Dubai continues to find its place among the top five holiday destinations for people who are looking at their next holiday, with restriction on air travel easing, and airlines resuming their usual flights, a senior official said.
"World tourism has witnessed an unprecedented negative trend, not seen since World War II. These types of shocks are something that have not been planned by tourism sector globally. We need to work hard to bring back confidence to the sector. However, there are positive indicators. We have seen a lot of online travel agency and other travel sites showing that demand for Dubai is very high and we are among the top five cities that people are looking at as their next holiday destination," said Helal Saeed Almarri, director-general of Dubai Tourism.
“We are definitely ready and prepared for the next stage and are ready to welcome guests,” he added.
He further appreciated the crisis committee for having the highest level of COVID-19 test and for the best level of healthcare and attention given to travel ecosystem to ensure that the right system is being followed, so that people can feel relaxed.
Although no date has been officially announced for opening up the emirate for tourists, a complete re-opening may happen only post COVID-19, Almarri said.
In the past few days, Dubai has begun to reopen tourism facilities, including holiday homes, hotels and beaches.
Although areas like spas, kids play areas and pools are yet to open up, Dubai is following the best global safety standards and security across all stages of travel after reopening. The markets will however open not just based on when the emirate is ready, but also when everybody else are ready to open their markets, he added.
Highlighting the aviation industry trends, he said that group travel may see a decline, and more individual travellers may travel particularly in places like Russia and China.
