The Director General of the Dubai Department of Tourism and Commerce Marketing (DTCM), Khalid A bin Sulayem, praised what he said was the unfaltering confidence of Saudi investors and businessmen in Dubai’s multi-million-dollar real estate and other infrastructure development projects.
Bin Sulayem said both sides were keen to take the mutually strong relationship to new heights.
Addressing a well-attended reception-and-presentation ceremony in Riyadh, organised by DTCM’s overseas representation office in Saudi Arabia to update influential Saudi market players about Dubai’s strengths and growth trends, Bin Sulayem said the year-on-year growth in Saudi guests to Dubai’s hotels reflected the growing bonds between the two GCC member-states.
The ceremony was organised as part of the initiative to create better networking opportunities between the DTCM KSA office and local businessmen, tour operators and investors. Located in Jeddah, the DTCM KSA office provides assistance and information to the travel trade, investors and others about Dubai.
Present at the event were DTCM director for operations and marketing Mohammed Khamis bin Hareb and senior DTCM officials in addition to key members of Saudi Arabia’s tourism industry, top investors, business and media organisations and ambassadors of Arab states.
Dubai hotels recorded seven per cent growth in Saudi guests in the year 2004.
There was a 9.2 per cent increase in the number of Saudi passengers utilising Dubai International Airport with over 800,000 passengers passing through the state-of-the-art airport in 2004.
Bin Sulayem said Saudi investors and businessmen had expressed strong confidence and interest in ambitious projects promoted by organisations such as Dubai Development and Investment Authority (Dubailand) and Nakheel (The World and The Palm).
Aly El Zayat, director of the DTCM KSA office, made a presentation on the evolution of Dubai, its strengths, its targets and the investment opportunities it offers to Gulf nationals. The presentation provided insights into the current situation as regards development activities in Dubai and the future market scenario.
