The Dubai Shopping Festival, the 20th edition of the event and running until February 1, is set to once again attract visitors from around the world.
For hotels in the emirate, the month-long festival provides a strong kick-start to the year, with the organiser Dubai Festivals and Retail Establishment, an agency of the Department of Tourism and Commerce Marketing, promoting it to some key markets.
Hotelier Middle East reached out to one of the city’s most high-profile luxury hotels, The Oberoi, Dubai to find out from general manager Karim Bizid just how important the event is.
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What sort of impact does the Dubai Shopping Festival have on visitor numbers and are you expecting it to lift occupancy numbers this month?
The Dubai Shopping Festival is turning Dubai into a haven for domestic and international shopping. In particular from the travel and hotel industries, the festivities are creating an upswing of occupancies at hotels that benefit from the increased number of visitors during January.
In line with what Dubai Tourism and Emirates Airline forecast, we are awaiting a very positive outcome, The Oberoi, Dubai expects an additional leap in occupancy levels during the Dubai Shopping Festival. As a Luxury Brand, we are looking forward to welcoming visitors who are staying during the month of January to benefit from the exclusive Dubai Shopping Festival promotions.
What kind of visitors does it typically attract? Dubai’s tourism authorities put a lot of focus on China, India and Russia in the initial promotional stages for DSF. Have you seen this reflected in bookings?
The Oberoi Group is a luxury brand which attracts travellers from all over the world who are used to a consistent luxury services. We are delighted to welcome international travellers, reaching out to a wider audience and new markets across the world including Saudi Arabia, Russia, China, Hong Kong and other parts of Asia.
The established markets are mainly GCC and CIS. India undoubtedly remains a very strong source because of our strong brand presence throughout the Indian sub-continent. However, we have experienced a key market increase from China and other Asian countries in the recent years.
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