2017 in a nutshell!

This year whizzed past more rapidly than expected. In the Middle East, travel, tourism and hospitality sectors enjoyed quite a good growth over the year. Although summer depends on staycations or domestic tourism in terms of business, this year proved to be more lucrative. This was possible due to the strategic planning behind the retail tourism special ‘summer promotions’ which attracted tourists from all over the world. Another factor of increased tourism is the visa-free facility for Russia and China which created an influx of tourists from these destinations.

Through the year all stakeholders have been busy exploring new opportunities and markets that are more relevant and diverse, to offer something different to the clientele. Some of the key highlights over the year in the UAE affirms its stand to become the number one destination in the world. The opening of the much-anticipated Louvre Abu Dhabi on November 11, 2017, was a significant strategy staged at a perfect time when art and cultural tourism seems to have been submerging in certain pockets of the world. It was soon followed by Dubai Airshow where the partnership between Emirates and Mercedes Benz was unveiled.

The Airshow was marked by gamechanging deals from start to finish. Airbus revealed its largest single announcement ever – a $49.5 billion deal with Indigo Partners to purchase 430 aircraft in its A320neo family. Dubai’s investment in technology and developing a “smart world” over the next few years is a steady growth plan which could attract many new markets to the destination. This year’s GITEX bore witness as they displayed the “flying taxi” by RTA Dubai for the first time, with smart gates at the airport getting even smarter with facial recognition just by walking through a tunnel which would be effective over the next few years. The innovative “smart city” of the new future was also among the GITEX presentations where the latest features were shown to the visitors for the first time.

Closing the year again on a positive note for an even better 2018!