Dubai will be among top 5 tourism destinations

Dubai stays among the top five destinations for most of the people who are looking at their next holiday as restrictions on air travel ease and airlines resume regular flights, said a senior official.

"World tourism has witnessed an unprecedented negative trend, not seen since World War II. These types of shocks are something that have not been planned by tourism sector globally. We need to work hard to bring back confidence to the sector. However, there are positive indicators. We have seen a lot of online travel agency and other travel sites showing that demand for Dubai is very high and we are among the top five cities that people are looking at as their next holiday destination," said Helal Saeed Almarri, director-general of Dubai Tourism.

"We are definitely ready and prepared for the next stage and are ready to welcome guests."

He praised the crisis committee for having the highest level of Covid-19 test as well as the best level of healthcare and attention given to travel ecosystem to make sure that right system is in place so that people can enjoy.

Almarri said no date has been announced yet for the opening up the emirate for tourists but the complete reopening of the tourism sector will happen after Covid-19.

Over past few days, Dubai began to reopen tourism facilities such as holiday homes, beaches, hotels etc.

"While areas which are still pending such as spas, pools and kids play areas still need time before they open up," he said, adding that "Dubai has the highest global standards of safety and security across all stages of travel reopening. There is going to be reopening of markets not just based on when we are ready but also when everybody else is also ready to open their markets," he added.

While highlighting the trends in aviation industry, he noted that group travel is likely to decline and there will be more individual travellers, especially in places like China and Russia.