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Destination Marketing Plan
Assignment 4
Submitted by
Ashleigh Hood, Olena Sergiienko, Hasitha Indraratne, Shayne Flood
1st April
Destination Marketing Plan
Dubai
Have your Luxury Your Way.. Come
To Dubai
Mission Statement
Our Mission is to offer unique opportunities
for leisure travelers and Business travelers to
Dubai and create long lasting partnerships
and Business relationships with North
America while offering a definite value for
money experience for all travelers.
Vision Statement:
We will distinguish itself as a leader in North
America to redefining tourism and will be
recognized for the excellence of positioning
Dubai a as Canadian business travelers’
destination of choice for unique meetings,
conferences and leisure..
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Table of Contents
1. Corporate Connection ....................................................Error! Bookmark not defined.
2. Analysis and Forecasting ................................................................................................ 4
3. Product Positioning and Branding: ................................................................................. 6
i. The Socio Cultural Placement / ii. Target Market Demographics ........................................... 6
iii. Expendable Income of Target Market ................................................................................... 7
iv. Does the Target Market and the Product make sense? .......................................................... 8
v. Logo ...................................................................................................................................... 10
vi. Building Brand Image and Recognition............................................................................... 10
vii. Corporate Social Responsibility ......................................................................................... 11
viii. Simple Budget for Marketing Plan .................................................................................... 12
ix. Expectations for the return. Timelines. ................................................................................ 13
x. Plan for tracking marketing communications. ...................................................................... 14
5. Tactics an Action Plan ................................................................................................ 14
6. Communicating the plan ............................................................................................... 16
7. Advertising .................................................................................................................... 16
References ......................................................................................................................... 16
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2. Analysis and Forecasting
Appendix 1
Strengths:
* Exotic/unique experiences (hotels, attractions,
activities)
* Luxury experience includes relaxing beaches
and invigorating sport and exploration
opportunities
* Political neutrality and impartiality
* Safe environment
Opportunities:
* War in Egypt brings new tourists to Dubai,
providing travellers a similar experience
* Family tourism during Ramadan
* Meetings and conferences for business
* Luxury honeymoons
* Transit hub to Australasia countries
* Luxury adult playground similar to Vegas
Weakness:
* Cultural differences
* Long distance, travel time
* Expensive to get there
* No collaboration with other regions (ex. Abu Dhabi)
* Luxuries might appeal too small a segment
SWOT
Threats:
* Strong competitors: within the region: Abu
Dhabi, Qatar; outside of region: Singapore, Hong
Kong
* Terrorism and war could further negative image
of Middle East, UAE
* Oil running out within 20-30 years
To cover most of weaknesses of Dubai as destination we can use our unique and
luxury experiences, for example, even though Abu Dhabi has similar services, it will not
be able to compare in luxury with Dubai. Also though luxury segment is relatively small
segment it can be developed to a significant level. For this developing such diverse
opportunities with different purposes of travelling there can be offered to our market.
For covering threats Dubai’s strength may be used. For example, though there are
strong competitors, none of them is able to offer such a variety of luxury services and
experiences in one place. Besides the possibility of getting negative image due to wars in
other parts of Middle East such strengths, as safety, political neutrality and impartiality
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should be emphasize more while positioning the destination. Finally, though the fact of
running out of oil is unavoidable, there is time to develop and promote Dubai to a one of
the biggest tourist destinations that will be able to survive without support of oil industry.
All things considered, it seems as though the opportunities and strengths most of
weaknesses and threats can be covered.
VS.
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For our competitive analysis for Dubai as a tourist destination we have chosen
Shanghai, because it has similar features, however is different. In order to improve the
comparison we created a SWOT for Shanghai as well.
SWOT for Shanghai Tourism
Appendix 2
Strength




Highly developed transportation system
– easy access to other parts of China
Cooperation with other destinations in
China
Comparably low pricing for food and
accommodations
Shopping
Opportunities



Weakness

Low percentage of population fluent in
English
Extremely high level of air pollution
Long distance, travel time
Expensive to get there
Overcrowded city
Dirty and not safe streets





Threats
China/Shanghai gets main roles in the

world’s economics, therefore will attract
more business tourists

Developing collaboration with other
regions if China

Shanghai becomes very multicultural
city
Strong competitors: Singapore, Hong
Kong, Tokyo
Information in the media about nonsafety and dirtiness of the city
The global economic slowdown will act
as a disincentive to international tourists
From the SWOT chart for Shanghai we can see, that though Shanghai is a popular
tourism destination with it’s own strengths; it cannot offer the same level of luxury
experience as Dubai. Furthermore, most of people associate Asia and China in particular
with dirty and not safe environment; while Dubai is known for being wealthy and safe
city. However, the strongest part for Dubai is variety of attractions and opportunities for
leisure.
3. Product Positioning and Branding:
i. The Socio Cultural Placement / ii. Target Market Demographics
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Who?
1. Luxury Traveller

Demographic: retired, couples, no dependents, high amount of disposable
income, physically able (long travel times)

Psychographic: adventurous, young at heart
2. Business Traveller

Demographic: male, high level of education, mid-level employee, no
dependents; therefore more disposable income, late 20’s mid 30’s

Psychographic: lifestyle: pre-family, forward thinking, open-minded, noncommitted (able to travel whenever and wherever), ahead of the curve
thinkers, looking for new up and coming opportunities, heavy usage
(compared to the other two target groups)
3. Family Travellers

Demographic: high earning, children toddlers to late teens, parents mid 30’s
to mid 40’s

Psychographic: open minded, fun, adventurous, patient (long travel times)
iii. Expendable Income of Target Market
Appendix 3:
Per capita personal disposable income relative to Canada
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The chart below chart displays the expandable income of Canadians. Though
Ontario is in a declining stage it tends to be having a moderate level and it doesn’t show a
drastic drop comparing to some of the other provinces. The expandable levels of the
Ontarians are in a higher stage in comparison to the other Provinces and this would look
like we have a chance to position Dubai to this market.
But the question would be the competition we would have from other detonations
that Ontarians would conveniently travel to. We would seriously have to consider about a
specific question “Does this destination Dubai make sense in our Market”
iv. Does the Target Market and the Product make sense?
Appendix 4:
Travel by Canadians to foreign countries, top 15 countries visited (2010)
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According to the above chart it clearly gives us some valuable facts on the trends
of the Canadian’s preferred travel destinations. Our destination would be a total new
experience for the Canadian market and it will be an entrance level product. There it is a
big question mark if it will be a success I or not.
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Dubai as product in the Boston Consulting Group (BCG Model)
Appendix 5
Star
High
Question Mark


United Kingdom
Dominican
Republic



Dubai
Thailand
Tokyo



United States
Mexico
Cuba


Switzerland
Jamaica
Low
Cash Cow
High
Dog
Low
v. Logo
vi. Building Brand Image and Recognition
Dubai is already well known brand all over the world. Usually people associate it
with luxury and expansive tourist destination in Middle East. However, there is still a
need to build stronger associations to Dubai. Our goal is to take this idea further and sell
Dubai as a “dream-like” oasis. We are going to position Dubai as a destination that is
offering everything, with emphasize on Tallest, Largest, and Greatest. Positive
association with the destination experience and its people will increase the brand image
of Dubai as well, for example, businesses that work in the oil industry might go there just
to learn more about their culture in order to build their connections with strongest
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representatives of this industry. From the table below we can see that Dubai keep
growing as destination for meetings and conferences.
Business Tourism Statistics
Appendix 6:
Year
Number of International Association
Meetings held in Dubai
ICCA Ranking
2009
25
68th
2010
31
51th
2011
34
60th
We are aiming to make Dubai #1 destination for business meetings and conferences
by 2020.
vii. Corporate Social Responsibility
“Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) is defined as the voluntary activities undertaken
by a company to operate in an economic, social and environmentally sustainable manner”
(Corporate Social Responsibility, 2013).
CSR is still a marketing action; it is not charity just for charity. That is why a
campaign needs to be chosen thoroughly. Since Dubai is positioned as a luxury and
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unique destination CSR should reflects the same values and characteristics. According to
Dubai.ae web-site, the concept of CSR in Dubai and the UAE has always been present
from the earliest Islamic times, with people and organizations practicing Islamic values,
donating through philanthropy. In recent years, there have been worldwide initiatives to
invest responsibly and focus on investing profits into community life and saving the
environment. Also lack of fresh water is one of the biggest upcoming problems in the
world, especially in such country as UAE, where desert is located. It is already a big
problem in Dubai and fresh water is very expansive there; this way we believe that part of
the profits should be invested into developing technologies of producing fresh water.
viii. Simple Budget for Marketing Plan
Our marketing budget will be based on a B2B entity that has decided to combine
several inbound and outbound marketing strategies in order to reach its customers.
Inbound marketing strategies include the company’s website, blog, online PPC (pay-perclick) advertising campaigns and any and all marketing strategies geared towards driving
online search traffic to the company’s site. The following budget summarizes the
company’s expenditures on its marketing strategies for its first quarter. The company has
itemized its expenditures by month and by marketing strategy. A total is provided in the
last column for the company’s entire first quarter. For instance, the company spent
$500.00 in January, February and March on content writers for its blog. The total for the
quarter is therefore $1,500.00.
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Appendix 7
Marketing Budget
January
February
March
First Quarter
Marketing
Expenditures
Website
$750.00
$500.00
$0.00
$1,250.00
Blog
$500.00
$500.00
$500.00
$1,500.00
Website call tracking
$750.00
$750.00
$750.00
$2,250.00
Online PPC campaigns
$5,000.00
$0.00
$5,000.00
$10,000.00
Print and magazine
advertisements
$2,500.00
$0.00
$2,500.00
$5,000.00
Trade shows, exhibits and
conferences
$15,000.00
$0.00
$15,000.00
$30,000.00
Catalogs and brochures
$500.00
$500.00
$750.00
$1,750.00
Sales negotiation training
$2,000.00
$0.00
$2,000.00
$4,000.00
ix. Expectations for the return. Timelines.
In the short-term, we do not expect there to be a very high return on our
investment. This city is still newly developing itself to the overseas travellers market so a
return investment would be more of a long-term goal rather than notable in the short-term
marketing plan. However, we expect that in 10 years with successful marketing and
promotion campaign Dubai will become #1 destination for business tourism.
One point to make however, is it is just that an investment. Therefore, promoting
Dubai in a different light to travellers in Canada who may have never considered this a
destination for them will pay off in the long-term.
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x. Plan for tracking marketing communications.
One way to track how effective our marketing communications is by using social
media. There is a product on the market for purchase at the moment called
“Hashtracking” and is made for Twitter. The cost can range between $30 and $400 per
month depending on how many hashtags you would like to track. With this product you
can see who, what and where is #Dubai or #tourismdubai or #thenameofourcompany is
being tweeted, as well as in what light. The software also compiles charts and graphs
showing the hastags throughout different periods of the year. There are many similar
products out there for this purpose.
Appendix 8
Another way to track our marketing efforts would be to create custom landing
pages for your offline ads. For example, having an ad in En Route magazine strictly
dedicated to the Luxury traveller, when they scan the QR code it will direct them directly
to your website page designed for that ad. You can track how effect this is by using
Google Analytics, how many people come to the page using this method etc.
5. Tactics an Action Plan
 2005, 84% of the population of metropolitan Dubai was foreign-born, about half of
them from India
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 Keeping this statistic in mind, we need to be careful how we advertise Dubai. People
need to understand that as cosmopolitan as the city is, there is still a high Muslim
population and travellers need to respect their culture.
 For example, if advertising the resort life and beach life in Dubai you wouldn’t want
to use a scantly clad woman strutting her stuff all over the beach (like how you might
for Cancun). Could use a “classy” woman dressed in a luxurious white sundress.
Putting emphasis on the scenery and the luxuriousness rather than emphasis on the sex
appeal
 Another cultural nuance to consider is the cultural/religious holidays practiced in
Dubai. Ramadan for example will be taking place this year July 9th to August 7th. This
will be a slow time for the city as many residents will be fasting and therefore not be
out spending money. This could be a great time to encourage family travellers to go,
the city will be less crowded therefore easier for parents to navigate with children.
 Another take on Ramadan is for people to come and experience this tradition. There
are Ramadan tents set up around the city with lavish buffets consisting of traditional
food, music, sheesha, dancing. A chance for North Americans to experience this Holy
Month at its finest
 There is a dress code in effect in Dubai for tourist to avoid disrespecting and offending
locals. Tourists sometimes stray from the dresscode, however when marketing it is
important to give subtle clues or hints that will make tourist aware of this difference.
Don’t want to push the idea too much or it may cause people to be uneasy about
travelling there
 Photographing Muslim women in Dubai is considered very offensive
 Canadians travelling to Dubai will need to tourist visa
 Especially important for women doing business in Dubai, woman are not to extend
their hand to an Emeriti or Arab man unless he extends his hand to you
 Visa and Passport regulations for Canadians: must possess passport that will be valid
for more than 6 months past the date of expected departure.
 Must possess a visa for the United Arab Emirates, must be obtained prior to arrival
(30day visa cost 165, 90day visa 330)
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6. Communicating the plan
7. Advertising
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References
Business Tourism Statistics » Dubai Convention Bureau. (n.d.). Dubai Convention
Bureau. Retrieved April 1, 2013, from http://www.dcb.ae
Dubai - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia. (n.d.). Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.
Retrieved April 1, 2013, from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dubai#Culture
ExpatWoman Guide to Dubai Etiquette. (n.d.). Dubai guide. Retrieved March 31, 2013,
fromwww.expatwoman.com
Guest nights. (n.d.). Dubai for tourism. Retrieved March 31, 2013, from
www.dubaitourism.ae
Ontario Budget 1997 financial highlights. Ministry of Finance / Ministère des Finances.
Retrieved April 1, 2013, from http://www.fin.gov.on.ca
Plane. (n.d.). Shanghai - Wikitravel. Main Page - Wikitravel. Retrieved April 1, 2013,
from http://wikitravel.org/en/Shanghai
Ramadan Tents in Dubai. (2012, July 17).Dubai night planner. Retrieved March 30,
2013, from www.dubainightplanner.com/NewsDetails.aspx?NID=114&t=RamadanTents-in-Dubai
Review of personal disposable income. (n.d.). Statistics Canada: Canada's national
statistical agency / Statistique Canada : Organisme statistique national du Canada.
Retrieved April 1, 2013, from http://www.statcan.gc.ca
Shanghai Information. Shanghai Tourism. Shanghai holidays. (n.d.). Shanghai
Information. Shanghai Tourism. Shanghai holidays. Retrieved April 1, 2013, from
http://www.shanghaieguide.com/Bottom of Form top of Form
UAE Embassy in Ottawa . (2013, January 10). Visas. Retrieved April 1, 2013, from
http://www.uae-embassy.ae/Embassies/ca/Content/2117
United Arab Emirates. (2012, December 13). United Arab Emirates - Exercise a high
degree of caution. Retrieved March 13, 2013, from travel.gc.ca/destinations/united-arabemirates
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