An official with the Dubai Department of Tourism and Commerce Marketing said Dubai must revise its goal of reaching 15 million tourists by 2015 because of the global economic crisis. Executive Director for Business Tourism, Hamad Mohammed bin Mejren, said “if we do not reach our target of attracting 15 million tourists by 2015, we will work hard to reach the closest that we can get to our original tourists target.” He said the economic crisis is out of control and “we have to adjust to the crisis.”, which requires changing some strategies.
Mejren said more time must be spent on promotion and advertizing. The Proleads market research company, based in Dubai, said the economic slowdown has caused the cancellation of about 6,500 hotel rooms in UAE, while around 5 per cent of 893 hotel projects have been postponed or cancelled.
