Issam Kazim and post-Covid tourism in Dubai

We know that it appeals to Instagrammers, Russian oligarchs, wealthy Indian tourists and luxury shopping enthusiasts. But Dubai turned out to be little more than a bling-bling destination or a three-day stopover to relax between flights to Asia. The city and the eponymous Emirate welcome millions of tourists each year, the time of longer stays, including families, couples (even those who don’t care about their number of followers on Instagram) and more and more visitors. French especially in the world of post-Covid tourism.

This is even more true since the reopening of its borders last July, after several months of confinement. While they appeared at the 11^e place in the ranking of the most represented nationalities among tourists to Dubai, our compatriots made their entry into the top 5 in 2020 with a peak of 14,000 visitors for more than one night in October.

This success, which does not apply only to French tourists, Dubai owes it to its management of the health crisis. Among the first countries to test and apply strict health measures, the Emirate has managed to position itself as one of the most obvious destinations for tourists who want to forget about the pandemic.

CEO of Destination Marketing Department of Tourism and Commerce in Dubai Since its creation in 2013, Issam Kazim, former salesman and instigator of Dubai Music Week, has participated in the tourism boom in Dubai. Seven years ago, the Emirate welcomed 10 million visitors. In 2019, Dubai saw 16.73 million tourists pass through. He takes stock, with us, of the situation in the Emirate at the time of the global health crisis and a little less than a year before the organization of the Universal Exhibition.

Containment. “Dubai very quickly started the tests and applied drastic measures. This allowed us to build a solid foundation to help us bounce back faster. In May, we opened domestic tourism, which was a life-size test of our sanitary measures, and in July, we opened our doors to the international market. From a marketing standpoint, we didn’t want to disconnect with our fans. It was important to show that we too were confined, with the slogan “we are all in this together”. We thus shared photos of emblematic places of the city emptied of their tourists. At the same time, the authorities highlighted their efforts: tests, measurements, figures.

Then we started a second phase of marketing, with “ready when you are”, “we are ready to welcome you when you are ready to come”. This campaign followed our exploration of search engines. Indeed, we found that after two months of confinement, the public wanted to leave again, and that Dubai was among the most popular destinations. The third phase is right now. We must reassure tourists, prove to them that we have put in place all the measures that will allow them to spend their holidays without worrying about the virus: we take care of everything.

Also, the crisis has allowed us to free up time to work on long-standing projects, in particular our program aimed at attracting companies that vOr would like to relocate to Dubai taking advantage of a pleasant climate and the best infrastructure. “

Post-Covid tourism in Dubai, the world after

Good management of the health crisis. ” Tourism is a dynamic industry, especially in Dubai. For example, our economy is modeled on the US dollar. So some countries in our top 5 foreign tourists may have currency problem and overnight Dubai can get too expensive for them. So we are forced to work in other markets. This example illustrates the fact that we only ever have one plan. We have plans A, B and C that we are pursuing in parallel. This gymnastics helped us to overcome, a little better than other tourist destinations, the health and economic crises of 2020. In 2021, we will continue to observe the evolution of the pandemic and especially to observe the management of it by other countries, to focus our communications on the states that are doing the best. “

Hotels. ” Normally, we already organize regular meetings with the hotel business partners. But during the confinement, these meetings have become weekly! During the crisis, we thus supported the hotels in the application of health measures and the logistics of the secure reception of visitors. Today, the most popular hotels and all beachfront hotels are open or will open in the coming weeks. One of the secrets of Dubai’s success is the dialogue between public and private. Those who want to invest in tourism in Dubai can ask us any questions they want and each time a new establishment opens, we meet with the owner and the hotel group to offer them a personalized service so that they understand how it works. of Dubai, visitor expectations and what will and will not work. “

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