New rating system to open Dubai to budget tourists

The new Dubai hotel classifications system, due to be published by the Dubai Department of Tourism and Commerce Marketing (DTCM) by the end of the year, will include budget categories to cater to more cost-conscious tourists. 

"We have a budget airline so we have to have budget hotels — we need them to benchmark Dubai with global destinations," DTCM director — hotel classifications Majid Al Marri told Hotelier Middle East.

"We will go with the market, if there are budget travellers we must be ready for that and have a budget category for them," he added.

The new system includes a Youth-Hostel category, described in the official classification overview as "a budget-orientated, social guest accommodation"; a Student Campus category, defined as "student dormitories or bedrooms rented (sometimes with meals) to tourists or the general public by a college or university"; and Self-Catering Accommodation, outlined as "a converted house, studio, villa or similar guest accommodation". 

Al Marri stressed that Dubai would still be a "luxury destination" but the tourism authority must "work with the partners and industry we already have".