Dubai and Malaysia to Enhance Cooperation in Tourism Sector

Dubai, United Arab Emirates, 17 January 2022 – Issam Kazim, CEO of the Dubai Corporation for Tourism and Commerce Marketing, met with YB Dato Sri Haji Abdul Karim Rahman Hamza, Minister of Tourism, Arts, Culture, Youth and Sports of Sarawak, Malaysia and his delegation at the Dubai Economy Department.

During the meeting, a number of issues of common interest were discussed, including ways to enhance cooperation between the two parties in the tourism sector and opportunities to enhance its development.

They also discussed ways to exchange experiences and implement initiatives that would boost the industry, all of which will contribute to reviving global tourism.

The Malaysian market is one of the most important emerging markets for Dubai.

Meanwhile, Dubai’s Department of Economy and Tourism revealed that the emirate received 4.88 million visitors between January and October last year.

The international visit during the month of October alone reached over one million guests.

Reflecting the increased growth momentum and industry stability, strong international visits were complemented by a strong domestic tourism market, further strengthening the hospitality sector resulting in the sale of 9.4 million nights of accommodation between January and October.

This compares to seven million room nights sold in the same period in 2019.

Helal Saeed Al Marri, Director General of Dubai’s Department of Economy and Tourism, commented: “Our multi-pronged strategy to combat the pandemic and deploy large-scale initiatives to increase our global competitiveness and attractiveness is a hallmark of Dubai’s highly advanced public-private partnership model, which has been the cornerstone of not only what has been achieved in 2021 but what will be achieved in the next 12 to 24 months.

“Expo 2020 also provides a unique platform to interact with the global community as all hotels and tourism partners work closely to facilitate visits for their guests to maximize this opportunity.”

In a year-to-date study in October, occupancy was approximately 64%, while length of stay showed a 12% increase from 4.1 nights to 4.6 nights.

During this period, there were 24.74 million occupied rooms across the emirate at an average daily rate of 384 dirhams, compared to 15.66 million occupied nights of accommodation at an average daily rate of 335 dirhams. Room stock is now six percent higher than in 2019.

Meanwhile, the Malaysian Ministry of Tourism, Arts and Culture (MOTAC), through its Malaysian agency, took over the Malaysian Pavilion at Expo 2020 Dubai, United Arab Emirates (UAE) from December 26, 2021 until December 31, 2021.

Promoting Malaysia as the world’s next ecotourism destination, Ecotourism Week at the Malaysia Pavilion received the call from Malaysia’s National Tourism Policy 2020-2030 highlighting the practice of sustainable and responsible tourism. Malaysia was joined by 16 organisations, consisting of five (5) state tourism boards, three (3) associations, one (1) hotel chain, one (1) product owner, and six (6) tour operators.

As part of her first tourism sales mission to the Middle East, Minister of the Malaysian Ministry of Tourism, Arts and Culture (MOTAC), Dato’ Sri Hajah Nancy Shukri, also attended a networking dinner with members of the travel trade and media in the UAE on December 30, 2021.

Malaysia’s participation in Expo 2020 Dubai is spearheaded by the Ministry of Science, Technology and Innovation (MOSTI) with the Malaysian Green Technology and Climate Change Corporation (MGTC) as the implementing agency.

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