thehrobserver-hrobserver-HRPodcast

Making Dubai an Inclusive City

May 14, 2024

Author
Nicole Stewart

Director of Organisational Culture and Inclusion, Dubai Holding

In this episode, Nicole Stewart, the Director of Organisational Culture and Inclusion at Dubai Holding  is the guest interviewer talking to Jeff Strachan, the AVP Dubai Economy & Tourism at Dubai Department of Economy and Tourism  and Saira Sayed, the Director of Opportunties at ImInclusive.

The discussion focuses on the efforts and successes in promoting disability inclusion in the tourism and employment sectors in Dubai.

The podcast focuses on the remarkable journey that Saira and her team began in 2016 with the goal of making Dubai the world’s most visited city, including people of determination and implementing an accessibility strategy. The initiative started through the Dubai College of Tourism, where they identified and addressed the necessary hurdles to create a comprehensive accessibility strategy in the tourism industry.

A key part of this was the development of training programs and education for the tourist-facing workforce, which Jeff himself became involved in, promoting a mindset of empathy. The training programs were then rolled out to the private sector, resulting in thousands of staff being trained and organizations like I’m Inclusive being created.

How Dubai is becoming an inclusive city?

Jeff and Saira has spoken on the efforts and successes in promoting disability inclusion in the tourism and employment sectors in Dubai. They highlighted the city’s aim to become the most accessible city in the world for tourists, which has led to significant advances in accessibility across public spaces.

Saira shared that her company has placed over 300 people of determination in various opportunities, including roles as doctors, nurses, accountants, and administrators. They also impacted over 100 brands and employers in the UAE.

Those employees not only benefits other people of determination but also changes the attitudes of organisations towards disability and inclusion.

Saira added that it is important that all entitiesengage with government bodies and other organisations to support people of determination and provide them with necessary resources and information.

Dubai’s Tourism Strategy and Measures
In this episode, Jeff outlines the strategy for maintaining Dubai’s position as the world’s most visited and recommended city. He emphasized the importance of stakeholder inclusion and accessibility, investment in infrastructure, and enhancing knowledge and communication within the tourism industry.
He spoke about the city’s focus on inclusive and accessible tourism, with measures in place to monitor and improve customer sentiment and feedback. nicole appreciated Jeff’s clear focus and the measures in place to measure progress.
He explained further that the future of tourism for people of determination, emphasising the importance of inclusive employment in the workforce to create empathy and understanding among tourists.