Canadian University Dubai (CUD) has recently joined forces with two more leading names in the hospitality industry to help boost the skills supply to the UAE tourism sector as Dubai prepares to attract 25 million visitors by 2025.

Under the two new agreements, the University will collaborate with Copthorne Hotel Dubai, a member of the Millennium Hotels Group, and Ibis Styles Hotels Jumeirah, to foster education-industry initiatives that will help increase workforce capacity in support of the Dubai Tourism Strategy.

The goal to become the most visited city in the world was revealed last year by Sheikh Hamdan bin Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Crown Prince of Dubai and Chairman of the Dubai Executive Council.

The University adds these collaborations to its existing portfolio of industry partnerships, which includes other leading international brands such as Shangri-La, in the heels of the launch of its Bachelor of Business Administration in Events and Tourism Management, which was established in response to the high-level skill needs emerging from Dubai’s growing international stature as a hub for leisure and business travel.

The partnerships were sealed with the signing of a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with each party by Hennie Ferreira, Chief Operating Officer of Canadian University Dubai.

Representing Copthorne Hotel Dubai was General Manager, Glenn Nobbs. Signing on behalf of Ibis Styles Hotels Jumeirah was General Manager, Muhammad Mujtaba Haider.

Initiated by Dr Iva Bulatovic, Assistant Professor of Events and Tourism Management, the MoUs pave the way for students in the University’s Faculty of Management to secure professional internships, and in doing so, play a role in advancing business practices and processes within the sector.

The agreements will also facilitate joint workshops, seminars and conferences, as well as job placements and longer-term career opportunities for Canadian University Dubai students.

Speaking about the new partnerships, Acting Dean of the Faculty of Management, Dr Marc Poulin, said, “We are delighted to formalise our collaboration with two world-renowned hospitality brands.  These agreements will offer our students unique experiential learning opportunities that will provide them with a competitive edge as they enter into this all-important sector of the Dubai economy, and prepare them to make an important contribution to achieving the targets set out for the future of the industry in the UAE.”

Dubai has balanced dynamics for the growth of its tourism sector over the next decade, thanks to its readiness, tourism infrastructure and additional avenues for visitor growth without straining its urban landscape.

The emirate has been ranked at par with Beijing, Hong Kong, Munich, Osaka, Shanghai, Singapore, Tokyo and Washington DC for balanced dynamics of tourism growth by JLL and the World Travel and Tourism Council’s (WTTC) latest report, Destination 2030.

Balanced dynamics cities are often business centres with a lower share of leisure compared to business travel, but they also have an established tourism infrastructure and potential for travel and tourism growth.

Citing an example, the study highlighted that Dubai’s tourism department has developed a sustainability strategy to ensure the continual development of sustainable tourism, along with a Dubai Green Tourism Awards scheme.

The study rated the emirate highly for supportiveness of policies in terms of fostering a sustainable tourism growth, scale of travel and tourism market and concentration and density of tourists and visitor activity.

Some of the other key tips for cities to attract more leisure travellers are building on the success of the lifestyle offerings for the country developing a repertoire of unique experiences, focusing on both leisure and business markets tapping into the bleisure trend and delivering personalised packages for travellers.

Dubai Tourism’s figures for the first five months showed that total international visitors reached 7.16 million, same as last year, despite stronger dirham and slowing regional economic growth.

Tourists from traditional markets of India, Saudi Arabia, the UK and Russia fell but other markets compensated with higher number such as Germany, Oman, the Philippines, France and Nigeria.

Agencies