Dubai Tourism has announced the appointment of Nijhawan Group as its in-market destination representation and trade marketing management firm in India. The decision was driven by the Indian subcontinent’s growing outbound demand, witnessed in the steady rise in visitation from India, along with rises in the length of stay and spending power of Indian travellers.
With over 45 years of experience in India, Nijhawan Group will now be responsible for all trade communications, brand partnership conversations and building crucial trade relationships in the Indian subcontinent to strengthen Dubai’s position in the market and ultimately bring the emirate closer to its Tourism Vision 2020 goals.
Meanwhile, Cruise Club has been appointed as the representative in India for Dubai Business Events, a division of Dubai Tourism and the city’s official convention bureau. Based out of Mumbai, Cruise Club’s role is to increase Dubai’s market share from incentive groups and corporate meetings. The team has already begun delegate boosting activity, promoting upcoming events such as the Lions Clubs International ISAAME Forum, which will take place in December at Dubai World Trade Centre.
Both firms replace Charson Advisory, a long-standing and trusted partner that has provided DCTCM with in-depth marketing research, brand consultancy services and effective marketing strategies over the past 20 years. The successful partnership between DTCM and Charson Advisory has seen a significant increase in visitors, with India emerging as the number one source market for Dubai’s inbound tourism – recently seeing over 1.4 million tourists having visited Dubai between January and September 2017.
Issam Kazim, CEO, Dubai Corporation for Tourism and Commerce Marketing (DCTCM) said, “India remains a top priority for us, now consistently being the largest source market for tourists to Dubai. This is a feat achieved through years of establishing and building strong trade ties in the market, in addition to the execution of a segment-specific approach across India. Charson Advisory has played a great role in realising this feat, and I would like to take this opportunity to thank them for their consistently professional approach, enduring commitment and dependable work.”
“We are pleased to continue our journey with the Nijhawan Group and Cruise Club as our destination proposition continues to grow and diversify, attracting first-time visitors as well as driving repeat visitation from India. We look forward to working with both companies to further strengthen Dubai’s position in the global market, and bring us closer to achieving our goal of welcoming 20 million visitors per year by 2020,” Kazim continued.
Commenting on the appointment, Priyanka Nijhawan, director, Nijhawan Group said, “We are elated to have entered the partnership with Dubai Tourism. With India being the biggest source market into Dubai, we aim to still derive greater growth into the region through strategic sales initiatives, marketing partnerships and working closely with the Travel Trade in India. We look forward to further strengthen Dubai as the first choice of destination for tourism from India.”
Ankush Nijhawan, managing director, Nijhawan Group added, “Nijhawan Group is a travel conglomerate with over 45 years of experience in India that has extensive relationships with the travel trade across the country. With our appointment, we hope to capitalise on our extensive network of agents and generate greater growth into Dubai with their support.”