Dubai Tourism and Commerce Marketing wanted to take control of information about the destination online and build a strong relationship with trade partners such as tour operators and hoteliers.
Joining forces with Global Travel Market to develop www.dubaitravelmarket.co.uk was a way of giving something back to those partners. Consumers enter their requirements into the meta search engine and are then directed to the partner site.
We can monitor how many people are using the site and it is much more transparent than print. We can invest in pay-per-click to drive traffic to the website and buy ad words such as ‘Dubai spa holidays’ or ‘Dubai shopping holidays’ and anyone who clicks on the link is deep-linked into the site.
It is much more targeted and we can monitor where the interest is coming from. It also enables us to be more strategic about our print advertising.
The latest elements to be added to the site include a dynamic developments list that enables consumers to see when specific attractions or hotels under construction are scheduled to open, what they offer and their target audience.
We have back-end functionality in the office so we can update the system and ensure accuracy.
DTCM has also just unveiled a new trade website with some of the same features of the consumer site such as the developments list as well as information on key dates and events, a presentation of the training programme, a monthly newsletter and corporate information.
We host a lot of fam trips and we plan to make more use of Dubai Update. The next logical step will be for agents to interact on the website and it will become a great place for them to give us their feedback and post blogs about the trips.
