Dubai tourism holds roadshow in Kerala, expects more Indians to visit gulf emirate

Dubai expects more Indians to visit the gulf emirate in coming months as the festival season of Onam, Diwali and even the Qatar world cup is around the corner

Dubai is witnessing a lot of potential in connection with stopover tourism and plans to encourage it, Bader Ali Habib, the Head of South Asia International Operations of the Dubai Department of Economy and Tourism said. Habib, who was here as part of the Dubai Department of economy and Tourism's roadshow, said Dubai expects more Indians to visit the gulf emirate in coming months as the festival season of Onam, Diwali and even the Qatar world cup were round the corner.

Explaining the importance of the roadshow, Habib said the Dubai Tourism department wants to build inroads in the Kerala market, where they see a lot of potential. "We want to give out a message to the people of Kerala that we are here and very very keen to develop and further enhance our relationship with you, specially the travel and trade industry. We believe you have a big travel and trade industry here," Habib told PTI.

The Dubai tourism contingent had visited the state on August 25 and 26 to hold interactions with the outbound tourism agencies of the state. "We see a lot of demand not only for visiting Dubai but for stopovers as well. A lot of Indians look at Dubai as a stopover destination. We do realise that there is a potential there as well. A lot of Indians look into spending two-three or four nights in Dubai before they continue their journey to the west. I think that's a big opportunity," Habib told PTI.

He said if an Indian comes to Dubai for the first time and gets to experience it for two-three days, "we know for sure that they would wanna come back". "We are confident that the kind of experience they will get in Dubai will encourage them to come back," he said, adding that the emirate was providing a customised tourism package for anyone.

The Dubai official said the tourism agents here engaged in discussions with the stakeholders from there and aimed to develop a relationship in order to identify what more can be done for the customers based on their preferences. He said this year alone they had hosted over 8,52,000 overnight visitors out of India and expects more in the coming festival seasons.