Dubai’s aggressive promotional and marketing campaign is set to pick up momentum with the Dubai Department of Tourism and Commerce Marketing (DTCM) participating in nine major overseas exhibitions in addition to organizing exclusive road shows in 13 countries from September to December 2004.

Dubai will continue to be in the global spotlight as more than 500,000 tourism and travel trade decision-makers and general public are expected to attend these specialized shows across the world during this period.

The DTCM Director Operations and Marketing, Mr. Mohammed Khamis bin Hareb, said: “Showcasing Dubai in so many places around the world in four months might look unbelievable, but this is exactly what we have set out for ourselves as part of our aggressive promotional agenda. There is no full stop in our marketing lexicon. In 2004, we added four more exhibitions to our participation list in addition to organizing road shows in a few more countries.”

He added: “We spare no efforts to showcase our strengths in any place. Our efforts have brought recognition to the emirate as the most-visited global destination in terms of travel and business. We continue to devote our energies and resources to attract more visitors and businesses to Dubai from established and emerging markets.”

The DTCM Manager Overseas Promotions, Mr. Khalifa Ali Buamaim, said: “The first major exhibition that Dubai will participate in the month of September is Leisure-2004 in Moscow. The four-day Russian Travel and Tourism Exhibition from September 22 will help tap the Russian market which continues to post year-on-year growth over the past decade.”

The second show in September is Japan Association of Travel Agents (JATA) exhibition in Tokyo from September 24 to 26. This will be followed by Incentive Travel and Meeting Executives (IT&ME 2004) exhibition in Chicago in the US from September 28 to 30. Dubai will have a major presence in Top Resa-2004 show in Deauville, France from September 30.

The month of October will see Dubai’s participation in Swiss Travel and Tourism Fair (TTW-2004) in Montreux, Switzerland from October 27 to 28. The following month will see Dubai’s participation in the three-day Sea Trade Mediterranean-2004 show in Genoa, Italy.

This will be followed by one of the biggest-ever presence in the World Travel Market (WTM-2004) in London from November 8 to 11. In the same month, Dubai will also make its presence felt in a strong way in the European Incentive Business and Travel Meetings (EIBTM-2004) exhibition in Barcelona, Spain, from November 30 to December 2.

The emirate’s tourism strengths will be showcased in the International Luxury Travel Fair-2004 in Cannes, France from December 7 to 9. The department is also organizing a series of road shows in 13 countries all along its participation in major trade shows.

Three road shows will be conducted in Johannesburg, Durban and Cape Town from September 14 to 17. This will be followed by a series of road shows in Hong Kong, Malaysia and Singapore from October 4 to 8.

Eastern Europe will be the focus of road shows from October 25 to 27 with the promotional exercise taking place in Czech Republic, Hungary and Poland.

The month of December will see Dubai road shows in France, Bahrain, Kuwait, Qatar, Oman and Saudi Arabia.