Dubai Tourism creates virtual card game for agents to boost knowledge

Dubai Tourism creates virtual card game for agents to boost knowledge

Travel agents are being invited to improve their Dubai knowledge by completing ‘missions’ in a virtual card game. Dubai Tourism’s new interactive Dubai Expert game asks agents to select their best cards from an automatically generated deck and place them … Continue reading

Travel agents are being invited to improve their Dubai knowledge by completing ‘missions’ in a virtual card game.

Dubai Tourism’s new interactive Dubai Expert game asks agents to select their best cards from an automatically generated deck and place them in order to make an itinerary.

There are 30 ‘missions’ and the best combination of activities earn the highest scores. The platform also includes 25 videos from experts on activities such as family entertainment, gastronomy, shopping, theme parks, culture and heritage in Dubai.

To become a Dubai Expert, agents must complete 20 missions and watch all 25 videos. Agents can upgrade their level by completing all 30 missions and answering pop-up questions.

Issam Kazim, chief executive of Dubai Corporation for Tourism and Commerce Marketing, said: “Our partnerships with travel agents are critical to us as we look to expand our influence and reach across industry channels and stakeholders that influence tourists looking to visit Dubai. This also means that we need to keep developing new tools that allow us and our partners to highlight what makes Dubai a ‘must-visit’ destination.

“With the ‘Dubai Expert’ platform, we have used technology innovation to transcend typical training programmes and create an experience that enhances their knowledge of Dubai, so they can build customised itineraries that will attract more visitors. ‘Dubai Expert’ has been created to facilitate this process and is part of our continued endeavour to achieve our strategic goal of welcoming 20 million visitors by 2020.”

Essa Bin Hadher, general manager of Dubai College of Tourism, added: “While we strive to engage more individuals with the city’s booming tourism industry, we also understand the importance of reaching out to global travel agents. From flights and accommodation to dining and experiences across the city, travel agents streamline the entire booking process for tourists – and in turn help increase the number of visitors to Dubai every year.

“We are excited to have assisted Dubai Tourism with the creation of ‘Dubai Expert’, to not only provide agents with a clearer glimpse of the city, but also to help them understand different audiences and create itineraries that best suit them.”

Along with building their knowledge of Dubai, travel agents can also earn a Dubai Expert Certificate and the use of the Dubai Expert logo.

The tool will first be launched in English across multiple markets and will then be translated into languages including French, Mandarin, Russian, German, Italian, Bahasa, Korean, Japanese, Polish, Czech, and Spanish.

There are also plans to create a global league table of Dubai Expert users, allowing agents from all over the world to compete against each other to achieve the highest score.