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Travel Insider: Destination Dubai
March 09, 2009
With expansive luxury offerings and an everything-you-could-want-at-your-fingertips approach to tourism, Dubai is truly an incentive destination and the hot spot for 21st century travel.
By Brian Martenis
Recently I was asked to propose an executive-style incentive program. The individual was looking for something beyond special, beyond first-class and beyond once-in-a-lifetime. A tall order for sure.
An executive-style program is essentially an incentive travel program with the volume turned up. Such a trip is designed for the most sophisticated business professionals—the owners or CEOs of the companies participating. Part of the allure of such a trip is traveling with your "own kind." The owner of a retail store does not really want to travel with salespeople. It’s not snobbery, just the way things are. In today's economy, the employees have concerns, but the high ranking officers do as well.
The search was on—and I needed a destination that was new, unique, glamorous, exciting, safe, easy to get to, hospitable to American's and fun. It would need to be exotic without being too foreign. Most important of all, it had to be safe. You know, the usual impossible task…
Scoping Out Dubai
For a very long time I had been hearing things about a place called Dubai. To be honest, my introduction to Dubai was about 10 years ago via a news item that described how Michael Jackson was seen there refreshing his makeup in a ladies room. For a very long time that was that: Dubai, the place where MJ hangs out and therefore no place that I would ever want to be.
Over the years though, I could not help but hear about and see absolutely spectacular pictures of awesome architecture, man-made islands and a new category of a seven-star hotel in Dubai. The visual of MJ at the makeup mirror was tough to shake, but I decided to begin the exploration of this destination for my executive trip proposal.
I was delighted to learn that Dubai is currently the fastest growing tourist destination anywhere. To people in the planning business, this is very good news as it means that the destination is ready to do business. Dubai turned out to be a funky combination of city cosmopolitan and resort—sun, sand, sea, sports and at the same time offering a culture rooted in the traditions of Arabia.
Fairly new, Dubai is one of seven emirates that the United Arab Emirates formed when the British departed the region in 1971. As a result, English is widely spoken and the people really like Americans. Also, great effort is being put into safety measures. (So far so good.)
The exciting mix here is the melding of ancient history and culture with truly one of the newest on the planet. Buildings already look surreal and new ones are now being designed that will have the ability to change shape at the touch of a computer. The three largest artificial islands in the world each in the shape of a palm tree—the third island, when completed, will be larger than Paris.
As is often the case, a great destination cannot seriously be considered if the "lift" is insufficient. On an incentive travel program, seamless convenience is key. Executives do not like to change planes or deal with lengthy layovers. The service to Dubai is not only direct and conveniently scheduled, but Emirates (the national carrier), offers service on the new A380 a futurist 550 passenger double decker air bus. Can you imagine? Even the air accommodation is extraordinary. Once again, incentive quality all around.
Luxury Living
Getting more excited, I started to look at hotels. A seven-star property? Unbelievable! It seemed like each property I looked into got better. Dubai is every flavor of luxury that you can imagine, with new properties constantly being planned or under construction. The destination is reinventing itself daily, and its just going to get better and better.
Dubai offers such an embarrassment of riches that it is actually confusing. What a wonderful dilemma! It never really happened to me before that the usual American luxury hotel chains were actually quite standard on Dubai's scale. Best of all, everyone I spoke with was aggressively ready to do business and prices very negotiable.
Even the very important issue of food is outstanding in Dubai. It turns out that the food offerings are not only out-of-this-world and unique, but they're very well thought out. How about a sectioned restaurant with a distinct cooking style in each section? Baked, steamed or flamed? And Dubai is home to one of the Top 10 restaurants in the world, which is the only one on the planet that must be reached by a two-minute submarine ride. Incentive quality? You bet.
Considering the Wow Factor
For those guests looking to get away from it all and simply relax, Dubai offers beaches, spas, golf, boating and any number of leisure activities. For guests a bit more cerebral, the opportunities abound for exploration of centuries of history and legend. I will mention but one—The Snow Dome. It's the first and largest indoor snow-skiing area in the entire Middle East. Guests can ski, snowboard, toboggan, make snowmen or sip hot chocolate by the slopes, all in the middle of the Arabian Desert.
In addition to activity excursions, planners must always consider shopping venues. Dubai boasts some of the best shopping anywhere. Every offering imaginable is available in either the largest mall outside of North America or any number of smaller malls, shopping streets and more. Many of the best hotels, restaurants and touristic venues are tied in with the shopping, and more is being discussed and planned all the time.
Dubai: Expanding Delight
There are many wonderful and worthwhile incentive quality destinations on this planet. An incentive quality destination must have "the sizzle," comfortable travel ease, the finest hotels, great leisure and touristic activities, awesome food, memorable aspects and a few of what I call the "OMG" factors. They are not easy to find, but they are out there. I found my choice for the hottest new destination for the 21st Century.
Experience has taught me that more will follow and the new destinations will be even bigger, better and more fantastic.
Feel free to contact me at brianm@incentivewt.com at anytime should you have any questions or are interested in some free advice. What is the point of having experience if you don't share? Besides, there is nothing I would rather talk about anyway.
INCENTIVE online columnist Brian Martenis is managing director of Incentive Worldwide Travel. After 10 years as sales promotion director for one company and 19 years as sales incentives manager for another, Martenis was named managing Director of Boutique Incentive Travel. Brian brings to the company nearly 30 years of designing and implementing very successful incentive travel programs all over the world. Brian is passionate about every aspect of his programs and is often asked to write and speak about incentives, incentive travel and motivation. He can be contacted at brianm@incentivewt.com.
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