4. Successful Tribal Tourism Samples
4.2 The Dessert Safari in UAE
few years. Through the effort from government and Bulaubulau village itself, journalists and gourmets have been invited to have the Bulaubulau village tour.
It creates almost free media exposure. The effect is instant and effective since people normally see the reports from journalists and gourmets as authoritative information sources. And the nicely designed “Atayal Red” style Bulaubulau village tour webpage also increases the tourists’ curiosity of the tour.
4.2 The Dessert Safari in UAE
The Arabic tribal tour is another good but different example. This kind of tour is normally design for foreigners to experience the dessert tribal life combining with the modern dessert adventure. Even though the name is tribal tour, it does not really get into the real tribe normally. Instead of that, the tour company usually brings tourists to their own created tour site; normally the tour site consists of a group of tents sit in the manmade oasis in the dessert. The tour site is design to imitate the traditional Arabic tribal life style, tourists would have the feeling that they are in the real Arabic tribe but actually all the factors are been well controlled in the tour site.
Depends on the travel agency, the price and length of the tour are quite different. The most common tour course is eight hours long dessert safari with tribal cuisine and entertainment. The charge varies from $80 to $100 US dollars. There are two Emirates which are well known as wealthy states – Dubai and Abu Dhabi; but the rest five absolute monarchic Emirates are not as rich as their brothers, therefore the desserts in these Emirates are the perfect destination for running the tribal tour. The life style and natural environment in the deep dessert in these five Emirates are still remaining old fashion and also the cost of running tour business there is lower than in the Dubai and Abu Dhabi.
The tour normally starts in the afternoon around 3:00PM since the weather is more comfortable and acceptable for most of the tourists. The tour company sends 4X4 SUV with off-road capability to pick up tourists from hotels or any designated
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dunes might be the most exciting activity for most of the people; many people think that it is even more exciting than roller coaster. There are tracks on roller coaster, people ride on it are able to predict where to go and when it is going to turn, but on the SUV touring in dunes, nothing predictable, no road, no rules, only the driver knows what the next move is.After reach the tour site in the manmade oasis, the tourists are invited to ride camel to experience how Arabic people travel in the dessert with the ancient style. There are also other modern activities offered, such as beach ATV ride and dune hiking.
Soon after the tourists start to get into the tent, waiters start to serve Arabic brew coffee with dry date and Arabic goodies. At the same time, the Arabic folk band plays the tradition tune. The Middle East style dinner comes after the short tea break.
During the dinner, not only with the Arabic music, also the tour company arranges the belly dancing and the belly dancing girl interacts with tourists after belly dance. After the dinner, the tour site prepare hookah for tourists to smoke outside the tent. The light will be turn off completely, tourists lay on the Persian carpet on the sands, get relax, smoke hookah, and watch the stars on the sky. The tour ends around 11:00PM, the tour company than send tourists back to where they got picked up.
The tour site is actually shared by several tour companies. The tour company that the tourists contact only handles the transportation and dune safari. The rest of the activity all arranged by the tour site, here means the imitated tribe in the manmade oasis. The tour site does not in charge of promoting the tour; the tour site opens to all the tour companies that want to run tribal tour business. I try to get the actual number of how many people visit in average, the tour site told me that in the low season, four to five SUV get into the site daily, which means 20 to 30 tourists per day. In the peak season, the tourists count is double.
1. Oasis in dessert? Not something you can see everywhere!
How often you can get into the deep dessert and stay at the oasis? .The answer from most of the people would be “None”. Therefore the oasis and the dessert itself already are the greatest attraction for the foreign tourists. The uniqueness of the natural environment is lethally attractive to most of the foreigners.
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2. Modern adventure combines with traditional factors.
The modern 4X4 SUV runs off-road, up and down in the dessert dunes, you never know what direction the drive will bring you too. The modern SUV and beach ATV give tourists the fashion way of experiencing the modern Arabic adventure. And the camel ride, traditional belly dance, and the Arabic tune bring tourists back to the ancient Arabic world. The tour combines modern and tradition.
3. Tour site and tour companies are separated.
The tour site only focus on bringing the services to the tourists, the cost and estimation is easier for company who is running the tour site. And for the tour agencies that runs the tour program. The tour site does not need to worry about the source of tourists, since tour site can cooperates with multiple tour agencies. It is also easier to control the business since the investment is low, they only need to buy or lease one or several 4X4 SUVs and recruit the drivers, then they can start the business.
4. No physical challenge. May need a little bit courage.
Normally the one day dessert tour is focus on bringing multiple experiences of every item they can offer, but only a little bit of each item. Most of the activities are light, and does not need special equipment and strong physical condition. Tourists can receive culture knowledge and at the same time, also get the excited dessert adventure in a relax form.
5. Well designed tour site and activities.
The imitated tribe in the manmade oasis and well decorated tent bringing great Middle East taste to the tourists. No matter tourists sit in the tent or walk around the tour site, they would feel like getting into the ancient Arabic dessert tribe.