The Dubai Department of Tourism and Commerce Marketing (DTCM) will participate in 28 overseas travel exhibitions and host 10 road shows in various parts of the world next year.

DTCM said it wants to market Dubai as a year-round business and tourism destination. Four new exhibitions have been added to the calendar of exhibitions while road shows will be held for the first time in Turkey and Korea.

"The department is maintaining its aggressive promotional and marketing drive and exploring new markets to attract visitors to Dubai. We are tapping established as well as emerging source markets for Dubai's tourism industry," DTCM director-general Khalid Bin Sulayem said.

He said the participation in travel trade exhibitions and hosting of road shows in 40 countries across five continents will help highlight Dubai's strengths and opportunities in tourism and other economic segments. These efforts will help create better awareness about Dubai as a tourism destination and popularise its appeal in key foreign markets.

The selection of exhibitions and road shows are based on the strategic plans of the department and crucial marketing inputs provided by the DTCM's network of 15 overseas representation offices. The next year's promotional drive will kick-off with the participation in Ferien-2007 show in Vienna and Reiseliv-2007 in Oslo from January 11 to 14.
This will be followed by Matka-2007 in Helsinki from January 18 to 21. Travel Turkey-2007 takes place in Istanbul from January 25 to 28 while Fespo-2007 will be hosted in Zurich during the same period.

For the first time, Dubai will participate in SATTE-2007 in New Delhi from April 19 to 22.
Dubai's road shows in East Asia will be held from May 14 to 23 and cover cities like Guangzhou, Hong Kong, Bangkok, Singapore and Kuala Lumpur.
The Benelux region road shows will be held from May 23 to 25 in Paris, Brussels and Amsterdam.
The Gulf region campaign will take place from May 26 to 31 in Kuwait, Qatar, Bahrain and Oman.
The Saudi Arabia road shows will be in Al Khobar, Riyadh and Jeddah from June 2 to 6.
And the road shows in New Zealand and Australia will be from June 18 to 21 and cover Auckland, Sydney and Adelaide.
reported by Gulf News