Local Experiences Boost Persian Gulf Tourism

Persian Gulf states must combine their newly-built attractions with cultural offerings to maximize tourism potential, delegates at Arabian Travel Market were urged. During a panel session entitled “The Real Deal: Why Selling Local Experiences Matters, Issam Kazim, chief executive of the Dubai Corporation for Tourism and Commerce Marketing, revealed the emirate had welcomed 4.6 million visitors for the first quarter of the year–an 11% boost on the same period in 2016, TTG Media reported. Kazim told delegates the rise resulted from promoting local experiences more. “We have focused a lot on highlighting the key propositions that already existed in Dubai, that not many people were familiar with, things that residents and locals took for granted,” he said. During the discussion, panelists also agreed on the importance of social media and online bloggers in helping stoke demand for local experiences. The significance of so-called “social media influencers” was also hailed when experts examined digital tourism campaigns in the region, including #MyDubai and the Visit Abu Dhabi app, available in 10 languages. Andy Levey, the head of marketing at Dragone, said, “[Using smartphones] is an efficient and easy way to really publish what’s going on”.