Emirates Dubai 7s has unveiled its full lineup of experiences for the festival goers. In case you aren’t aware, the ultimate weekend is coming back from December 1 to 3 at the Sevens Stadium. Not to mention, but just a few weeks to go, the Sevens World Series ‘HSBC SVNS’ has re-branded. Featuring unrivalled sporting actions, and lots more, here’s all you need to know about the incredible line-up.

Emirates Dubai 7s Reveals Its Line-Up

Happening during the UAE National Day weekend, the Emirates Dubai 7s has finally revealed its complete lineup of events. Yes, it seems that fans will be able to get an exciting entertainment lineup, fantastic family-friendly activities, engaging live musical performances, and lots more. Not to mention, this year, the festival offerings also include a wide selection of incredible food and beverage options. Yes, there will be two all-new sections the Prosecco Lounge and the Shaded Garden, that you will certainly want to check out.

They Have a Special Zone for Kids

It so happens that they are doing something special for the kids. The special Kid’s Zone is returning with a larger and double-sized zone that has been designed for children of all ages for a fun-filled time with their families. Your little munchkin will be able to explore a wide range of activity areas, which include everything from toddlers’ soft play zone with air-conditioners and seating for parents to a full junior inflatable area and ball pits! As it happens, there will also be an arts and crafts area, a beanbag, a chillout zone, a selfie corner, and more for an enjoyable time. A full-size carousel is also coming to the kids’ area for the first time ever!

Several Activities for Kids

Yes, the entertainment stage will feature Disney sing-along shows, balloon bending, and a silent disco, which has a specially curated child-friendly playlist! While you are at it, don’t forget to click tons of pictures of your children with giant roaming mascots for a cherished memory that you can look back on. Did you know there’s also a Princess and Prince Play Booth? Yes, your little ones can get their face painted, hair braided, and even get transfer tattoos before they get clicked.

Coming to the teen hub, which is another family-friendly zone, there will be several thrilling experiences, such as inflatables, including the big red slide. Several other activities like football darts, the big baller, Flip-It, foosball, table tennis, and lots more will be in this place.

This year, the festival is all set to leave all you awesome foodies spoilt for choice. Offering the widest variety of culinary and beverage options ever, there will be some pretty famous names to choose from! Restaurants like Pret a Manger, Costa Coffee, Giraffe Sport Shack, and Mr. Toads, will all be stationed here. Moreover, the festival will also be able to relish regional favourites, like Pickl, Gino’s Deli, Baskin Robbins, Wingstop, and HERE O.

As mentioned previously, the Shaded Garden will feature the ultimate boho festival, which will be complete with full shade, relaxed seating, and feature glitter artists, hair, braiding, body marbling, and transfer tattoo stations. While the Prosecco Lounge will be located on the South Stand Where one can enjoy a bubbly drink.

There will also be a star-studded lineup of artists who will be taking the stage. Happening across four iconic stages, the festival will promise a mammoth live music lineup that will be spread throughout the entire festival. As it happens there are only limited tickets left for the event, and they start at AED425.

Source: Curly tales

Dubai ranked 24th among the safest distinguished tourist destinations in the world, according to a classification prepared by the Insider Monkey website.

The website said that when it comes to distinguished tourist destinations, it is difficult to beat Dubai, as everything in the city, from cars and hotels to resorts and beaches, is pulsing with activity and life. The police in the city drive cars such as McLaren and Aston Martin, and it is also home to the tallest building in the world, Burj Khalifa, which is 828 meters high and has 163 floors.

Other places worth visiting in Dubai include its three artificial islands, Palm Jumeirah, Deira Islands, and Palm Jebel Ali.

Hokkaido ranked first in the world, followed by Hawaii in second place, then Ibiza in third place.

In a related context, Burj Khalifa ranked first in the world for the second time in a row in achieving the largest amount of revenue from ticket sales in the world in 2023, outperforming the world’s famous landmarks, according to the American Bounce website for luggage management services.

According to estimates, Burj Khalifa ticket sales in 2023 are expected to reach more than $748 million (Dhs2.74 billion), compared to $622 million in 2022.

The website said that the results of the analysis depended on a variety of factors, including annual visitor numbers, entrance prices, TripAdvisor tourism website reviews, Instagram posts, and more.

Source: Gulf Today

The UAE’s minister of economy has said the country’s tourism advisory board is working on new packages that promote travel in all seven emirates. For years, tourism in the UAE has been centered in Dubai, home to Emirates Airline, the world’s biggest mall and a string of ultra-luxury hotels.

Capital city Abu Dhabi attracts tourism largely with its cultural offerings, such as the Louvre Museum, while Ras Al Khaimah focuses on nature tourism and corporate events. The other emirates, however, do not get as much attention.

Abdullah bin Touq Al Marri is now looking to change that. The minister revealed to state news agency WAM, that the Emirates Tourism Council has formulated a “tourist route” within the UAE that connects its seven emirates. This, according to the minister, is part of an even grander vision to promote cross-GCC travel as you would see with travelers hopping across Europe.

“This initiative is an integral part of the GCC 2030 tourism strategy, designed to elevate the tourism sector’s contribution to the GDP through increased inter-GCC travel and elevated hotel occupancy rates, transforming the GCC into a pre-eminent global destination for both regional and international tourists,” the UAE minister said.

Al Marri revealed that the unified GCC visa will roll out either next year or in 2025. When it does, it will introduce a “new flow of international tourists” to the region.

Last September, Al Marri gave updates on this development during a conference in Abu Dhabi. “What’s good for Saudi is good for the GCC,” he said at the conference. “If the tide comes up, it pulls up all the boats.”

This new visa comes under the banner of the “Gulf Strategy for Tourism 2023-2030,” which ministers also said is in the works. The meeting also looked into the establishment of a GCC Tourism Statistics Platform.

Source: Skift

Multiple historic sites in Marrakech were reopened to tourists on Sunday, a month after a devastating earthquake hit Morocco and took the lives of nearly 3,000 people. The reopened sites include Bahia Palace, Badi Palace, and the Saadian Tombs, reported Morocco World News.

Morocco is also hosting a large conference this week: The 2023 World Bank and IMF annual meeting. It is the highest-profile event Morocco has hosted so far, said Siham Fettouhi, Morocco Tourism Office Director for USA and Canada.

“We’ve been hosting more and more events every year, and the proof of that is that annual conference, we’re talking about more than 14,000 people coming into Marrakech this week,” said Fettouhi.Top of Form

Some parts of the areas affected by the earthquake remained closed to the public. “There’s a few locations that are not open to the public now in Marrakech because of what happened in the mountains more than in Marrakech itself,” said Fettouhi.

That hasn’t stopped tourism to Morocco. “People are still coming. People do understand that it’s an earthquake. It’s not a virus or something else that people don’t understand,” she said.

Morocco’s has been having a strong tourism trajectory this year. Between January and August, Morocco welcomed 10.2 million travelers. The country may exceed its pre-pandemic level of 13 million this year, said Fettouhi.

The Moroccan government aims to attract 17.5 million tourists and $12 billion in revenue by 2026. Between 2023 and 2025, Morocco’s government will be investing $2.7 billion in tourism, which will include hotels, airports, training and roads, said Fetthoui.

A big portion of the investment is going toward training to serve different markets. The country has seen strong growth from markets like India, China, South Korea and the U.S.

Over the past few decades, Morocco has become a unique destination with a variety of offerings, from ancient ruins to cultural experiences to trekking in the Atlas Mountains, according to multiple tour operators.

“More recently, Morocco has become a destination of choice – it used to be more of an add-on,” said Michael Edwards, Managing Director, Explore Worldwide. In the past, travelers used to pair Morocco with trips to Spain or France and focus on mostly on culture tours.

The government has added 1800 km in highway infrastructure to make more destinations accessible. In the past, it took travelers “hours and hours” to drive from Rabat to Marrakech. Now, it’s a two-hour drive.

The country has excellent infrastructure for circuit tours, said Kelly Torrens, vice president of product for Kensington Tours. “The quality of the guiding and the accommodation is great in Morocco,” she said.

The country has over 286,000 hotels beds – 10 years ago, it had 200,000.

What kicked off Morocco’s trajectory was an aviation agreement the country signed with the European Union in 2006, said Fettouhi. Under the agreement, EU and Moroccan airlines could operate routes between any EU airport and Morocco without capacity restrictions.

Since the agreement, the number of airlines servicing Morocco grew from 24 to 61 between 2004 and 2019. Total weekly flights rose from 400 in 2000 to 1,521 in 2019. Total international cities connected to Morocco’s airports rose from 48 to 153 between 2004 and 2019.

International travel to Morroco has exceeded pre-pandemic levels. Over 11 million international travelers flew through Morocco in the first half of 2023, up 7% from 10.2 million in 2019, according to Morocco Airports Authority. “Pretty much every airport in the country is busier than it was in 2019, and by a lot,” said Skift Airline Weekly Senior Editor Jay Shabat.

Source: Skift

Dubai’s tourism sector is predicted to reach levels not seen since 2019 by next year and a key driver behind the emirates’ success as a tourist and business destination is the UAE’s strong economic performance, says a report.

The remarkable post-pandemic performance of Dubai’s hospitality industry is a clear reflection of the UAE’s wider economic successes, said the Cavendish Maxwell report.

Despite the curveballs thrown by Covid-19 and recent global conflicts that disrupted travel worldwide, Dubai is defying the odds and emerging as the superstar of the tourism world.

In the first half of this year, a staggering 8.5 million globetrotters chose Dubai as their destination, breaking the city’s record for number of visitors. Fast forward to July 2023, and that number has surged to a jaw-dropping 9.83 million. Freshly released data by Dubai’s Department of Economy and Tourism also reveals that in 2022, Dubai hosted 14.36 million international overnight visitors. By comparison, in 2021, just 7.26 million stayed overnight.

The city hasn’t just bounced back, it has soared past regional and global expectations. In fact, during 2022, Dubai reached 86% of its pre-pandemic visitor levels, beating even the most optimistic projections by the United Nations World Tourism Organisation for international tourist arrivals in 2023.

Inflation under check

While the rest of the world has been grappling with soaring inflation rates, the UAE has managed to keep things in check.

In 2022, inflation in the UAE stayed at a modest 4.8%, thanks in part to generous government subsidies, particularly for essentials like food and fuel. In comparison, the rest of the world experienced much higher inflation at 8.7%, according to the International Monetary Fund. Looking ahead, the UAE is on track to lower inflation to 3.1% in 2023 and return to a stable 2.6% rate in 2024.

Alongside keeping inflation in check, the UAE has also exceeded expectations in economic growth, despite increasing concerns about a global recession. In 2022, the UAE saw an economic growth rate of 7.6%, the highest in over a decade.

Impressive recovery

Although experts at Fitch foresee a slight dip to 3.3% for the UAE in 2023 due to oil production cuts, the country’s economy has been recognised globally for its impressive post-pandemic recovery.

“The tourism sector’s GDP growth is set to nearly double from 2021 to a remarkable 36.1%, and by 2024, it’s predicted to reach levels we haven’t seen since 2019. Back then, travel and tourism contributed a substantial 11.6% to the country’s GDP, raking in AED180.4 billion,” the report said.

Source: Trade Arabia.

DUBAI – Dubai’s Department of Economy and Tourism, together with Real Madrid Club de Fútbol, have kicked off a landmark collaboration.

The multi-year agreement promises a range of exciting activations, special fan moments and unique experiences for Dubai and Real Madrid fans.

The newly formed alliance will equally serve as a powerhouse platform to create new growth opportunities for both institutions and support Dubai’s ambitious plans as part of its recently announced Dubai Economic Agenda – D33.

Being at the forefront of global sports entertainment with the world’s greatest Club aligns perfectly with Dubai’s ambitious plans to consolidate its position among the top three global cities. Launching this October, the partnership encompasses Real Madrid’s First Men and Women Football Teams, bringing a taste of Dubai to Santiago Bernabéu offering fans unforgettable experiences and services.

Issam Kazim, Chief Executive Officer of Dubai Corporation for Tourism and Commerce Marketing (DCTCM), and Florentino Perez, President of Real Madrid Club de Fútbol, formalised the partnership during an official ceremony at the legendary Sala de Juntas in Ciudad Real Madrid, in the presence of Jose Angel Sanchez, Chief Executive Officer of the Club, and Emilio Butragueño, Real Madrid legend and Director of Institutional Relations.

Kazim commented, “We are excited to begin our journey with Real Madrid as a global partner. This game-changing collaboration between Dubai and the greatest Club in the world is built upon a shared vision and values, where every achievement motivates one to pursue new heights. With our aim to consolidate Dubai’s position among the top three global cities, this strategic alliance will harness the strengths of a leading destination and the world’s most celebrated team to reaffirm Dubai globally as the best city to visit, live, and work in.”

Butragueño, in turn, said, “We are very proud of this new partnership with Dubai’s Department of Economy and Tourism as the Club’s first Official Destination Partner. Dubai is a destination that strives for excellence in all its entertainment offerings, a value shared by the Club. We are delighted to bring this exciting tourist destination to our millions of Madridistas around the world.”

Dubai’s strong public and private sector relations are at the heart of its success, and this new collaboration with Real Madrid further builds on a longstanding partnership that Emirates has cemented since 2011.

It is also perfectly timed for the upcoming Real Madrid themed-park at Dubai Parks and Resorts, the largest theme park destination in the Middle East, which will further expand the city’s diverse destination proposition.

The park, which will be the world’s first Real Madrid-themed park, will feature a number of Real Madrid-related attractions, such as a museum, amusement rides and football skill games, food and beverage outlets, and retail spaces selling official Real Madrid products.

Source: Zawya.