At its first biannual city briefing event held at the InterContinental Dubai Festival City last week, Dubai’s Department of Tourism and Commerce Marketing, Dubai Tourism, provided a positive outlook of the industry to leading stakeholders and partners.

Led by Helal Saeed Almarri, Director-General of Dubai Tourism, the city briefing is part of regular industry engagements initiated by the department to enhance collaboration with its stakeholders and partners to leverage the growing tourism momentum and achieve the goals of Dubai’s Tourism Vision 2022-2025.

The event was attended by nearly 1,000 managers and key executives across all industries, as well as top officials from the Dubai Police and the Expo 2020 Dubai.

In a special presentation, the Dubai Police drew the attention to its “Oyoon” smart security surveillance initiative to help ensure the safety of all residents and visitors in Dubai. The Expo 2020 Dubai presentation, titled “500 days to go”, provided an update on the key milestones that have been reached and the infrastructure and logistics in place to host the mega event on 20th October, 2020.

Addressing the gathering, Almarri said, “Dubai Tourism is committed to hosting such events to ensure that our stakeholders are well aligned with the emirate’s tourism strategy, to be able to collectively take advantage of the diverse campaigns and concerted efforts being made to attract more visitors to the city.”

Major General Khalil Ibrahim Al Mansour, Assistant to the Commander-in-chief for Criminal Investigation Affairs at the Dubai Police, said, “The Dubai Police is pleased to be a part of this event as it gives us an opportunity to exchange ideas and views with leading players in Dubai’s tourism industry, and to secure their support towards further enhancing the safety and security of visitors.”

Sanjive Khosla, Deputy Chief, Sales and Marketing at Expo 2020 Dubai, said, “With fewer than 500 days until Expo 2020 opens, our preparations are well on track. We will be welcoming millions of tourists, and the hospitality sector has a key role in ensuring that each and every one of those visitors has a fantastic experience and wants to come back, boosting tourism in the long term.”

The city briefing was followed by the hosting of the Dubai Sustainable Tourism Awards.