The Growth of Tourism in Dubai
Tourism is the movement of people from one place to another, either within a country or into another country, mainly for the purpose of viewing tourist attractions such as new cultures, geographical features, animals and other fascinating features. In Dubai, tourism has lately increased in terms of the number of foreigners who visit the state, be it for tourism purposes of passer-bys. We can attribute this development in the tourism sector in Dubai to adequate planning by the United Arab Emirates government, which has managed to effect strategies that have increased the number of tourists the state receives annually (Graham, Papatheodorou and Forsyth 300).
Diversification from an oil producing state to a tourism centre Initially, Dubai was fully dependent on oil production and refinery. However, in the 1990s, the administration of Dubai state decided to diversify its income source from solely oil production to tourism. This move was the first step that led to the development of tourism in Dubai. At that time, the government realized that tourism could offer revenue just as any other sector in the country. The government started allocating resources to the sector, a move that has contributed a lot to the current state of tourism in Dubai (Mason 124). Development of the transport sector The Dubai admnistration had a target of receiving approximately 15 million international visitors by the year 2010.
However, by 2003, Dubai was receiving more than 18 million air passengers, though some of them were passengers on transit. This indicates that the Government surpassed its initial target (Oxford Business Group 107). One factor that led to this number of international visitors is the upgrading of the international airport. For example, by the year 2004, the main Middle East airline in Dubai was the Emirates airline. However, later on, the government opened a cruise ship terminal, a move that led to an increase in the number of international cruise ships by26. Upgrading of hotels and accommodation facilitiesDubai invested massively in the hotel sector, such that by the year 2004, there were approximately 275 hotels and 96 apartment hotels in the state.
This accounted for over 75% of such accommodation facilities in the United Arab Emirates. Some of the International hotels in Dubai include the Palm and the Dubai Tower. These hotels hold the reputation of being some of the kingpins of tourism in the Middle East (Knowles, Diamantis and El-Mourhabi 303). Diversification of Tourism activities Initially, the main tourism activities in Dubai were concentrated on sand, the sea and the sun. However, the government realized that there were more opporttunities for tourism in Dubai. Thus, lately, the government has introduced other tourism activities like desert tours and games, four-wheel drive executions and many others (Boermeester P47).
Increasing the level of urbanization and industrialization in Dubai Dubai is one of the largest trading centres in the world. Apart from being a centre for readily available consumer goods, Dubai is also a centre for car assembling. In addition, this factor has led to the development of Dubai as a tourism state. Many individuals travel to the state to purchase consumption commodities and automobiles.Reservation of heritage sites and the environment The Department of Tourism Commerce Marketing (DTCM) has come out clearly in its quest to preserve the remaining heritage sites in the state of Dubai.
These vital tourist attractions can massively determine the fate of tourism in Dubai, such that if the government does not protect them, the number of tourists may reduce. In conclusion, one can say that for Dubai to reach where it is in the tourism industry today, the government had to implement several activities and effectively manage them. With the increasing rate of innovations especially in the automobile sector, one can expect that tourism in Dubai is likely to increase than to reduce (Lis 12).
