Dubai 's awareness as an ideal year-round business and leisure destination, increased further in the India with the Dubai Department of Tourism and Commerce Marketing (DTCM) holding Dubai road shows in four major cities from April 19 to 21. 

The travel road shows started in Delhi and proceeded to cover the cosmopolitan cities of Chennai, Bangalore and Mumbai. The marketing and promotional workshops targeted more than 1500 participants from major travel agencies and tour operators across India , providing them with the latest updated information on Dubai , both from DTCM and the 18 co-participating hoteliers and Destination Management Companies (DMC) for the road shows.

DTCM officials focused on presenting Dubai in a new light, highlighting its new marketing strategies for India .

Through this initiative, Dubai 's position has been re-enforced as a year round destination offering beautiful beaches, Arabian Desert Safaris and snow skiing in the third largest Indoor Ski Dome in the world.

India is one of the key markets for inbound visitor, having increased its tourist inflow to over 357,000 Indian guests for the Dubai hotels in 2005.

DTCM Deputy Manager Overseas Promotions, Mr. Saleh Al Geziry, said: "India today exhibits exponential growth for inward visitor traffic into Dubai . A large segment of Indian visitors utilize hotels and hotel apartments in the emirate making India one of the top five source markets."

He added: "Dubai, in turn has catered to the vacation needs of urban Indians by offering a world class, multi-faceted destination experience with desert safaris, golfing, theme parks, water sports, beach resorts, snow skiing and sea cruises on offer."

Mr. Carl Vaz, Director of DTCM's India Representative office in Mumbai, said: "This cross-country road show was aimed at giving an impetus to the existing operators promoting Dubai , and encouraging new entities and hence expanding the operators' base."

The programme for the road shows included presentations by DTCM officials, Lama Desert Tourism & Cargo, co-sponsor for the Dubai road shows in India , followed by a networking session between the 18 member delegation and leaders of the local travel community.