Dubai continues to target Chinese tourists

Tourism chiefs in Dubai will reach out to Chinese holidaymakers in a bid to swell the city's visitor numbers in the coming years.Although the emirate is already one of the most popular destinations in the Middle East, Dubai Tourism and Commerce Marketing (DTCM) is keen to persuade even more people to take a vacation in the emirate.Director general of the state-run body Helal Saeed Almarri said China is “a market of the future” for Dubai, Xinhua reports.Hoteliers throughout the region are already tailoring packages with Asian travellers specifically in mind and this is a trend that is likely to gather pace in the coming years.Last year, the city attracted 300,000 Chinese visitors, which was a 26 per cent increase on 2011, according to figures provided by the DTCM.As you would perhaps expect, Dubai is inundated with tourists during the Chinese New Year celebrations and statistics show that 60 per cent of guests at the seven-star Burj Al Arab hotel at this time of year are Chinese.A spokesperson for the five-star Armani Hotel told the news provider that people from the Asian country are particularly keen to stay in resorts that have Chinese restaurants and Mandarin-speaking staff, so this is something that other hotel owners will have to consider if they are to successfully tap into this market.While China is clearly a crucial market for the DTCM, Mr Almarri suggested that people are flooding in from other parts of the world too.”Visitors from India and Africa are also poised to generate the necessary momentum to reach the ambitious goal expressed by Dubai ruler His Highness Sheikh Mohammed Bin Rashid Al-Maktoum,” he was quoted as saying.Overall, Dubai is aiming to double the number of holidaymakers spending time in the city to 20 million by 2020 and with a plethora of exciting new developments nearing completion, the emirate is certainly going the right way about attracting more and more visitors. Taylor Scott International