Please come to Dubai. Please!

Please come to Dubai. Please!

The tourism authority hopes that giving away freebies will lure visitors during the scorching summer months.

March 21, 2010 4:22 by kippreport

Dubai has raised the stakes in its attempt to attract visitors during the mercilessly hot summer months.

The Dubai Department of Tourism and Commerce Marketing (DTCM) has just announced a scheme in which two children aged under 16 can travel free with every family flying to Dubai on Emirates Airlines.

Kids are also entitled to free meals, hotel stays, and admission to attractions such as the Sega Republic amusement park, Wild Wadi Water Park and Ski Dubai, according to The National. A family of four from Europe could save up to AED16,840 by using the offer, the paper says. The promotion starts on May 14 and will run for five months.

“The Kids Go Free programme is not simply just a cut-price promotion. It underlines our strategy of further establishing Dubai as a year-round destination and appealing to all target groups,” said Saleh al-Geziry, the director of overseas promotions and inward missions at the DTCM.

Last year, the DTCM had a similar offer, except that it extended to just one child per family and ran from July to September. The promotion was “immensely successful” last year, and brought in more than 20,000 passengers from 70 countries, according to an Emirates spokesperson quoted by the paper.

The DTCM is hoping that this year’s campaign will tempt even more families to make the trip to Dubai during the hot summer season.

The offer does seem like a bit of a gamble. Emirates charges full fare for children above 12 years, and those under 12 are charged 75 percent of the ticket price. Wild Wadi charges AED195 for a full day pass for a person above 1.1 meters in height and AED165 for a child under 1.1 meters in height. Ski Dubai tickets are priced at AED100 for those aged above 13, and children below that are charged AED90.

And these are just some of the lost revenues incurred due to the promotion. Will the boost in visitors be enough to compensate for this?