Dubai Shopping Festival 2011 Starts its Regional Promotional Road Show

• Tour to cover seven major markets covering GCC countries, Egypt and India
• Number of GCC tourists to Dubai increases by 20% while Indian tourists by 26%

The Dubai Events and Promotions Establishment (DEPE), an agency under the Department of Economic Development (DED) and organisers of the Dubai Shopping Festival (DSF), announced the beginning of the regional promotional road show for the 16th edition of the Dubai Shopping Festival 2011 which is being held from 20th January to 20th February 2011.

The regional promotional road show starts with the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia and ends with India on January 6, 2011. It will also include visits to Bahrain, Kuwait, Qatar, Oman, and Egypt. Emirates are taking part in the road shows promoting various travel and tour packages for the 32- day extravaganza.

Ibrahim Saleh, Festivals Coordinator General and Deputy CEO of Dubai Events and Promotions Establishment (DEPE), who will lead the road show tours, stated that the purpose behind organizing the annual road show was to promote the events and attractions of DSF regionally.

“We usually conduct an in-depth analysis and study of our largest tourist arrival destinations and markets to meet their requirements and aspirations before we start any regional or global promotional road shows for Dubai Shopping Festival (DSF), Dubai Summer Surprises (DSS) or Eid in Dubai,” he said, stressing that these markets were selected to promote DSF 2011 as they constitute Dubai’s largest tourist arrival market.

“We plan to communicate the mixture of activities, promotions, shopping and events that will be on offer in DSF 2011 to the media, travel agencies and tour operators in these countries in an effort to attract more visitors to Dubai,” Saleh explained.

He further said that Dubai Shopping Festival has played a major role in reviving and boosting the tourism and retail industries in Dubai. Dubai’s signature event has attracted more than 40 million visitors from various nationalities and recorded a consumer spending of over AED 84 billion since its start in 1996.

“More than 6000 retail outlets in addition to around 50 shopping malls will offer sale and discounted prices of up to 75% on a wide range of goods and services,” he stressed.

Ahmed Khoory, Emirates’ Senior Vice President Gulf, Middle East and Iran said: “Emirates has been a major sponsor of the Dubai Shopping Festival since its inception in 1996. We are proud to once again be involved with this incredible event as part of our commitment to the development of Dubai as a world-class tourist destination.”

“During DSF 2011 Emirates is offering a ‘Stay 4, Pay 3’ promotion which includes some of the best beach and city hotels in Dubai. The package includes accommodations for four nights for the price of three, airport transfers to and from the hotel by private car, and an Arabian Adventures welcome pack, apart from numerous other benefits. This promotion can only be availed during DSF with prices starting from just $55 per person per night based on double occupancy,” he added.

“The Emirates package during DSF 2011 is a unique ‘Stay 4, Pay 3’ promotion including some of the best known hotels in Dubai. The package includes accommodation for four nights for the price of three, airport transfers to and from the hotel, and an Arabian Adventures welcome pack, apart from numerous other benefits. This promotion can only be availed during DSF with prices starting from just $55 per person per night,” he added.

The latest statistics from the Department of Tourism and Commerce Marketing (DTCM) in Dubai show a 20% increase in the number of Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) visitors staying at Dubai hotels during the first six months of 2010 compared to the same period in 2009. Also, figures of visitors from Egypt were up by 5% and by 26% from India during the same period.

The number of hotels and hotel apartments increased by 7% to 566 establishments in the period between January to June 2010, compared to 530 establishments in the same period in 2009. This saw total hotel rooms increase from 58,188 rooms to 67,369, marking a 16% increase of 9181 rooms, according to the same statistics.