The Royal Commission for AlUla (RCU) officially launched one of the world’s most significant heritage and culture destinations to the Indian media today. The virtual media launch event was addressed by Ms.Melanie de Souza, Executive Director, Destination Marketing; Dr. Rebecca Foote, Director, Archaeology, and Cultural Heritage Research from RCU and Ms. Huzan Fraser Motivala and Ms. Beena Menon, India Representatives of RCU.
Editor of Business News This Week, Mr. Neel Achary got an opportunity to interview, Ms.Zoe Shurgold, Head of Global PR at The Royal Commission for AlUla, and one of the eminent speakers at the launch event.
About Ms.Zoe Shurgold
Ms. Zoe is a destination Communications specialist who has worked for DMOs including Visit London, Enjoy England, and Tourism Australia before joining the team in AlUla. She says the role in RCU is the most challenging and fascinating in her career to date and looks forward to opening the eyes of ears the world to the fascinating stories and history of AlUla.
Interview:
Business News This Week team thank Ms.Zoe India representative for The Royal Commission for AlUla for catering her time for the interview and we also thankful to Ms.Huzan Fraser Motivala, Ms.Jacqueline Mahadik and Ms.Rashmi Pradhan of Beautiful Planet Destination Marketing LLP, India representative for The Royal Commission for AlUla.
- Besides Travel, what are the facilities for the business fraternity in AlUla? (Events, Networking & Conferences)
Zoe Shurgold: Thanks, there are many opportunities for the business fraternity in AlUla. You know it is one of the ancient places with various sorts of prominences. Apart from the travel tourism activities, there are many strategies that RCU is working on that help the businesses. We plan to conduct major business meetings, conferences, events many more that will help many companies networking opportunities along with sporting, adventure, sporting, and tourism activities. RCU is also planning to build a rooftop restaurant, which would be the prime attraction in AlUla. That will be for both business and tourists to enjoy nature and complete their business activities. We will also look into the process for E-Visa for the businessmen and tourists for hassles free travel to AlUla. We have a Convention and Conference center in Maraya that will help in creating new business opportunities through business networking. We are going to conduct meetings and events for the business fraternity to provide the best opportunities.
- Tell us about the marketing strategy to promote AlUla in India.
Zoe Shurgold: We are very optimistic about our strategy in India. We aim to provide the best destination to the people of India, they can visit AlUla to experience the best events, adventure, sports, star gazing, and many more in AlUla. We are much excited to have Beautiful Planet Destination Marketing LLP as our partner to handle the Marcom and Travel Trade activities in India. Just we have launched it and we will have many more event to conduct as a part of marketing strategies. We will adopt digital as well as a traditional strategy for our initiative,
- How much business do you expect from India alone AlUla as a travel destination?
Well, there are 1.6 million Indian travels. We aim for 1 percent of the traveler to visit AlUla. There is a huge business opportunity for AlUla from India. The number of Indian tourists visiting the UAE on annual basis is expected to reach 3.3 million by 2023, as per the latest travel trends, we expect a decent number of tourists would visit AlULa.
Thank you, Ms. Zoe Shurgold for talking to Business News This Week team!
