It is known that the "high" season in the UAE falls on the period from October to May. UAE tour operators are ready for its offensive. We talked with Zahra Galtakova, Managing Director of Dubai-based Al Mahra Tourism & Cargo, about what awaits travelers who decide to spend their holidays this year in the UAE.
- Zahra, please tell us about the types of services that your company offers to tourists coming to the UAE.
We offer the following services to our tourists: booking and sale of airline tickets; visa support; reservation of places in hotels of any class; transfers airport-hotel-airport by car of different classes at the request of the client; organization of meetings at the airport, including using the services of "Marhab", "Akhlyan" and "Mejlis Hall" for VIP-persons. In addition, we carry out fascinating tours accompanied by professional guides, organize shopping tours accompanied by an interpreter, rent limousines and cars of any class, deliver goods to the CIS countries, special tours, excursions and exclusive VIP services, tours for traveling businessmen.
If our tourists come to the Emirates not only to relax, make purchases, but also on business. If new residents from the CIS countries are looking for help in starting a business, having arrived in an unfamiliar country with their own rules, laws and lifestyle, we are ready to provide them with: translation services, as well as a consultant upon request during business negotiations; services of a professional lawyer; consulting services on opening an office in the Emirates. We can also help resolve issues related to the further education of tourists and / or their children in the Emirates, with health insurance and many others. We make sure that any trip leaves a person with the most lasting impressions of visiting the Emirates.
- It is known that many citizens of Russia and the CIS countries go to the Emirates today, not only on vacation, but also for the purpose of acquiring real estate. What tours and special services does your company offer exactly to such tourists?
Tours of real estate in comfortable cars, vans, helicopters and boats. These tours are selected individually by our real estate consultants in accordance with the material capabilities of clients. We can help our tourists-investors profitably realize the property they bought, offering it for resale to our tourists.
Currently, conditions on the real estate market are dictated not by the developers, but by investors offering apartments for resale or real estate in projects under construction at a price more attractive than the price from the developer at the initial stage. Tourists who have the opportunity to purchase ready-made real estate and residents of the UAE who bought property in the country, but who are not able to move to the Emirates for permanent residence, can also contact us for advice and help. We will help them extract the maximum income from the property they have acquired. Our company, for example, is ready to conclude a contract for the delivery of their apartments as hotel rooms for our tourists. Income will far exceed annual rental income.
- Having been working in the UAE market for many years, what new can you offer the guests of the UAE with the beginning of the "high" tourist season?
The start of a new tourist season this year is accompanied by the opening in Dubai of new ultra-modern 5-star hotels - Atlantis, The Palm and Westin. These two hotel complexes are a great alternative to the famous Jumeirah group hotels - Al Qasr, Mina A'Salam and Dar Al Massiaf. Of particular interest to our tourists is the flagship Atlantis Hotel, located on the man-made island of The Palm Jumeirah with a huge themed Aquaventure water theme park, luxury boutiques and signature restaurants, a dolphin valley and exotic marine life in the Ambassador lagoon.
In addition to these hotels, our company offers tourists accommodation in other new hotels located in the prestigious areas of Dubai - Tamani, Monarch, Coral Boutique Villas, as well as The Palace Old Town, evoking the tales of "1000 and 1 nights." A special offer from our company is the accommodation of tourists in apartments on the Palm Island, with a first-class level of service corresponding to the category of a 5-star hotel and a magnificent beach, accessible only by homeowners, including many famous people from around the world.
Al Mahra Tourism & Cargo company offers tourists a vacation in the northern emirates, the most picturesque places of the UAE, such as Ras Al Kheima and Fujairah. In these emirates, large-scale construction of commercial real estate objects, including new 5 * class hotels, has now been launched. From existing hotels we offer holidays in Miramar, Rotana, Jal and Hilton Fujeirah Resort. Holidays in these hotels correspond to the level of services provided by well-known Dubai brands, and sometimes even surpasses it in some respects, and the price is much lower.
- What types of excursions are in particular demand among your clients from Russia and the CIS countries?
We must pay tribute to our tourists coming from the CIS countries and Russia - these people with special interest and attention want to get as much information as possible about the culture, historical past and new grandiose achievements of this small country, skillfully combining national traditions with an ultra-modern standard of living. One of the most favorite excursions are city sightseeing tours in Dubai, Abu Dhabi and Al Ain, as well as desert safaris. By the new season, we have expanded the program with new types of excursions, such as an individual tour of real estate with a Russian-speaking guide; visit to the Dubai dolphinarium; a visit to the traditional Arabian Spa at the Dubai Women's Club (Jumeirah), where every woman can feel the charm and charm of oriental traditions, which are described in Arabian tales.
- In connection with the latest changes in the UAE visa legislation, what advice can you give to your tourists planning to visit this country?
For tourists from the CIS countries, almost no changes have occurred. The changes affected only the issues of providing insurance. The Dubai Immigration Department is doing everything possible to improve tourist services. Well, and we, in turn, can advise only one thing, do not forget to timely submit the necessary documents for a visa.
- Thank you, and good luck in the new season.
