DUBAI, 9 June 2005 — Germany has opened a tourism office in Dubai, the first German facility in the Middle East to attract tourists from the Arab world. “Dubai is now on the global stage and clearly offers itself as a successful role model for others in the region,” said Petra Hedorfer, Chief Executive Officer of the German National Tourist Board.
“We consider Dubai an ideal destination to access the regional markets,” she said.
“For Dubai, Germany is the second largest source market in Europe,” said Mara Kaselitz, director of the Dubai government’s Department of Tourism and Commerce Marketing (DTCM) in Germany.
“The increase in flights by Lufthansa, Emirates and other airlines contributed to spectacular growth in visitor arrivals from the UAE to Germany,” she said in a DTCM statement yesterday. Last year, more than 100,000 overnight stays from the UAE were recorded in Germany.
The DTCM opened an office in Frankfurt nearly a decade ago. There has been a 331 percent increase in the number of German guests to Dubai in the past seven years.
Dubai, which promises year-round sun and sea, as well as low-duty shopping, has been growing as a tourist destination, topping the list of long-haul destinations worldwide last year, with the highest number of hotel guests being from Germany, the DTCM said.
