Dubai Tourism Discusses Tourism Promotion Opportunities With The Bundesliga And Supports Borussia Monchengladbach’s Visit To Dubai
In a programme assisted by Dubai’s Department of Tourism and Commerce Marketing (DCTM) in cooperation with Dubai Sports Channel, Borussia Mönchengladbach, Eintracht Frankfurt, and Hamburg SV all escaped the European winter during the mid-season break for a week-long training camp in the Emirates. During their visit, Mönchengladbach played both Hamburg SV and Eintracht Frankfurt in internationally-televised matches, which took place on 9th and 11th January respectively.BorussiaMönchengladbach’smatch versus Hamburgwas televised live and reached over 40 countries outside Germany and the UAE.
Upon the Bundesliga’s visit to Dubai, Director General of the DTCM Khalid Ahmed Bin Sulayem, Executive Director of Business Tourism of the DTCM Hamad Bin Merjen, and Head of Sport Tourism for the Dubai Convention Bureau Tyler Stellman, met with Bundesliga official JorgDaubitzer to discuss ways to promote Dubai as a sports and tourism destination through the Bundesliga.
The Bundesliga is one of the top watched football leagues throughout the world with average attendance reaching just over 42,000 per game. From an international broadcasting standpoint, the Bundesliga is licensed in 207 of the 209 FIFA member states and broadcast live in 204 countries through deals with over 60 different broadcasters.Dubai Sports Channel’s Bundesliga coverage reaches over 100 million households in the Middle East and Northern Africa alone. The leagues popularity has grown significantly over the past few seasons making it a viable time for the city of Dubai to get involved.
Khalid Ahmed Bin Sulayem, Director General of DTCM, said that a visit by a world-class club such as BorussiaMönchengladbach is significant for Dubai. “It is an honour to have had this top international club, from one of the top leagues in the world, come here to train and play. This has been a great achievement in the promotion of sport in Dubai”. Bin Sulayem extend thank, also, to Dubai Sport Channel for their great role in supporting such visits.
Hamad Bin Mejren, Executive Director of Business Tourism at DTCM highlighted the close connection between tourism and sport in the emirate of Dubai as the emirate attracts international teams and clubs in the midseason winter breaks on annual basis, as well as celebrated coaches who enjoy their careers in the emirate where the ideal facilities and infrastructure exist.
Bin Mejren said: “For the past 10 years the DTCM has been supporting the visits of international clubs, especially those from Germany, to Dubai. As a result of years of hard work we are now harvesting the results and demand is high for the clubs to spend their winter breaks in the beautiful climate of the UAE. This results in Dubai being one of the leading sports destination’s in the world.”
As well as preparing for the second half of the Bundesliga season, which resumes after the winter break, the teams have been participating in a range of initiatives aimed at promoting the Bundesliga in the Middle East and North Africa.
DFL Sports Enterprises, which is responsible for all domestic and international sales of commercial rights of the Bundesliga, is one of the main parties involved in bringing Bundesliga clubs to the UAE on a continuous basis. Several clubs, including SV Werder Bremen, Hamburg SV and FC Bayern Munich, have acted as Bundesliga ambassadors, organising training camps and friendly matches abroad.
Jorg Daubitzer, Managing Director of DFL Sports Enterprises, is extremely pleased with the outcome of the training camp. “I’m very impressed with Dubai, especially the kindness and the friendly welcome ofthe people we’ve met. I’m so happy because of the great job the DTCM has done and on behalf of our Bundesliga clubsI want to thank everyone there for all their hard work and organisation. “
In the match against Hamburg – which resulted in a 2-2 draw –BorussiaMönchengladbach scored a late equaliser to keep the rivalry between the two clubs strong. The match with Eintracht Frankfurt – currently sitting in 4th place in the Bundesliga – was also very competitive, but resulted in a 3-2 win for BorussiaMönchengladbach.
Borussia Mönchengladbach’s Dubai training camp took place from 4 -12 January 2013 and formspart of a long-term international marketing campaign by the DFL Deutsche FußballLiga and Dubai Sports Channel, who was responsible for televising the match against Hamburg SV live. Dubai Sports Channel iscurrently the exclusive broadcaster in 24 countries across the region.
Dubai and the rest of the UAE is quickly becoming the global destination for winter training camps for teams looking for ideal conditions during their respective season breaks. German clubs Borussia Mönchengladbach, FSV Frankfurt, and Hamburg SV, have enjoyed very productive camps here along with Zenit St Petersburg, Anzhi Makhachkala, Shakhtar Donetsk, Al Hilal – Saudi Arabia, Zamalek SC – Egypt, as well the national teams of Egypt, Tunisia, Ghana, and the Ivory Coast, amongst others.
Emirate: Dubai
Date: Jan 15, 2013
Back