Safety assured as Dubai reopens

Abdulla Yousuf, Acting Director, Proximity Market, International Operations, Dubai Tourism, shares how the emirate is ready to receive tourists, ensuring their safety and health is not compromised at any level. The tourism board continues to be in constant dialogue with India travel trade, keeping them updated on the latest developments.

Nisha Verma

Dubai has opened its doors to the world for tourism, and Abdulla Yousuf is confident that in 2021, they will be able to begin the much-awaited Dubai Expo. “Dubai has shown and proven in the past that we adapt quickly and we’ve taken a collaborative solution-building approach with our stakeholders to allow us to continue the reopening of attractions and welcoming back of tourists. We have seen many locations reopen in the last weeks, events will start to come back soon and in the long term, we are confident that next year Dubai will deliver an Expo (October 1, 2021 to March 31, 2022) that makes sense in a post-COVID world, as we expect global communities to stand together in solidarity, now more than ever,” he says.

He adds that tourists and visitors have been welcomed back to Dubai since July 7, 2020, and that for all visa-related information, they are being guided to The General Directorate of Residency and Foreigners Affairs and advised to check their country’s travel advisory for latest guidance on outbound trips.

Making way for India

Talking about promotional initiatives in India, he elaborates, “We always keep up to date with the current local situation and latest developments in every market. For us it is important to stay in close contact with our partners and travel trade contacts in India. Since March, we’ve hosted nine webinars with a total of 5,322 attendees. We also remain in close communication with our office in India regarding changes due to COVID-19.”

Assuring and reassuring

With the city being open again and with many locations and entertainment facilities having reopened as well, Dubai is keen on ensuring every traveller’s safety and well-being, says Yousuf. For this, they have launched a compliance programme – Dubai Assured – to certify and recognise hotels and retail establishments, food and beverage outlets, and attractions that have managed to implement all public health protocols for the prevention and management of COVID-19. The specially-designed ‘Dubai Assured’ stamp will be issued free of charge and will be valid for 15 days. It will be renewed every two weeks upon further verification by inspectors from the relevant authorities in collaboration with Department of Tourism and Commerce Marketing, Dubai Economy and Dubai Municipality, as Dubai continues to welcome tourists following the reopening of the city to international visitors. “The initiative is part of Dubai’s effort to being considered one of the world’s safest destinations. Finally, combined efforts of the UAE’s leadership, government and tourism sector stakeholders, as well as Dubai Airports, Emirates Airlines and flydubai, led to Dubai receiving the Safe Travels stamp by WTTC,” he shares. Dubai has also granted access to pools for tourists. “Hotels in Dubai have deployed stringent disinfection measures for their facilities, as well as enhanced sanitisation covering contact points,” informs Yousuf.

Battling COVID-19

“All tourists, residents, citizens and transit passengers must present a valid negative PCR test (which is valid for 96 hours). Should the tourist show symptoms on arrival, they will be re-tested. If the result is positive, compliance with 14-day isolation becomes mandatory. The traveller will be bearing the cost of treatment and isolation unless their carrier is Emirates, which is the first airline in the world to cover its customers for COVID-19 medical and quarantine expenses when they travel to and from the UAE and around the world free of charge.” – Abdulla Yousuf