DTCM to prioritise Russian market

Eyad Ali Abdurahman, Executive Director of Media Relations and Business Development of the Department of Tourism and Commerce Marketing, talks about the Dubai tourist market and increasing tourist inflow from Russia, other CIS and Baltic States

How has Dubai benefited from the Russian tourist market in terms of tourist revenue?

We in DTCM consider the Russia, CIS and Baltic States market as a priority.  According to the number of tourists to Dubai during the past few years, RCB ranks second after UK among tourists from Europe. A distinguishing feature of Russian tourists is that they spend a lot of money in hotels, food outlets and shopping malls above the cost of their trips.  We don`t have any official statistics regarding level of expenses outside the hotel by Russian tourists, however according to some estimates, they may range from minimal USD 1,000 to USD 10, 000 or more per family per week.

With the DTCM participating in many big exhibitions and events in Russia like the recent Leisure exhibition and the MITT event, what are you doing to promote Dubai to Russian tourists and how are you helping do this in terms of events/activities?

It is significant that our office in Moscow covers all the Republics of former USSR and participates in all major exhibitions, such as MITT, Leisure, CIS Travel Market (St-Petersburg) in Russia; UITT and “Ukraine”  in Kiev, Ukraine, KITF in Almaty, Kazakhstan, Tourbusiness in Minsk, Belarus, AITF in Azerbaijan as well as travel exhibitions in Baltic States (Latvia, Lithuania, Estonia).

Concerning general public, DTCM Russia implements Print Media Campaign as well as   tactical campaigns dedicated to DSF, DSS and Kids go free (for the second year). DTCM Russia also increases the variety and numbers of brochures produced locally in Russian, Ukrainian and Baltic languages.  

How has the Russian tourist market been this year?  

In 2010 RCB market was doing very well.  Dubai Hotel Establishment Statistics shows 17% increase in the number of tourist from RCB during the first half of 2010.  

With the recent launch of flyDubai’s new route to prominent Russian cities, in your opinion, on an average how many Russian tourists do you expect will visit the country?

We expect an increase in the number of tourists from Russia until the end of this year. For the time being experts predict a growth in demand for trips to Dubai during the New Year and Christmas holidays among Russian tourists.
As for flyDubai, we hope that its flights to Samara and Yekaterinburg will contribute to meet the growing demand for travel to Dubai on these destinations.

How has the DTCM explored other Russian cities and CIS markets to bring tourists to Dubai/UAE?  

For 15 year of its activity, DTCM-Russia has covered practically all the territory of Russia, CIS and Baltic states from Kaliningrad enclave in the West to Russian Far East with Khabarovsk and Vladivostok which is nearly 50 cities. In order to imagine the scale of the market it is suffice to say that the duration of the flight from Kaliningrad to Vladivostok is about 11 hours.

With the world’s tallest building, the largest man-made islands and various other attractions, is there any particular tourist attraction the DTCM has promoted to the Russian tourists visiting Dubai?

There is no doubt that all the record-breaking attractions as Burj Khalifa, Dubai Mall, Burj Al Arab, Ski Dubai and others constitute a significant part in Dubai’s promotion that the DTCM implements on the territory of RCB. Not less important is to attract tourist to large events being held in Dubai, such as DSF, Dubai World Cup, Dubai Air Show, Omega Dubai Desert Classic, Tennis Championships, etc.

How does the Department of Commerce & Marketing support the local tour operators who are bringing in Russian and CIS tourists?

In particular, DTCM Russia has established the Dubai Tourism Club with the participation of leading tour operators specializing in Dubai destination. In the framework of this Club, DTCM-Russia holds regular meetings for maintaining relations with tour operators.
Besides, DTCM engages local tour operators to participate in some events by granting  opportunities to work on the DTCM  stand at local exhibitions, holds joint trainings with tour operators for their agencies and implements joint advertising campaigns.