Dubai Tourism taps Microsoft Azure for information sharing platforms

Dubai Tourism has migrated multiple online dashboards to Microsoft Azure, including a dashboard that regularly tracks and provides data on visitor arrivals from key source markets.

These dashboards will be hosted on Microsoft’s Middle East cloud regions based in the UAE.

With the Azure adoption, Dubai Tourism seeks to create a data analytics platform on the cloud that will help it share insights via online dashboards to facilitate decision-making and also update public and private stakeholders with industry-related information.

“As we plan for future scenarios, cloud-based solutions have emerged as a crucial element of Dubai Tourism’s digital transformation strategy because of the secure, sustainable and scalable nature of the technology,” said Issam Kazim, CEO of Dubai Corporation for Tourism and Commerce Marketing.

“The diversity of our partnership with Microsoft will add to our efforts to embed world-class technology solutions to our business systems and further enhance the scope of cutting-edge digital services that we provide our stakeholders in real-time, to help ensure Dubai stays ahead of the curve and also maintain its position at the forefront of the world’s leading travel destinations,” he added.

Azure is also running the learning management system of Dubai College of Tourism (DCT), an institution established by Dubai Tourism to provide hospitality-related vocational and tertiary education. With Azure, DCT students have access to Microsoft 365 office suite including Word, Excel, PowerPoint, Sway and Teams.

As the pandemic led to social distancing measures and less face-to-face interactions, DCT leveraged Microsoft Teams for online learning. Using Teams, DCT was also able to ensure students could complete their internship with industry partners including Hilton through seamless communication, chat and collaboration functionalities.

Besides, with Microsoft Video Indexer, DCT was able to move its entire tour guide training platform online in multi-language format, without affecting the quality of translation.

In another area of collaboration, Dubai Tourism launched ‘Dubai Virtual Backgrounds’ that allows users of Microsoft Teams to download free images of iconic attractions in Dubai and use them as customised digital backdrops.

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