Dubai Is A Very Young Tourist Destination Tourism Essay

Published Date: 23 Mar 2015

Introduction:

Dubai is a very young tourist destination which gained popularity recently. Dubai has proved as a very successful destination and managed its economy after its recent crisis in year 2009. Having exclusive resorts and hotels throughout the city with deserts makes it a memorable destination with cherishing experience it has desserts which make it similar to Las Vegas in America, Dubai was an impossible dream which is now an oasis for fun in a very promising environment.

The backbone for the development of Dubai was the investment made by the foreign investors which helped the infrastructure to boom and flourish. These developments were very well supported and promoted by transparent government policies. But it is important to note that though Dubai was one of the first cities to develop tourism it's very challenging to sustain it since there are neighbouring destinations as well which are striving hard to gain the popularity among the region. However Dubai's development as a destination year after year has been remarkable and impressive.

Dubai has been a dessert gem of the Middle East region. Where the tourists can enjoy sunny beaches with the luxury of one of the finest hotels in the world combined with the warmth of Arabian hospitality.

Product offer:

Dubai is a destination with seven - star luxury hotels overlooking the beaches and with superb infrastructure throughout the city. Dubai caters to young tourists and to people who are willing to invest in any kind of business. It serves with excellent tourist amenities and products which are worth investing in. It is one of the seven emirates of UAE where the tourism industry has done exceptionally well in the recent past years. Dubai is one of the most preferred destinations in the terms of its geographic location. Most of the Middle East and subcontinents of India are just few hours away from Dubai and with ease of accessibility. Also it attracts tourists from European countries making it just 5 hours of flight to Dubai.

Dubai is known as one of the best places for a short break with wide range of products offering such as hotels and resorts, dining, shopping, partying, sports events and much more. Dubai is also known for its artificial islands namely, Palm Jumeirah, Palm Deira, Palm Jabel Ali and The world. These artificial and unbelieving infrastructures have taken a drastic curve towards the development of tourism industry.

Pricing Strategy:

Dubai has made its image at an international level and kept the pace with the increasing market demand and needs effectively. Tourism industry is one of the major contributors of the total economy of Dubai. Dubai was at its best in its early 2002 which lasted for 5 to 6 years and faced a global economy crisis in year 2009. However, Dubai is recovering and doing good from last 2 years or so with tremendous growth in retailer business, oil refineries and of course the tourism industry.

As said earlier, Dubai saw its boom time during year 2002 and hence it had psychological pricing strategy. However after the economical downfall in year 2009, Dubai is now going through market penetration pricing strategy so as to attract international investors and tourists back to Dubai.(Hsu, Killion, Brown, Gross, & Huang, 2008) Also, keeping in mind the visa formalities of Dubai, that is visa on arrival, can be termed as differentiated strategy. In this context, Dubai tries to accommodate more and more numbers of immigrants and which in a way helps the Government of Dubai to generate more revenue through visitors.

Service concept:

Dubai has emerged as one of the finest places to visit with ample of attractions from heritage sites, exclusive resorts and hotels overlooking the beach to famous landmarks like Burj Al Arab, newly constructed Burj khalifa, the palm, the world, etc. However, Dubai is trying to develop its infrastructure as much as possible and it is coming up with certain developments which will definitely be a benefit for the tourism industry. Future developments which would enhance the service concept of Dubai for tourism industry are as follows:

Dubailand

Dubai sports city

The world

Al Maktoum International airport

Global village

Current key marketing communication strategies:

In this world of globalization, countries all around the globe are competing with each other in all aspects. This is where marketing comes into the picture. Today, the importance of marketing has reached to an extreme height where any business or a destination must have a unique marketing strategy to attract tourists or investors and gain their attention. Dubai has also done its part of it so as to make the world aware of what Dubai is all about and what is it offering to the world.

Dubai has currently positioned itself in a rejuvenation stage because of the recent economic downfall in year 2009 and hence it is trying its best to penetrate in the market again and it has been doing exceptionally well since past 2 years.

Dubai has introduced various promotions and events which has critical role to attract investors from worldwide and sell Dubai as a destination through such events. There are few festivals and events which help Dubai for its strategic marketing which are as follows:

Dubai shopping festival

Dubai summer surprises

Eid in Dubai

Also, Dubai introduces sports activity, entertainment, conferences and exhibitions throughout the year. This breathtaking festivals and events attract people from around 200 countries throughout the world. People visiting Dubai for such events obviously experience something unique and this in a way is personal selling for the destination through its tourists. On the other hand, in this world of modern technology, Dubai, like other countries have introduced an official website named Definitely Dubai which makes it easier for an individual to explore Dubai at one stop and go. Hence, Dubai has various means through which they market their destination and they are as follows:

Advertisement

Personal selling

Public relations

Main target market:

Dubai offers ample of attractions and a place which attracts all sorts of target market from different aspects of market segmentation. Following are the main target market for Dubai:

Business travellers: Dubai is a hub for investors and lately more and more number of international investors have turned up to Dubai and invested in some or the other kind of business.

Airlines and ship crew: Dubai enjoys its geographic location and remains one of the major points of halt for all the flights flying from one part to the other part of the world. Hence, accommodating maximum number of airlines and ship crews.

Expatriates: As said earlier, Dubai has more than 80% of expatriates which means only less than 20% of UAE nationals resides in Dubai.

Honeymooners: Having had unique destinations with luxurious resorts and hotels, honeymooners are the best target market for the hotels. Hotels like Burj Al Arab and Atlantis are one of the best hotels to stay in for the honeymooners.

Leisure travellers: Leisure travellers have lots more to explore Dubai in terms of shopping, activities, sports, entertainment, natural reserves, beaches and parks. High end travellers may enjoy their stay in any 5 star luxury hotels and make their stay a memorable experience.

Main challenges faced:

Main challenge for Dubai was to cope up with the global economic crises which had a huge impact on the infrastructure development as well as the tourism industry. Most of the developments or projects were cancelled or put on hold. Also the political instability in the Middle East region raised an alarm for all the tourists visiting this region ultimately slowing down the flow of visitors to Dubai.

However, after the economic crises in year 2009, Dubai has made tremendous come back and it is now coping up with the pace of the market with tourism industry booming at a very high rate.

Environmental analysis:

Environmental analysis is nothing but an evaluation of the possible impacts of external environment or forces on the existing strategies or growth of the business or organization. Dubai as a destination would definitely like to provide each and every visitor a memorable and cheerful experience. Hence, government of UAE is responsible for the betterment and safety of its cities and UAE itself as a country. Dubai is situated on the emirate's northern coastline. Dubai shares its border with Abu Dhabi in the south, Sharjah in the northeast and Oman in the south east (www.definitelydubai.com). Having such competitive environment, environmental analysis will help Dubai identify its current position in the market and possible strengths and weaknesses. (Hsu, Killion, Brown, Gross, & Huang, 2008)

Environmental analysis will basically include macro environmental scanning. Macro environment consists of political, economical, socio-cultural, technological, ecological and legal factors for Dubai as a destination.

Marketing Information system:

Marketing information system (MIS) is all about gathering and storing of data and evaluating them so as to meet the goals and objectives of any organization and for its development. Information could be in various forms, for example, number of tourist, number of hotels, technology development, businesses, revenue earned, etc can be collected. This information is collected by the Department of tourism and commerce marketing, Government of Dubai

Dubai is one of the growing cities in the UAE. As a destination, it attracts visitors through various means like real estate, travel packages, online auctions, exports, nightclubs, multi-level marketing, job agencies for skilled labours, franchise business, etc. These factors somehow attract people from worldwide as a tourist or a visitor. This, in a form adds up to the revenue earned by the government in terms of tourism and development.

Marketing information system gathers and stores data in the form of statistics and it is up to date with the department of tourism and commerce marketing, Dubai. This will certainly help Dubai to form its strategy for its continuous and rapid growth in the market. There are certain benefits of having marketing information system which are as follows:

It helps to identify and recognize current market trends

Helps in marketing planning and controlling

Helps with lots of information which is systematically and properly designed

Helps in making right decision at the right time with the facts and information readily available

It also helps in environmental scanning.

Hence, it is always worth having MIS in any kind of business or a destination to evaluate its current position in the market and cope up with new market trends.

Environmental scanning:

Environmental scanning helps in understanding the context for the preferred future. Environmental scanning refers to macro environment which considers political, economical, socio - cultural, ecological, technological and legal factors. It also comprises of industries, companies, clients and competitors. These factors influence the business, industry or a market as a whole. Environmental scanning is a process of identifying the happenings in and around the business or a destination. Dubai is a unique destination with infinite opportunities. Hence, environmental scanning will help the destination to survive in the market by identifying the opportunities and threat to its market.

In this world of globalisation, there is a need to do proper analysis of the surroundings so as to maintain the pace with the world and form a strategy accordingly. The procedure for environmental scanning will be done at international level. Dubai has been growing rapidly since past few years and hence the government of Dubai or the tourism department needs to be up to date with the happenings in and around Dubai.

PESTLE analysis:

Pestle analysis will broadly focus on the political, economical, socio-cultural, technological, ecological and legal aspects of it. This will help Dubai as a destination to plan its strategies for the future development and attract more number of tourists. PESTLE will also help the government of Dubai to know its competitors and the potential threats to its market. (Hsu, Killion, Brown, Gross, & Huang, 2008).

Political:

Dubai is one of the 7 emirates of UAE and unlike other neighbouring countries it has a stable political history. In the recent years, it has sufficiently developed dynamic legal and regulatory framework. Dubai government and the department of tourism and commerce marketing have contributed a lot in the development of Dubai as tourism destination. However, there are certain impacts of political and legal factors on the destination.

One of the major factors that attract tourists from around the world to Dubai is the entry formalities. The UAE authorities have made it very straightforward for the visitors of the Dubai by introducing a visa on arrival system. Here the tourists do not require prior visa to enter UAE airport, however this facility is only applicable to 39 countries - GCC nationals. Hence, this formality is a big plus point for Dubai to attract tourists from all around the world.

Government of Dubai has given good preference to the people who are interested in doing a business. It has also received recognition for its efforts in creating business opportunities.

It has been a good outcome overall and the government of Dubai is still looking forward to bring in new expensive facilities.

Foreigners have the right to have the ownership of up to 49% for the businesses that are established in UAE and up to 100% for the professional businesses (DTCM, 2011a).

The government is also looking forward to improve its foreign relations which will certainly add up to the tourism industry in some or the other way.

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Macro environment (PESTLE)

Economical:

Over the past recent years, Dubai has made a drastic change in its economy by becoming a major hub for the business and investors. Having had a strategic location it serves as a biggest re-exporting centre in the middle-east. Activities such as trade, tourism, transport, businesses, etc has made a huge contribution to the economy of Dubai. However, the major sector which contributes to the economy is crude oil (Govers & Go, 2005, p. 77).

Dubai's gross economy was US $92.11 billion in year 2011.

Where in the tourism industry of Dubai made 11% of the total economy.

It has been seen that the total revenue generated by the tourism industry was up by 20% in the year 2011 as compared to 2010.

Tourism industry made 15,965,011 in year 2011 while in 2010 it was 13,272,330.

Dubai's trade surplus has also been increased over the years, growing from $18 billion in 2007 to $31 in 2011. This indicates the strength of the export sector of economy.

The hospitality industry is expecting a real boom in its mere future that is by year 2015. Targeting around 100,000 rooms for over 15 million visitors.

On the other hand, Dubai's foreign debt was estimated at approximately US $100.

Having looked at all the facts and figures over the past recent years, there seems to be no economical problem in Dubai. In fact, the tourism industry will be one of the major contributors to the Dubai's annual economy. Hence, there should be no worries for Dubai as a destination for the international tourists.

Social:

Social factors comprises of customs, social class, religion, culture and demographic variables such as age, gender, income and education level. (Hsu, Killion, Brown, Gross, & Huang, 2008)

According to ( DTCM, 2011a)

Dubai has a population of 2,065,636 which consists more than 80% of expatriate's population.

Male : Female ratio is 2.2 : 1

It has very low or no crime rate record

Eating of pork is a taboo in UAE

National language of UAE is Arabic

Dubai follows Islamic religion, however practice of all religions is allowed in Dubai.

Dubai is doing well in terms of education; it has only 7% of illiteracy.

Dubai is one of the fastest growing cities in the world and the average employment age is from 19 - 65 and which is expected to grow by 120% by 2016. Hence, this will definitely decrease the illiteracy rate of Dubai. Also, due to friendly nature of Dubai it has made a remarkable growth in the trading business and will continue to attract more and more investors in future.

Technological:

Technological factor is now one of the important aspects for any destination in the world of globalisation. Dubai has invested hugely in technology and infrastructures in last 20 years or so. It has got ample amount of attractions where the tourists can look forward to and make their visit to Dubai a memorable experience.

Dubai has one major international airport, 2 seaports, specialised free zones, several industrial areas, etc.

Dubai has 387 number of operating hotels (Figure 1.1) and 53,828 number of available rooms by the end of year 2011, (DTCM, 2011a).

Dubai has world's 4th tallest hotel named Burj Al Arab, standing 321 meters tall with around 70 floors.

Recently established world's tallest building named Burj Khalifa is 828 meters long in height and more than 160 stories. It holds the following records at international level:

Tallest building in the world

Highest numbers of stories in the world

Tallest service elevators in the world

Elevators with the longest travelling distance

Tallest free standing building in the world

Figure 1.1

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Dubai has recently introduced to technologies which are useful for the people travelling throughout the city. Installation of automatic fare system, route display, destination display system, electronic taximeters and complete management systems has made easy for the tourists to travel without any hesitation or trouble. Dubai government also introduced One Stop Information Centre (OSIC) where an individual can stop over and browse for all the information about Dubai in one go.

Moreover, Dubai has done significantly well in its technology and infrastructure department so as to attract more and more number of tourists as well as investors with long lasting experience.

Ecological:

Dubai enjoys with undoubtedly one of the best locations on the planet earth. Having had exceptionally well looking beaches throughout the coast, Dubai has many more things to look which is artificial. Dubai has more than 3 artificial islands, namely, Palm Jebel Ali, Palm Jumeirah, Palm Deira and The world (which appears as a world map) from north to the south. Dubai has been voted with the cleanest water with Abu Dhabi and Muscat. Also, certain UAE cities like Dubai, Abu Dhabi and Sharjah have been rated the best cities to live, (Emirates news, 2012).

Legal:

UAE's seven emirates have their own government with proper municipality and authorities. There are laws where each and every individual must follow and it has been noticed that in a recent few years' expatriates have failed to do it (Emirates News, 2012). There are few laws you should never break, for example:

Clothing for women's should be conservative, no transparent clothing are allowed where as men's should cover their chest.

There are few customs law where an individual cannot bring certain materials and are banned in UAE. For example, pornographic materials, drugs and anti - Islamic materials.

Consumption of alcohol is banned in public places but can be consumed in restaurants and bar and in hotels. Drink and driving is a big crime and anybody found guilty will be jailed.

Procedure for environmental scanning:

Relevant areas for scanning

Medium

Responsibility of

Reporting to

Time

Competitors

Tourists

Hotels, DTCM, Government of Dubai

Internet website of DTCM

Annually

Investors

Hotels, business or organizations

DTCM or Government of Dubai

Weekly

Hotels and resorts

Managers of the hotel, frontline staff

Stakeholders, General manager, Head of the department

Daily

Newspapers

Hotels, businesses, entrepreneurs

Journalists', Newspaper office, media

Daily

Customers

Hotels and resorts

Staff of the hotels

Managers, Head of the department

Daily

Internet

Staff and managers of hotels and resorts

DTCM, government of Dubai

Weekly

Tourist

Staff and managers of hotel

DTCM, Government of Dubai

Daily

Economical

GDP per capita

Hotels, Businesses, entrepreneurs

Government of Dubai

Annually

Revenue

Hotels, entrepreneurs, investors

DTCM, Government of Dubai

Annually

Currency exchange rates

Banks, hotels

Government of Dubai

Daily

Legal

Minimum wage law

Government of Dubai

Human resources department

Monthly

Hospitality magazines/ Newspaper

Hotels and businesses, entrepreneurs

Media, Government of Dubai, Magazines and newspaper office

Monthly

Technological

Infrastructure/ Technology

Government of Dubai, Tourists, Locals

Daily

Situation analysis:

Dubai has been exploring significantly in all aspects so as to attract more and more number of visitors in recent few years. However it has some strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats. Strength and weaknesses are internal whereas opportunities and threats are external (Hsu, Killion, Brown, Gross, & Huang, 2008).

Strengths: Oil companies, booming economy, politically neutral, unique beauty and hotels all around Dubai, safe and clean environment.

Weaknesses: Negative image of the Middle East, lack of natural resources, only around 20% of UAE nationality population.

Opportunities: Job opportunities for immigrants, increase in oil prices, increase in foreign investors, and development of MICE.

Threats: Strong competitors are within the nation for example, Abu Dhabi, Sharjah and Qatar also international competitors such as Singapore and Hong Kong, limited media coverage.

Hence, depending on current situation analysis Dubai is going through a booming phase of economy even after an economic downfall in year 2009. Identified are certain strengths and weaknesses with some opportunities and minimal threats where in Dubai can grow drastically as a tourism destination in its mere future. The economy from hotel industry as said earlier and in figure 1.1 shows an impressive growth of 20% in year 2011 as compared to year 2010. Certain factors that will bring in more international investors and tourists are new developments in infrastructure and technology. Dubai has emerged as one of the rapid growing cities and that too in a quick time span and hence it can be concluded that Dubai is becoming more popular internationally and also a best place to live in with extra ordinary attractions.

Target market analysis:

One of the major essences of marketing is customer oriented. Target marketing is the process of identifying and focusing marketing activities to those customers whose wants and needs can be satisfied by you the best. By target market process you have the potential to convert these customers as your guests of future providing you with hard cash and investments. An effective target marketing analysis will help you to arrange your resources for the market which would provide high return on marketing investments. Hence target market analysis is a very important and crucial part in the development and sustainability of any destination. It is important to note that target market analysis is always an ongoing process, it has to be done in a periodically.

Dubai is already a developed destination in the Middle East region and has the competitive edge of being the first-mover over years. Dubai was very well successful to make it on the top of the world's tourism destination map. The hotel market in Dubai has grown significantly over years which were backed up by infrastructure developments and huge amount of domestic and international investors.

However with the beginning of the economic crisis emerging globally it was very natural that it would hit the major market source. Due to the unwelcomed situation grasping the region for quite a while Dubai not only needs but also was forced to rearrange the procedures and strategies of the hotel industry in the city which was suffering from a downfall in the occupancy rates. Dubai's Department of Tourism and Commerce Marketing (DTCM, 2011b) have been trying very hard to position Dubai as not only a top tourist destination but also their aim is to develop it as a commercial hub.

While conducting target marketing analysis it is important to conduct a competitive analysis with other destinations in the region. This comparison must include factors which attract customers than the competitors it might include climate, scenery, infrastructure etc.

Market Segmentation:

A market segment is a process of identifying potential customers by one or more characteristics. This is done to better understand the customer needs .Dubai as a destination has classified its customers on the basic of two categories as geographic and psychographic.

Geographic segmentation:

In geographic segmentation the market is divided into several geographical borders according to region, population, city size and climate. This is done to concentrate on particular consumer base since consumer behaviour varies across geographic territories. Hence it is important to consider geographic factors to target and attract the market specifically.

Top 5 source market for Dubai

The above pie chart describes the number of visitors on the basis of geographic area and the top source markets for Dubai. From the pie chart it is prominent that Dubai enjoys a high number of visitors from the South Asia region. It also has many visitors from AGCC region which is Arab Gulf country council .AGCC includes 6 countries which are Bahrain, Kuwait, Qatar, Oman, Saudi Arabia, and the United Arab Emirates. The least amount of visitors was from CIS which is common wealth of Independent States. South Asia is one of the most important segments for Dubai, since Asia has the largest piece of share Dubai has a very good opportunity to take over this target market and spread its roots even deeper.

The above data is about the visitors coming to Dubai however it is also important to keep a track of the spending power of the source market (DTCM, 2011a).

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According to the data above it is prominent that the tourist from the United Kingdom, United States and Saudi Arabia are by far the biggest spending geographic source markets in Dubai for their accommodation which accumulates to $124.9 millon, $82.1 million, and $70.5 million. This is equal to 63.2 percent of the entire category.

Among the high spending countries that spend $10 million or more annually, Japan, Italy and France experienced negative growth of 16.6 percent, 7.3 percent and 1.2 percent respectively.

However if we take an average spending on the accommodation sector the high spending countries are Russia ($683.54), Switzerland ($629.81) and Saudi Arabia ($551.40).

The entire figures are retrieved from (DTCM, 2011a).

Pshychographic segmentation:

Pshychographic segmentation is a process or tool to group the people according to their activities, interests, lifestyle and opinion. Dubai is a very vibrant city hence it is very important to classify visitors based on their activities to better understand their needs and to develop the infrastructure demand. Henceforth the visitors visiting Dubai has been classified into the following categories:-

Pshychographic Segments

Characteristics

Business Visitors

Stay upto 5 days

Have visited Dubai on a regular basis

Make their own bookings rather than tour operators

Look for safety, climate and value for money

Airline and Ship Crew

Stay upto one to three days

Have visited Dubai before and travel regularly

Have corporate arrangements for accommodation with the hotels.

Stay in 2 star to 4 star hotels and some serviced apartments.

Leisure Visitors

Stay for 4 to 10 days

Are visiting Dubai for the first time

Make their own arrangements

Prefer to stay at 5 star hotels while minor percent stay with friends and family

Cruise Passengers

Stay for two to three days

Mostly visiting Dubai for the first time

Accommodation is usually a part of the cruise package

Visit neighbouring destinations like Oman, Bahrain and Egypt.

Conference Visitors

Stay for eight to fourteen days

Are visiting Dubai on regular intervals

Make their own arrangements

Mostly stay at 5 or 4 star hotels

Use Taxi too much as mode of transportation

Working Expatriates

Stay for more than a year

Are usually visiting Dubai for the first time

Have arrangements for their accommodation but not in hotels

Contribute to the Culture and economy.

The above diagram shows the percentage of physcographic segments in Dubai from all the visitors arriving to Dubai. It is important to note that overall, passenger traffic at Dubai International Airport - the world's fourth busiest airport - rose 15 percent in 2010 as the global economy recovered. It was up 8.9 percent in the first half of 2011 despite high fuel costs and increased economic uncertainty in Europe and the US.

Hotels in the UAE trade and tourism hub Dubai, known for the world's tallest tower, reported a modest occupancy increase of 0.7 percent to 69.9 percent in May from the previous year.

Potential markets profiles:

From the facts and figures about the visitors coming to Dubai we can identify and describe the potential target markets for Dubai. After analysis of the data we have identified 3 major new markets for Dubai (DTCM, 2011a). The details of those nations are stated as follows

China:

In 2010 the visitors from china were found spending more in the country almost 155.3 percent more than they spent in 2009, according to visavue data.

The major growth category in some of the segments included quick service restaurant category which inclined to a 361. Percent jump contributing to 31,519 spent in 2010.one of the other segment which was a growth was departmental store spending which went up by 210.8 Percent to $25 million.

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The rise in the Chinese visitors in 2010 was noted by the luxury retailers since the Chinese tourists are looking more and more for high end luxury products.

Market conditions:

Population: 1,347,350,000

GDP Real Growth Rate: 10.7%

Unemployment: 4.2%

Inflation: 1.5%

Access:

99 percent arrive at Dubai through Dubai airport usually by Cathy pacific or emirates airlines.

Demographics:

Mostly male ranging from 26 to 45 years of age

Value of Chinese visitors:

.

From the total visitors who come to Dubai Chinese visitors account for 1 percent. These visitors spend an average of AED 1884 per day per person and an average of AED 10,009 per trip per person to Dubai

Characteristics:

Chinese visitors are mostly visiting Dubai for the first time and are mostly visiting it for a short break or trip of a week. They have no specific preference for their month of travel or holiday. More than 50 percent of these travellers are mostly travelling for the purpose of pleasure rather than on business. However there are also visitors who are getting involved more and more in business activities. They are most likely to book their travel and accommodation on a separate basis rather than packages. Their preference is ranging from 2 star accommodations to higher rated accommodations. When Chinese visitors look for a holiday there preferences are safety, culture and history and value for money. Visitors who are on leisure or holidays they visit only United Arab Emirates rather than other destinations. But they do visit other cities or emirates within the country.

Activities:

The main reason for travellers from china to visit Dubai was by recommendation by others, to visit friends and family that are settled and live in Dubai and the Dubai Shopping festival. The main activities done by them are shopping, sightseeing and visiting heritage sites such as museums, mosques. They generally shop in shopping malls, souq's (traditional markets) and duty free shops where they mostly buy souvenirs, dressing cloths and foot wear. Majority of these visitors dine in restaurants, food courts in shopping malls and fast food joints such as KFC, McDonalds. Normally they use taxi and hotel transportation services to transit them within Dubai. 40% of Chinese business travellers are in Dubai to attend meetings while 33% are Foreign Independent Travellers.

Market fit:

Top leisure activities for the Chinese visitors are sightseeing, shopping and visiting heritage sites. Guided activities and visiting beach are also appealing to this market although to a lesser extent. Top activities of Chinese business travellers beyond attending meetings and foreign independent traveller including shopping and sightseeing.

Market approach:

Chinese visitors plan their trip well in advance almost 3 months before they actually visit Dubai. They mainly use recommendations, Internet and Travel agencies to gain information to plan their trip on a broad range. Information regarding their accommodation is generally taken through a travel agent. The well known package organizer or travel agent is Oriental tours in Dubai.

Strategies:

It is important to note that china is an emerging economy and certain aspects do attract Chinese visitors to Dubai. There is a high likely hood that the percentage of Chinese visitor can be easily increased because of a high growth in disposable income in china and relaxation of strict rules lay out by Visa .Government should ease the rules for business for Chinese visitors which can encourage investors and attract business travellers. Hotels can take several actions to cater the Chinese visitors such as hiring some percent of the Chinese employees who could work as well as be a translator for the Chinese visitors, adding Chinese food to the menu and many more. Chinese government has given Dubai 'Approved destination status' from September 2009 which helps the Chinese visitors easier to visit Dubai and also it will make it much easier for Dubai to advertise itself in china. Dubai is easier in access than Europe and offer many products of interest for Chinese visitors than Europe. Since the Chinese visitors look for a week's holiday Dubai has and will continue to attract the most populous nation.

South Korea:

Market conditions:

• Population: 49,779,000

• GDP Real Growth Rate: 4.8%;

• Unemployment: 3.3%;

• Inflation: 2.2%.

Access:

99 percent arrive at Dubai through Dubai airport usually by Korean air or emirates airlines.

Demographics:

Mostly male ranging from 26 to 45 years of age travelling with companion

Value of Korean visitors:

1 percent of the total visitors to Dubai are from South Korea. These visitors spend AED1, 95 per day per head on an average and AED 10,426 per trip per head to Dubai.

Characteristics:

Korean visitors are mostly visiting Dubai for the first time. They typically plan their stay for a very short break of two to five days. They have no preference for their month of travel. Most of these travellers come to Dubai for pleasure than for business. They prefer to buy travel and accommodation separately rather than packages. Accommodation preferences vary from hotels of all categories. When planning for their travel their main priority is safety and value for money. They donor visit other neighbouring destinations other than Dubai.

Activities:

The main activities that attract Korean visitors are shopping opportunities and the weather conditions of the city. These visitors indulge in shopping, sightseeing and visiting heritage sites which are the most popular activities however a few percent of these visitors like to visit beach. They generally shop in shopping malls and souq's (traditional markets) where they mostly buy souvenirs, dressing cloths, foot wear and accessories. Majority of these visitors dine in restaurants, food courts in shopping malls and fast food joints such as KFC, McDonalds. Normally they use taxi and hotel transportation services to transit them within Dubai.

Market Fit:

Top leisure activities for the Korean visitors are sightseeing, shopping visiting heritage sites. Guided activities and visiting beach are also appealing to this market although to a lesser extent. Some Korean visitors also like to walk around the market and throughout the city.

Market Approach:

Korean visitors are planning their trip well in advance almost 6 months before they actually visit Dubai. They mainly use recommendations, Internet and Travel agencies to gain information to plan their trip on a broad range. Information regarding their accommodation is generally taken through a travel agent and the internet.

Strategies:

South Korean visitors have shown a steady growth in the amount of tourists coming every year. The number of visitors coming is almost twice the number this shows that Dubai has a high potential of selling itself to the emerging market. Dubai would soon be launching a Korean version of its tourism website. It is important to note that the number of emiraties (UAE nationals) visiting South Korea has noticeably increased. This would help in word of mouth publicity in South Korea. Also the business relationship among both the countries is getting stronger and stronger which would lead to a flourishing tourism industry in the future.

India:

Market conditions:

Population: 1,210,193,422

• GDP Real Growth Rate: 9.2%

• Unemployment: 7.8%

• Inflation: 5.3%

Access:

99 percent arrive at Dubai through Dubai airport usually by Air India or emirates airlines. However visitors require a visit visa for 14days of their stay which needs to be sponsored by hotel, travel agency, employer in the country or a resident of Dubai.

Demographics:

Mostly male ranging from 26 to 45 years of age is travelling alone or with companion.

Value of Indian visitors:

7 percent of the total visitors to Dubai are from India. These visitors spend AED1, 762 per day per head on an average and AED 9,447 per trip per head to Dubai.

Characteristics:

Indian visitors are mostly visiting Dubai for the first time. They typically plan their stay for a very short break of three to four days. They prefer to visit Dubai from April to June or October to December. Most of these travellers come to Dubai for leisure and business both. They prefer to buy travel and accommodation separately rather than packages. Accommodation preferences varies from mid range budget hotels to higher rated hotels with a significant percent of these travellers staying with friends and relatives .When planning for their travel their main priority is safety and value for money. They don't visit other neighbouring destinations other than Dubai.

Activities:

The main attractions for Indian visitors are to visit their friends and relative that lives in Dubai. For all visitors main activities include shopping, employment opportunities and sightseeing of the city. They generally shop in shopping malls, gold souq's(traditional markets) and hypermarket where they mostly buy gold, dressing cloths, foot wear and electronics. Majority of these visitors dine in restaurants and food courts in shopping malls .Normally they use taxi and hotel transportation services to transit them within Dubai. 40% of Chinese business travellers are in Dubai to attend meetings while 33% are Foreign Independent Travellers.

Market fit:

Top leisure activities for the Indian visitors are sightseeing, shopping visiting heritage sites. Guided activities and visiting beach are also appealing to this market although to a lesser extent.

Market Approach:

Indian visitors plan their trip within 3 months before they actually visit Dubai. They mainly use recommendations to gain information to plan their trip on a broad range. Information regarding their accommodation is generally taken through a travel agent and the internet .Most approached tour operator by Indian visitors is Destination of the world.

Strategies:

India is one of the most rapidly developing nation and at the same time populous too. Dubai is well known throughout India however India being a large country there are still some small towns and cities which Dubai can target and attract visitors. Dubai share a very little distance both geographically and culturally with India hence the comfort level of Indian visitors is high. Dubai is one of the cheapest destinations in terms of airfare and accommodation package and offers way more than the value invested by the visitor. Dubai can promote itself by partnering with local business in those cities and giving out packages such as lucky draw coupons.

The below table shows the number of guests coming from Asia:-C:\Users\FavY\Desktop\Untitled2.jpg

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Product offering for the stated potential markets

We could see that all the Asian markets have a similar want and need by enlarge which could be categorized into three:-

Shopping

Heritage sites

Luxury hotels

For the visitors who are interested in shopping Dubai is a paradise with above 68 shopping malls up and running there are also 16 new malls under construction. Hence Dubai is fully prepared to attract all the shopaholics. For visitors who like to explore history and culture there are museums and mosques which represent Dubai few years back. Dubai is a Disneyland of hotels there would be very few cities where you have thousands of hotels. During the economic recovery most of the projects which were delayed have started to build. Hence Dubai has done its best to satisfy the needs of its target market and is still striving hard to attract them.

Importance of target market process:

Target market process is has a strategic importance for the marketing activities since it helps a destination to concentrate and focus on the wants and needs of its potential customers and helps them to sketch plans of action they would have to carry out to accomplish and achieve what they want in future.

Marketing mix is a summary of tactics, strategies a destination plans to reach its target. To identify these strategies a destination has to collect all the information about the needs and wants of its potential customers. Target market process allows a destination to identify among customers who would most likely visit them. It is highly impossible for destination to flourish its tourism industry with having cleat knowledge about its target market.

For a destination to be successful it should make an effective marketing plan which would be derived from the target markets. Target market process makes it easier for a destination to position its products in a right manner. It also helps them to utilize the most of their money which they put in for all the marketing activities.

Competitive Analysis:

Need for a competitive analysis:

Competitive analysis is a tool for gathering data and analysis the data which is related to the competitor of the organization. The data can include information about how the competitor serve the customer, trend that they are following, product they are serving to the customers, their strength and weakness.

In today's trend of globalization ever country should do a competitive analysis of the destination they sell as tourism product. It gives a detail idea of what are the strength and weakness of the destination and also gives detail information of the opportunity and threats. It helps the country by giving information about how can they stay ahead from their competitors. Competitive analysis also gives information to draw attention of new target market and also help to keep the current target market with you.

It gives information of who the competitor is. The analysis gives a details information how the destination is ahead and behind in the competition against the competitors and where to improve if the destination is behind in the competition.

Competitive analysis will give and practical view of the current market position. It helps in anticipate market change and demands.

Influence of competitive analysis on market mix:

According to Zeithaml, Bitner & Gremler (2006) has given seven Ps for service industry. Competitive analysis can influence seven aspect of marketing mix they are as follows:

Effect on product:

Dubai offers a wide range of tourism products such as exhibition and trade shows, parks and zoos, museum, sports events, beaches, entertainment places, shopping festivals etc. hence competitive analysis help them to know the product offered by their competitor and what is the current situation of the product offered by them. It also gives them information about whether they should build more tourism product or not. Its gives them information about what tourist need are which help them in developing the product.

Effect on price:

Competitive analysis also helps them in price strategy. Its helps them in organising different tour packages for different country to attract the maximum tourist towards them. An added plus point is that Dubai has cost leadership on other countries as it has some places for shopping which are duty free. It gives information as what the tourist are willing to pay for the product offered by them. Its helps those to add extra services if need to have competitive advantage over others and make the tourist feel value for money.

Effect on place:

Competitive analysis also gives the government information on which places to attract for tourism and what their competitor are attracting. It gives an idea which countries are facing problem and which country are economically stable. It also helps them to have a good distributing channel so that the product is available to the entire tourist in the world.

Effect on Promotion:

Competitive analysis helps in formulating a promotion strategy for the tourism product and also gives information as how the competitors are promoting their product. It also helps them in effective branding, advertising, making public relation, forming special offers to attract tourist etc.

Effect on people:

Promoting the destination as tourist product is in the hand of the local people and government of the country. Competitive analysis helps them to train their people and also help to know how the competitor trains their people. The service offered by them can create a positive and negative effect on tourist perception.

Effect on process:

Process is way the service given to the tourist such as waiting time, information centres etc. its helps them to carry their service effectively. It helps them to build an effective process on base on customers needs.

Effect on physical evidence:

Physical evidence plays an important role in decision of tourist to going to that place. It includes infrastructure, transport, environment, climate etc. Competitive analysis helps in knowing where we lack in for our competitor. Some factors of physical evidence cannot be changed as environment and climate but we can make changes in infrastructure and the transport system etc.

Physical Evidence

Product

Process

Promotion

Price

Place

People

Competitive Analysis

Different levels of competition:

The total numbers of tourist that visit every year to Dubai are approximate 10 million. On basis of this numbers Dubai has two levels of competition one is internal and other one is external. The micro or internal competition is the destinations which are from the country and macro or external are the international destination.

Micro or Internal competition:

This is because U.A.E. is developing more destinations for tourism.

The internal competitors are Abu Dhabi, Sharjah and Ras Al Khaimah. After Dubai the next most popular destination is Abu Dhabi in U.A.E. Abu Dhabi offers numerous tourist attractions. It is known as the garden city of U.A.E. It also has a museum called Ferri World (Abu Dhabi Tourism, 2011).

Sharjah is also another favourite destination of tourist after Dubai. It also offers many tourist attractions like fort, museum, desert part etc. It is the city full of life same as Dubai.

Ras Al Khaimah is located in the northern part of Arabian Peninsula. It has the best nature site of United Arab Emirates. It also has hot water spring which Dubai doesn't have.

Macro or External competition:

The international or external competitors are cities of China, Singapore, India and Malaysia is the main competitor to Dubai.

China is one of the best know travel destination for tourism. It has a bit mix of tourism sectors like historic place, museum, temple, beach etc. even the currency of the country is quite cheap than compared to Dubai. The country is developing at a faster rate. It has all the facilities like good transport system, good hospitality industry and even the country is politically stable. Strong economic growth of the country is developing domestic tourism and also creating a good environment for tourist from foreign countries.

Singapore is another competitor to Dubai in international market. It is also popular destination like Dubai. The only place it lacks behind is because of the strong dollar rate.

Even if the dollar is strong approximate 10.2 million tourist visit Singapore every year. They have many tourist attractions like park and night safari, museum, Water Park etc. It also has wide range of street food. It has a developed hospitality and tourism industry like Dubai. Another benefit Singapore has that they give people visa on arrival hence they also target transit passenger unlike Dubai.

India is also a good competitor to Dubai in tourism industry. The only drawback is that it is a developing country and the tourism activities in this country are also developing. But even of this drawback the country has an excellent hospitality and tourism industry. It also has an additional bonus that its currency is the cheapest from all the above competitors. They have all kind of tourism products which include virgin beach in south, historical monuments in north, hill stations all over the country, good scenic beauty, and desert in west. It also has one of the seven wonder of the world which many tourists comes to see. It also has good transport and communication system all around the country. The number of tourist that visits India is approximately 7 million every year. It is not as same as Dubai but as developing country the number is good enough and is steadily increasing.

Malaysia is also a country where many ethnic groups live together and share their culture. Multiculturalism has not only made it a tourist attraction but has also made Malaysia a home for many festivals. It has as developed hospitality and tourism industry in the country. It has tall skyscrapers to good scenic beauty like mountain, beach, national park etc. The currency of the country is also not quite strong. It is also known for their street food like Singapore.

The other factor that these countries are competitor to Dubai is the climate. All these countries have a good climatic condition throughout the year.

Due to the above factors these countries are the potential competitors to Dubai in the tourism sector.

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Key competitive advantage of Dubai:

Strength of Dubai:

According to Mauron (2011) these are some strength Dubai has, they are as follows:

Civilization of the Arabic is very wealthy and is unlike other European civilization. This type of culture needs to be brought into play for tourism development. Their culture has various aspects like food, music, the ancient architecture which needs to be shown to people around the world. All these can be a part of culture tourism. As example, "the significance of the concept of designing the island in the shape of palm trees is that it was inspired by Dubai's own heritage" (Govers & Go, 2005, p. 78). This culture is different from the competitor. Even the local of Dubai are quite support to the tourist.

The tourism department of Dubai has developed an excellent plan which is appropriate till 2015. Tourism is such an industry which requires lot of investment for building infrastructure, educating the employee in professional manner, developing public transport like railway station, roads, airport etc. Hence Dubai government has invested a lot of money in developing all these factors.

Dubai has many heritage places which can help them in promoting their tourism. Even thought culture and tourism is different government are doing their best to promote these heritage as culture tourism. All these heritage places will help Dubai to develop their tourism and helps the tourist to know about the history of Dubai. Some of the external competitor lack in the heritage sectors.

Dubai has a good amount of oil dollar which they can use to develop their tourism sector, to conserver it renovate it if required and promote it to the potential target market. It is also getting a huge amount of income from the current tourism market. This factor is lack buy some of the external competitors. As for an example, the oils dollars and income from trade are reinvested in the tourism sector (Govers & Go, 2005, p. 77).

All the attraction which is opened to the public is kept in good condition. It has all the necessary support which is required to make the attraction look real and all these things are done with the help of U.A.E. national working. All of them have a convenient opening time and most of them have free entrance fee. These are also one of the advantages over the competitors.

Even accessibility to Dubai is quite easy for tourist as they don't require visa before coming to the city. They get a visa on arrival. Because of its central location it has become a transits hub for many airlines which bring a lot of tourist to the place. Emirates airlines are contributing a large piece of share to bring tourist. As these airlines is one of the five stars rated airline in the world and also flying to Dubai is cheap from many countries. This is an additional advantage on some of the competitors.

The tourism sector is quite mix in Dubai as it include businessmen, recreational tourist, honeymooners, adventure sports like desert safari, people visiting their families and heritage tourism. Because of these sectors it has a large tourism target market and mostly people all around the world. Hence Dubai has tourist which are coming all around the world.

Dubai is well known for its shopping festivals. They have many places which are trade free zone. It has much manmade attraction like long skyscrapers, artificial beaches, manmade islands etc. These have also contributed in attracting tourist to Dubai. It also has one of the top rated hotels called "Burj Al Arab". Many tourists only come to stay in this type of hotel as a factor of status symbol.

All these factors are some of the competitive advantage of Dubai over its competitors.

Weakness of Dubai:

According to Mauron (2011) these are some weakness Dubai has, they are as follows:

Heritage were one of their strength is also a weakness because many of these are similar to each other. Hence if a tourist visit one or two times unless he is found of historical monuments. They are not able to promote the culture tourism quite efficiently. They are also not able to promote their museum.

Another weakness is has that is its climate. The climate of Dubai is very hot in summer.

Hence tourism in summer is very less. They even have sand storm in the desert which could affect the desert tourism safari. Winter in Dubai are also very sevier.

As Dubai has large target market it also has affected due to recession in the European and the American cities which has reduce the tourism in the city from these countries.

As we know the main religion in Dubai is Islamic and Ramadan is very important festival for them even though other religion is practised. This month is very important for them even the working hours are altered. Restaurant and coffee shop are kept close from time the sun rises till it sets. Hence Ramadan affects the social, culture, entertainment and business aspect of Dubai.

Another disadvantage is that all the attraction in Dubai are mostly artificial or like cosmetic accept the heritage building. Hence tourist who is found of original art and attraction are not attracted to Dubai.

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Market positioning:

Dubai uses several of means to position itself in the market. It uses media like website, tourism brochures, and promotional tourist package during the various festivals they have.

One of the major factors of their promotion is their airlines. It contributes a huge share in position Dubai in the international market of tourism. This has happened because emirates are some of the airline which travels all around the world. It also does advertising of itself in others countries through various advertising agencies. Dubai also uses the brand emirates to position most of their tourism product in the international market. The positioning of these products is well co-ordinated with DTCM.

The competitors also use the same positioning strategy as the Dubai use. But some of them have or don't have one or two element of these. For examples electronic media and promotional tour packages are used by all the competitors but India and China has their national airlines but they don't contribute much in promoting tourism in their countries. On other hand Singapore and Malaysia's national airlines are contributing some share in positioning their country in international market.

Hence the positioning strategy of the Dubai and its competitors are mostly same with one or two variation.

Future plan of Dubai to promote the tourism and have competitive advantage over its competitors:

To survive in the competitive world every destination need to have some competitive advantage and some future plan to maintain that advantage over others. To maintain the competitive advantage over other destination Dubai has made many artificial islands. Two of them can be seen from space like the Great Wall of China. One is the "Palm Jumeirah" and other is the "The World Island".

Palm Jumeirah is a palm shape island on the coast of Jumeirah. This island is connected t the city through a road and monorail. This island has many themed hotel, three types of villas, beaches, restaurant and variety of retail outlets.

The world island is still under construction. It has Small Island which will look like the world map if seen from the outer space.

Dubai is also focusing on the culture tourism. As Dubai has a rich Arabic culture in the entire city which is world famous. The government is also playing an important role in preserving these heritages and the culture. (OECD, 2009, p. 45). Dubai Culture insists on the fact that "culture, arts and heritage are vital to the success of Dubai's expanding economy because they are the key building blocks of civil life and public dialogue." (Dubai Culture & Arts Authority, 2010). According to Isabelle Falconnier (2011, p. 55), it is due to the newest definition of culture, which is larger and includes the graphic, the design or video games.

These are the sector Dubai is focusing on to have a competitive advantage on the other destination.

Conclusion:

Dubai earlier relied on the oil industry however the ruler of Dubai had another vision to take develop Dubai as a tourist destination and place it on top of the tourism map. Mohammad bin Rashid Al Maktoum, the ruler of Dubai had developed a strategic plan for Dubai. This plan had action to have large construction sites till 2015 which would place Dubai not only as a tourist destination but also as a trade and business hub. However due to the global financial crisis in 2009 Dubai was struck hard and all the developments in Dubai were either cancelled or put on hold. However recently Dubai got its pace back and many of the projects have started resuming.

Product strategy:

Global village - It started with a small idea of having small huts or kiosks in 1996. This idea was very well responded by visitors coming year after year. Dubai government identified the potential of this idea and started to develop the infrastructure and named it as global village. Its vision is to be the world's largest tourism, entertainment and leisure project. It is aimed at having 39 pavilions which would each represent different countries. In 2011 it had 45 countries representing themselves and received 5 million visitors. However DTCM has identified that it has much more potential and the figures would rise as years pass by. (Global Village)

Dubai world-Dubai world or well known as The World is an artificial island which consists of many small islands which are constructed in a shape of world map. This gives a competitive advantage to Dubai which distinct itself from its competitors. The main aim of this project was to attract a high or elite class of people who would love to spend their time on their private island. This would promote investors to invest in the city which would help Dubai to become an international hub for business. However in 2008 60 percent of the islands were sold.

Dubai Sports city-Dubai sport city is a small township and the world's first township dedicated to sports. It consists of apartment buildings and a state of the art sporting facilities all under one roof. It has hosted some of the events such as cricket matches, musical concerts which promote the destination worldwide.

There are almost 30 new projects which are under construction or partially constructed. These all infrastructure developments are well planned after an extensive market analysis which includes the target market and the vision of Dubai to bring it as a top destination for leisure, recreation and a trade hub.

Market positioning str