Nearly a million brits travel to Dubai every year and there are some really cool things for people to do; go up the tallest building in the world, ski at the biggest indoor skiing centre in the world, take a 4 wheel drive safari in the desert and lots, lots more. However, despite putting Dubai attractions on sale a few years ago, we have never managed to sell much volume. We didn’t know whether that was because tourists tend not to leave their hotel or whether there was something wrong with our product or prices.
So in 2014, we made a concerted effort to sell more attraction tickets to Dubai. We made our Dubai pages clearer and more informative, displayed live availability for popular attractions such as The Burj Khalifa, put more attractions on sale, sent some reservation staff on a familiarisation trip, introduced e-ticketing and ensured that our Dubai suppliers were offering the best possible quality and prices for our customers.
I’m pleased to say that our efforts have paid off and bookings for Dubai attractions are 3000% up in the first two months of the year. After witnessing such a strong start to the year, I decided to pop over to Dubai myself to see the city and visit some of the attractions that are selling so well. I hadn’t been for 12 years and Dubai today bears little resemblance to what I remember. There are many, many more buildings including over 900 skyscrapers, the airport is now the busiest in the world, they have added two enormous islands – The Palm and The World - and they are still building at a furious pace; 500 more hotels will be complete by 2020!
I visited The Burj Khalifa which boasts the fastest lift in the world and, as you would expect from the tallest building in the world, provides amazing views of Dubai, Adu Dhabi and the new islands from the top. The bonus of pre-booking with Attraction Tickets Direct is that you will secure a time for what is a very popular attraction and we will arrange for your tickets to be waiting for you at your hotel which will save you time trying to find a voucher exchange booth. I went on a Desert Safari & Sunset BBQ and learnt that not all Desert Safaris are the same. The tour that Attraction Tickets Direct sells visits the tallest sand dunes, has quality vehicles with experienced drivers (who know how to navigate the dunes at speed) and offers excellent food at the traditional BBQ in the desert. Other tours go to parts of the desert in old vehicles where the sand dunes are low and where the BBQ is an excuse for the tour organisers to sell photographs, camel rides and other extras. The benefits of pre-booking this tour in the UK were really noticeable to me since we guarantee the quality and offer full public liability insurance. The water park at The Atlantis hotel is well worth a visit and I would also highly recommend the city tour where you can see the new Dubai but also the fascinating old Dubai including The Spice and Gold souks.
Many Brits in Dubai don’t leave their hotel since it’s often fairly hot and the hotels are generally excellent. However, things are clearly changing as Dubai adds more and more exciting attractions, tourists become more confident in the destination and companies such as us continue to promote things to do in Dubai. Pre-booking is a must and having visited the city now, I’m really confident in saying that we have the best product and prices in the market. Make sure you pre-book an attraction for your Dubai holiday as it’s the things you do on holiday that create the memories!
Best wishes,
Olly Brendon
Founder, Attraction Tickets Direct
