Why Dubai is leading global tourism recovery from coronavirus pandemic

Paul Griffiths explained that global vaccination rates are among those measures that would demonstrate to the world the extent that a country is on its way out of the pandemic.

With close to 7.5 million of its population already vaccinated, the UAE is among the few countries with an exit strategy based on their vaccination programmes (along with Israel, USA and UK).

But given the variations in the global rates of vaccination, it will be difficult for the world to move in sync when it comes to travel rebound, explained Griffiths, who was speaking at the Dubai Global Events Re-opening Forum as part of a panel of key stakeholders discussing the success and experience of the emirate’s 12-month journey to create the biggest and safest comeback in the events industry.

“We’re going to have to rely on bilateral relationships between countries that have reached a similar stage of protection of their communities against the pandemic and I think we’re very close with a lot of countries now, there is a lot of meetings going on at the moment and I think we’ll see some announcements which will mean the mobility of the world starts to get back to normal in fairly short order,” said Griffiths.

An independent survey carried out by Dubai World Trade Centre indicated that 94 percent of those questioned felt consistently safe arriving and departing from Dubai International Airport (DXB).

DXB has retained its position as the largest international hub in the world even through the current tough times when it is operating at 20 percent of its normal throughout with about two million passengers instead of the eight million it normally welcomes every month, said Griffiths.

Dubai has maintained its position as a top destination through the pandemic thanks to the collaborative efforts of all stakeholders, Griffiths (right) said during a panel discussion.

Dubai International Airport reported a 70 percent slump in traffic last year as flights were grounded and borders were closed in measures designed to contain the spread of coronavirus. The number of travellers through the Middle East’s tourism hub fell to 25.9 million in 2020 – that included 17.8m passengers in the first quarter of the year.

One of the biggest battles the travel industry is fighting is that of restoring the confidence of people to travel but the “very strong measures we and our colleagues at Emirates took very early on reassured people that it was safe to travel again”, said Griffiths.

“Dubai is in a unique position both geographically and economically, and in terms of its impact on the world, and there are plenty of people out there that would love to take the opportunity of a pandemic to steal our crown.”

“So we haven’t stopped being aware of that competitive position we find ourselves in and we are still taking measures now to make sure that we’re going to the gym, remaining very, very fit, like a coiled spring ready to rebound as soon as traffic comes back,” he continued.

Dubai has maintained its position as a top destination throughout the pandemic thanks to the collaborative efforts of all stakeholders, said Griffiths.

“Dubai reminds us every single day that life is for living, it’s not just for working, and I don’t think there’s a single city that does this better than here in the UAE and here in Dubai,” he said.

“I think that’s the reason lots of people are coming here and are very envious of the progress we’ve made in being able to not only overcome the difficulties of the global pandemic, but have a consistent strategy which means that we’ll be very early leaders on the way out of this,” he added.