Target: international guests

That 48-sheet poster site on Sheikh Zayed Road in Dubai, or that backlit panel at the airport, might look very appealing (and especially to the top management who like to see the brand visibility when they drive to the hotel in the morning, or when they transit through the airport); but what is the benefit to a hotel group targeting international business and leisure travellers from other countries? (No answer required — it’s a rhetorical question).

With Dubai on target to attract 20 million visitors by 2020, rising from 13.2 million in 2014, local hoteliers are set to continue to benefit from a pipeline of visitors, with airbus-loads of business people and tourists flocking to the emirate, courtesy of Emirates Airline and other carriers.

If you are a Dubai-based hotelier, you are very lucky and should benefit from the rising appeal of the destination — 75% of tourists need accommodation — and with this comes opportunity but also the responsibility to support Dubai’s international tourism efforts and the need to differentiate your brand amongst those travellers who are already predisposed to the emirate.

The time and place to do this is in pre-booking trip research stage in the guest’s home market, not on arrival. Communicating relevant and engaging content, and where possible in the native language, is where digital comes in.

The same approach applies to any destination but let’s look at Dubai as a model. According to the Dubai Annual Visitor report 2014 (published mid 2015), Dubai visitor numbers are growing year-on-year at 8.2%, almost double the global average (4.7%), so the fundamentals are strong.

However, these are challenging times for international travel destinations in some parts of the world. The weak global economy, currency exchange rates, and some more localised issues such as the those affecting Russia, and increasing competition from other destinations, all make the effort that much harder.

But this is balanced by increases in the number of inbound tourists from Dubai’s well established source markets — the UK and Germany — and from Eastern Europe (visa restrictions have been eased).

All of this means that Dubai continues to rise in global rankings of destinations most visited by international travellers; Dubai was ranked in the top five alongside London, Bangkok, Paris, and Singapore (MasterCard Global Destination Cities Index 2014) and is on target to overtake to enter the top three in the next five years, based on current trends.

The report confirms that the top 10 feeder markets are vital for business and leisure, whilst emerging travel source countries for Dubai including China, Nigeria, Brazil, and Eastern Europe are growing strongly. So, the emirate has a good mix of visitors and a diversified set of source markets, who mainly come for leisure (59%) but also business (21%).

Digging deeper into the report gives us a clue as to where and how to focus marketing activity, to follow and help support Dubai’s overseas promotion and build guest visits to a property.

For example, the female traveller segment is very buoyant and with the top source markets for female visitors to Dubai being the UK, Saudi Arabia, and India — confirmation that not all female visitors may be looking for the same visit experience. Dubai has the female-appeal factor women also stay longer, which adds to the segment’s attractiveness.

A great example of Dubai Tourism targeting women in its marketing is the ‘Girl’s Guide to Dubai’, produced specially for the Australian premium market and highlighting family- and female-friendly options.

Families represent 47% of total tourists to Dubai, and the average party size of 2.5 visitors sends a strong signal to the marketing department, (depending on the type and positioning of the hotel property, of course).