travel and tourism – nothing beats face-to-face communication, be it at an exhibition, on a sales trip or a road show.
Local tourism and hospitality experts are unanimous in recognising the value and opportunities presented by exhibitions, and are attending those that cover their key markets.
The emirate’s offerings will be showcased by Fujairah Tourism & Antiquities Authority at this year’s editions of ITB Berlin, Riyadh Travel Fair, Arabian Travel Market in Dubai, OTDYKH International Russian Travel Market in Moscow and World Travel Market London.
As Alsamahi revealed, the authority also has India on its radar for the future.
While local hotels often exhibit alongside Fujairah Tourism & Antiquities Authority at major exhibitions, many of them also look for opportunities to reach out to their niche markets.
“Exhibition at trade shows is a great way to advertise and create brand awareness for specific target markets,” confirmed Hashem.
Concorde Fujairah Hotel, known for its alcohol-free policy, is promoting itself at events relevant to Halal tourism, as well as the CIS outbound luxury market, in addition to the standard ones mentioned above.
Novotel, ibis and Adagio Fujairah, on the other hand, with their expansive meetings and events facilities, are mainly focussing on MICE-related trade shows, according to Zaki.
Road shows are another effective face-to-face selling and promotional tool highly praised by Fujairah’s hoteliers.
Radisson Blu Resort Fujairah’s team will, for example, hit the road this year to join its tour operator partners in Russia, Eastern Europe, Azerbaijan and Georgia.
And in the future, as Verkhovskaya revealed, the management is evaluating several trade shows and exhibitions in China, as it is one of the new emerging markets for the hotel at the moment.
INDISPENSABLE AGENTS
While new technology did open up novel sales avenues, these still cannot replace the value generated by the loyalty and support of travel agents.
Maintaining these mutually beneficial relationships ranks high on the agendas of local hospitality experts, and the means to do this are many.
“We have strong relationships with regional and local partners, built through frequent visits, follow-ups and participation in joint marketing campaigns, as well as promotions and commission on business volumes,” Verkhovskaya elucidated, highlighting that the team is particularly proud of the special support that tour operators and travel agencies are providing online.
“Apart from newsletter and mailing campaigns, classic tour operators focus and work mainly on their own webpage with the aim to engage and retain visitors for a longer time to materialize bookings.
Such partners provide us with banners and top spots in their listings so that they increase our exposure and eventually our revenue,” she explained.
Regular communication is also seen as crucial to a good relationship with agents by Concorde Fujairah Hotel, which has prepared special contracted room rates for them this year, as well as special discounts at all food and beverage outlets.
With their versatile and proactive strategies in place for this year, there is no doubt that Fujairah’s hoteliers will manage to maintain solid occupancy levels and revenues, consolidating their presence in existing key markets and opening up avenues towards new, emerging ones.
