"Beware Backfire!!!"

Whats going on with Dubai and their "Rich man/Poor man" act that has suddenly flooded the market with the most amazing holiday deals? Futher to yesterdays report on this, Martin Ferguson from TTG live has looked at the possible negative impacts of this method of "Panic Marketing..."

He writes "Travel agencies have been bombarded with special offers and discounts for holidays to Dubai – but fear customers will hold off until even better deals materialise...


Five-star hotels, including the recently opened Atlantis The Palm, have been contacting agents offering up to 50% off rates in a desperate attempt to sell inventory for 2010...

Luxury operator If Only contacted agents on Monday to tell them a seven-night stay at Atlantis, including Emirates flights, was £1,600 cheaper than the previous week...

Agents were unanimous that the price reductions were good but some found that customers were delaying making bookings, believing prices would fall further in the new year...

Janet Whittingham, retail development manager at St Andrews Travel in Bolton, said: “One of our regular Dubai clients admitted he had seen deals online and told us he was going to wait for the price to fall further before booking...

“They recognise what a good product Dubai is and want to obtain the best possible deal...”

Jo Gardiner, a Travel Counsellors agent based in Oxford and one of the agents who completed TTG’s Dubai survey, said she was facing a raft of cancellations by clients on low deposits because they believed they would get a better bargain later..."

Follow this scary story at http://www.ttglive.com/c/portal/layout?p_l_id=3208370&CMPI_SHARED_articleId=3432042&CMPI_SHARED_ImageArticleId=3432042&CMPI_SHARED_articleIdRelated=3432042&CMPI_SHARED_ToolsArticleId=3432042&CMPI_SHARED_CommentArticleId=3432042&articleTitle=Dubai%20discounts%20could%20backfire

Barticus.

"Wahoo!! Winter sun..."

Yet more good news for hard up Brits with the publication that hotel searches for Dubai have gone up a spectacular 590%...

British travellers are making the most of cut price hotel rooms in Dubai according to new figures from Hotels.com. Searches for hotels in Dubai have risen by 570% since Dubai World's announcement sparked a financial crisis in the Emirate, it is revealed...


In the first half of 2009, the average price of a five star hotel room in the city was £174 per night. However, for January 2010 a five star hotel room will cost on average just £144 a night, a drop of 17% and adding up to a saving of £210 for a week-long stay. A five-star weekend break in mid-January starts from as little as £74 per night...

Dubai has been experiencing falling rates for some time, as the global downturn, compounded by an over-supply of hotel rooms in the city, meant hotel rates dropped dramatically in the first three months of 2009...

Alison Couper, Director of Communications at Hotels.com, said: "Dubai is great value at the moment. There are some fantastic promotions from hoteliers in the city as they try to attract customers, meaning there has never been a better time for travellers to stay in some of the world's top properties for a great price. Now is the time to take the holiday you've always dreamed of..."

Follow this story at http://www.traveldailynews.com/pages/show_page/34578-British-travellers-cash-in-as-Dubai-rates-plummet

Barticus.

"A little bit of affordable luxury..."

Further to the news last week about how Dubai suddenly had money worries, we can see a new push for tourism in the resort with room rates slashed...

Hotels in Dubai are slashing rates in a bid to boost occupancy levels following news of the Dubai World debt default. Some five-star hotels are offering rooms for well below £100 a night, whilst rooms at four-star hotels can be snapped up for less than £30 per night...

Rooms in the luxury Taj Palace are going for £89 a night, the Concorde is on sale at £75 and a studio apartment at the five-star Grand Midwest is now just £49...

Booking site hotels.com is offering rooms to Jebel Ali Golf Resort for just £99 a night, whilst rates at the One and Only Royal Mirage have been cut by 40%, from £417 to £250. However the seven-star Burj al Arab is sticking to its luxury guns and doubles remain at £958 per night...

So, for information and to see if you can also get yourself a bargain, go to http://www.breakingtravelnews.com/news/article/dubai-hoteliers-slash-room-rates/

Barticus.

"What do you mean you can't pay?..."

These are hard times for all within the tourism industry. Over recent weeks we have seen not only SMI's (small to medium businesses) going to the wall, but also the struggles of many of the bigger players such as British Airways. But now, when so many were starting to show how the worst of this economic slump is past, one of the biggest tourism servers is bringing fresh worries in turbulent times...

This follows the breaking news that Dubai World has (reportedly) asked for more time to make a loan payment, news that has sent shock waves not just through the tourism sector, but also through the financial sector as people try to work out "Whats going on" with what was considered to be financially safe "Uber" resort of Dubai...

Banks have also invested heavily in the area. According to the Emirates Bank Association, HSBC has $17bn invested in UAE, Standard Chartered has $7.8bn, Barclays has $3.6bn and has . RBS $2.2bn. Citigroup also has $1.9bn in the UAE whilst BNP Paribas $1.7bn and Lloyds has $1.6bn....

For more on this, follow http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2009/nov/26/dubai-first-domino-new-crash

Barticus.

"I need to get out of the cold..."

Dubai tourism set for Russian onslaught..

Rita Boustany, Editor-in-Chief of Aviamost, the most popular and widely circulated Russian language magazine in the Gulf, has said Dubai should expect 15% to 20% increase in tourist influx during the November Russian holiday of this year compared to the same period in 2008...

Dubai’s tourism industry is bracing itself for a large number of Russian tourists as nearly 10,000 to 15,000 who are expected to arrive in the city during the November holiday period. According to the Russian tour operators Dubai hotels lowered their room rates by the end of 2008 and the trend continued till mid 2009. As the room rates are still the same it has helped Russian operators to sell Dubai well amid economic crisis....

To hear more follow http://www.traveldailynews.com/pages/show_page/33863-Influx-of-Russian-tourists-to-enhance-Dubai%E2%80%99s-tourism-industry

Barticus.