?
Dubai has always been an attractive destination for businessmen and investors. It is no accident that about 50 major international exhibitions are held here annually, an effective telecommunications network, a reliable banking system, new free economic zones with attractive conditions and guarantees for foreign investors have been created here. According to some estimates, at least 1/3 of all visitors to Dubai are businessmen. Therefore, the assertion that they only reached here a year or two ago can only be attributed to the Russian market.
Attracting foreign business to Dubai is also one of the Department’s tasks. In the framework of its implementation, representative offices abroad provide a number of free services (in fact, all the services of Representative Offices are free): they provide advice on starting and running a business, help you get lists of potential partners, and provide other information about the country that interests businessmen. We also try to stimulate interest in Dubai for those travel companies that work with corporate clients or specialize in the MICE sector (meetings, Incentive, Conferences, Exhibitions), i.e. the so-called business tourism. The acquisition of real estate in Dubai is a new phenomenon that can really affect the priorities of our work, but for now we are providing assistance to those Dubai companies that are seeking to enter the Russian market with proposals for the sale of real estate.
