[Mediafine = Heo Seung-gyu’s Travel Snippets] Dubai, which means ‘locust’ in Arabic, is the UAE’s (United Arab Emirates) largest city and the fourth most visited destination in the world. Once an international trading port, it has now transformed into a global financial centre, a hub airport for the Middle East and a major tourist destination.

Whilst Koreans tend to view Dubai merely as a stopover for trips to Europe, it is actually the most popular destination for Europeans. This is because it offers a diverse range of cultural experiences and attractions related to architecture, shopping, sightseeing, food and hotels, as well as numerous museums, water parks, desert excursions and sports-themed facilities.

Dubai is, in particular, a hotel paradise rivalling Las Vegas and Bangkok, with a wide range of options from hotels costing tens of millions of won per night to those costing just 10,000 won.

Recently, travel agencies (content creators) such as GuideCoop, Localise Gunsan and Yanatrip have been marketing high-quality hotels and travel packages through live shopping and crowdfunding. In particular, Yanatrip is using Wadiz Funding to introduce Dubai as a safe destination where young independent travellers can set off immediately, even without a travel bubble, by planning packages tailored to their needs. In Korea, with the vaccination rate expected to exceed 70% by November, a crowdfunding campaign themed around the Dubai Expo—which opens on 1 October—is being launched as a pre-emptive measure. Furthermore, regardless of the success of this campaign, plans are underway for a series of themed crowdfunding initiatives to showcase Dubai’s unique attractions.

Running for two months from 31 August to 31 October, this Wadiz crowdfunding campaign emphasises, above all, “safe travel and a prepared destination”. The tourism system, which has been suspended for nearly two years due to COVID-19, means that travel cannot resume immediately just because a country’s borders have reopened. However, Dubai’s tourism sector has largely transitioned to contactless systems in anticipation of an increase in individual travellers, focusing on preparation and training to meet travellers’ needs for safe travel. Furthermore, Yanatrip staff are scheduled to make their second on-site visit of the year on 1 October to develop better Dubai Expo travel packages and facilitate virtual tours of Dubai.

Meanwhile, Dubai is one of the cities that has brought its tourism industry back on track most rapidly since the COVID-19 pandemic. As of 7 September, the UAE’s first-dose vaccination rate stands at 88%, whilst the proportion of those who have completed their second dose exceeds 77%. Furthermore, vaccination is mandatory for those working in the tourism sector.

Since July 2020, Dubai has been reopening its borders and welcoming travellers as a safe and verified destination by implementing measures such as a 70% capacity limit on hotel stays, a 50% capacity limit on vehicles, and mandatory disinfection protocols. Dubai, long a leading tourist city in the Middle East, took pre-emptive measures across the city to ensure the safe resumption of international tourism, anticipating the significant impact the pandemic would have.

The tourism industry was given priority for vaccination, and internal regulations and guidelines were compiled into a manual to obtain Safe Travel certification. In fact, Emirates Airlines implemented a major workforce reduction in 2020, at the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic, laying off 30,000 employees—equivalent to 30% of its total workforce.

Thanks to these proactive measures, the country opened its borders to international travellers relatively early, on 7 July 2020, compared to other regions, and from 1 August, those with a negative PCR test result were free to travel without quarantine. In the early days of the border reopening in July 2020, there were numerous requirements, such as downloading a dedicated app, entering various details and submitting documents to the health authorities to track movements and identify close contacts; however, since May 2021, this has been replaced by the requirement for a negative PCR test result taken within 72 hours. However, Dubai has not opened its borders to all countries. Several regions, such as India and South Africa, which are deemed high-risk for COVID-19 due to their high infection rates, are still not permitted to enter.

At the end of the interview, we asked a YanaTrip representative about tourism demand in Dubai since the pandemic and the response from domestic travellers. In summary, “Despite travel restrictions caused by COVID-19, inbound travellers to Dubai from countries that previously favoured the destination, such as Saudi Arabia and the UK, have continued to visit steadily. In 2020, tourists from Dubai’s top inbound markets—India, Saudi Arabia and the UK—accounted for 30% of all visitors to the city. In particular, whilst South Korea had a relatively low visitor rate in Asia, with approximately 140,000 visitors to Dubai in 2018, business travellers have continued to visit steadily even after the pandemic, perhaps due to the fact that South Korea was the first country to sign a Fast Track agreement with Dubai. Indeed, a couple who visited Dubai on an independent trip for three weeks last July were amazed by Dubai’s futuristic cityscape – a model for future cities in the Arab world – as well as the city’s efforts to ensure safe travel, the diverse content at tourist attractions, and the rapid evolution of its convenient tourism infrastructure. We also received grateful feedback stating that there was a wide range of options available, from excellent value-for-money accommodation and activities to luxury hotels, rooftop venues and unique attractions, all tailored to different budgets and preferences. ‘Even amidst the COVID-19 pandemic, Dubai remains a destination well-suited to independent travellers (FIT) and small group tours,’ they added.

A search on the portal reveals numerous places of interest in Dubai, including the Gold & Spice Souk (traditional market), Dubai Desert Tours, the Desert Conservation Reserve, the Dubai Frame, Madinat Souk, Jumeirah Mosque, Burj Khalifa, the Dubai Camel Racing Club, Burj Al Arab, and the Expo site, as well as dozens of shopping malls and traditional markets, and hundreds of restaurants.

In particular, this Expo—the first in the world to feature country-specific pavilions—boasts a scale and level of technological prowess that is more than 400 times the size of a football pitch. To mark the occasion, Emirates has introduced special offers for passengers, such as providing Expo tickets or awarding one mile per minute spent during their stay. Tourism packages also offer experiences linked to the Expo, including global culture, cuisines from around the world, and attractions such as architecture inspired by the space age and missions to Mars, allowing visitors to experience cutting-edge innovations.

Cities and nature certainly have different charms.

Dubai: a city that reinterprets travel; a city where ever-changing urban landscapes coexist with nature that has remained unchanged for ages; a city where the difference between what you know from photos and YouTube and the emotions and experiences you gain from visiting in person is vast!!

It is a stroke of luck to enjoy a rich journey that combines both city and nature.

We hope you savour that luck in Dubai.

I hope you have many happy travels!!