Dubai Shopping Festival 2002 : More Hype, Incentives to lure Global Visitors

Will DSF 2002 attract more global tourists?

Is it time for extravaganza?

keralamonitor.com

Dubai: The United Arab Emirates is getting ready for the seventh Dubai Shopping Festival DSF 2002 from March 1 to 31. The Chief Operating Officer of DSF, Ibrahim Saleh has been engaged in a regional tour with representatives of leading hotels, travel agencies and tour companies in Dubai.

This year, the event will take place at a time when the travel and tourism sector is witnessing very very serious problems after September 11 Twin Tower crash. Since the Dubai Shopping Festival 2001 did not evoke as much interest as the DSF 2000, the organisers are enhancing the advertisement campaign in different parts of the world through different mediums.

'Dubai pioneered the concept of shopping festival by packaging entertainment, shopping promotions, culture and heritage in one single exciting event. Visitor shave a wide choice of high standard activities in a spectacular festival that has targeted visitors from across the globe," he said.DSF theme 'One World One Family One Festival' appears to the most misplaced concept in the current international events leading to polarisation of countries and people on the basis of religion, nationality and other factors. This trend is more visible in the Middle East region, where the escalating Palestinian Crisis, is sharpening this psychological divide. Realizing this unfavourable international and regional situation, the DSF organisers have including many new events and new enhancements on a bigger scale to lure more visitors to DSF 2002.

It may be noted that a number of high profile Exhibitions held in Dubai following the September 11 attack like the Big-A did not evoke keen interest among the usual participants. Due to large scale cancellation of tourist bookings, regional events like the Muscat Festival have been either cancelled or postponed. An exception was the Dubai Aviation Show, which evoked keen interest due to the military nature of business. It is a common belief that whenever there is increased international and regional tension, military spending will go up, especially in a region where security threat is more than anything else. Experts feel that the ordinary consumer behaviour is entirely diffierent in a crisis like situation filled with fear and uncertainty.

Dubai has an excellent infrastructure and tourism attractions, making it an ideal venue for organising shopping festivals like DSF. The event has been successful in brining visitors who love the ease and convenience in travel, accommodation, service and facilities. In order to attract more visitors, DSF has lined up new events based on the them of One World One Family One Festival, to provide a rich diversify to visitors coming from all corners of the globe. Other attractions of DSF 2002 are the Global Village, the Heritage Village, Carpet Oasis and spectacular fireworks over Dubai Creeks. Another highlight of DSF 2002 is the opening of the Children's City, the first and biggest dedicated entertainment venue for kids in the Middle East.

"DSF 2002 will have many new activities, specially those pertaining to art and culture, as part of our commitment to creating something unqieu for each festival' said Saleh. A new production of Caracalla's Two Thousand and One Nights will be premiered in Dubai during the Festival, offering top quality stage entertainment, he said. The Global Village, one of the important projects of DSF, has been moved to a more spacious venue at Dubai Festival City. Big Arab Singers will take part in dialy programmes -Layali Dubai-organised by Dubai TV. In addition there will be Asian and Iranian singers.

'The opening ceremony of DSF 2002 will be a big huge surprise in concept and execution, with inputs from some big names in international stage production,' he added. The usual sales promotions and raffles have been enhanced. The Lexus Mega Raffle will offer a daily prize of two luxury cars and cash with a total value of half a million Dhirams ($ 135,870).This year there will be a daily shopping linked promotion offering a daily price of Dhs. 100,000. Gold promotion will give away a total of 41 kgs of gold in prizes throughout March.

About 70 Dubai hotels are also gearing up to receive visitors by offering deep discounts on room rates ranging from 25 to 40 per cent and a special offer in which DSF visitors staying for three nights will get two nights free during Dubai Summer Surprises between June and August 2002. 'DSF 2002 will be the biggest tourism event that sets Dubai apart as a city that pioneered the concept of shopping festivals. The organisers are putting in great efforts to maintain its status and high standards,' said Saleh.

The DSF 2002 Marketing campaign seeks to reinforce Dubai's image as one of the best family holiday destinations, with focus on new markets, to increase the number of visitors from across the globe. 'The new DSF TV Commercial, which is being aired on all major regional and international channels, effectively conveys our objective of promoting Dubai as a place for celebration of the whole family. 'We have also been actively promoting DSF through international travel fairs and roadshows done by DTCM in France, Belgium and the Netherlands.' SAYS Saeed Al Nadouda, Chief Marketing Officer.

To attract more expatriates, Dubai Naturalisation and Residency Department has reduced the salary limit that makes Dubai residents eligible to bring their relatives to Dubai. During DSF, Dubai residents earning a monthly salary of Dhs 5000 and above can sponsor their families,' said Major Jassim Abdul Gafoor, ..Last year DSF authorities did not give visa to Indian expatriates, majority of whom earn less salary.During the current DSF period, where the expatriate workers morale is at a rock bottom level, due to a number of labour and visa restrictions imposed on expatriates.

It is to be seen whether such token steps by the UAE government will encourage them to spend their savings. Given the uncertainity about their future in the Gulf, many expatriates are keeping away from luxury and extravaganza. This is causing lower sales volume, plummeting profits and the closure a number of smaller and big super markets. The current global trend is more retrenchment, company closures and austerity measures. The Gulf region in general and the UAE in particular is not an exception to this global trend.

In this context, a study about DSF 2001 released by the UAE Government, raises many eyebrows. According to what is claimed to be an 'independent' study commissioned by the Government of Dubai, the number of overseas visitors to DSF 2001 increased to 728,000 from 650,000 in DSF 2000. According to the study, total number of visitors to the DSF increased by 50,000 from 2.5 to 2.55 million - a 2 per cent icnrease over DSF 200 figures. Arrivals by road from neighbouring countries remained constant. The total spending by shoppers increased by 5 per cent from Dhs.4.31 billion in DSF 2000 to Dhs.4.5 billion. The study shows that hotel revenues went up from Dhs 450 million in DSF 2000 to Dhs 480 million and expenditure on eating out rose by 20 per cent to Dhs 510 million. While DSF 2001 saw a larger turnout of visitors from Europe, South and South East Asia and from countries that have expatriate Arabs. The billion dollar question is whether, Europeans or Americans, who are going through a recessionary phase worse than the Great Depression of the 1930s will travel all the way to Dubai to participate in DSF 2002. Especially at a time when more and companies are firing thousands of workers in one day.