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More tourism features needed to attract Chinese travelers in Gulf region: expert

Xinhua, February 22, 2017 Adjust font size:

A Dubai-based tourism expert said on Wednesday that tourism hubs in the Gulf region shall maximize their reach into China, the so-called travel mega-market, by offering more Chinese-oriented tourism goods and services.

Simon Press, senior exhibition director of the Middle East's biggest tourism fair Arabian Travel Market (ATM) which is to take place here at the end of April, made the remarks in an e-mailed statement.

The expert said the Gulf Arab private sector is employing more and more Mandarin and Cantonese speaking staff to help ease the language barrier and more Chinese businesses are operating their Middle East and Africa operations from the UAE.

"Chinese travelers like to spend their vacation in places abroad where their language is spoken by hotel staff, tourist guides and retail salesmen," said Amit Dhamani, CEO of UAE-based gold and diamonds chain Dhamani, whose branches were the first jewelry outlets employing Chinese staff over a decade ago.

"With 4,000 mostly Chinese outlets, Dragon Mart retail center in Dubai is a fine example of this," added Press.

In the UAE metropolis Dubai, home of the famous seven-star hotel Burj Al Arab, 540,000 tourists arrived from China in 2016, up from 450,000 in 2015, according to the official government-controlled Dubai tourism body DTCM.

Elsewhere, the Sharjah commerce and tourism development authority is preparing to welcome as many as 200,000 Chinese visitors to the emirate by 2021.

"There is every reason to believe that China will maintain its position as a top source market, moving forward," said Press.

"Currently, 13 Chinese cities, including Beijing, Guangzhou, Shanghai and Shenzhen, as well as Hong Kong and Taipei, are connected to Dubai with more than 100 weekly flights," he added.

Initiatives such as the Qatar China 2016 Year of Culture have also helped boost the profile of Arab states, with arrivals into Doha from Asia and Oceania reaching 342,976 in the first half of last year, he said, adding that "it's crucial that tourist hubs throughout the Middle East maximize their reach into mega-markets such as China."

The UAE capital emirate Abu Dhabi, plans to attract 600,000 Chinese tourists a year by 2021. If realized, it would represent a 265 percent increase on the figures recorded for the first nine months of 2016, according to data from the emirate's Tourism and Culture Authority. Endit