COMMENT THE MAN WITH A PLAN Having settled into his new role as senior vice president, Arabian
Adventures and Congress Solutions International (CSI), Peter Payet offers an insight into his business development strategy
When Peter Payet stepped into the SVP role at Arabian Adventures and CSI in December last year, he had some big French shoes to fill. He was taking the helm from the very capa-
ble Frédéric Bardin, who after building the successful DMC and PCO division for Emir- ates, was switching to their holidays division. But Payet’s transition into his new position
could not have been easier or more fitting – he had worked for the Arabian Adventures brand since its inception in 1992 and had witnessed its rise to success, in line with parent company, the Emirates Group, for the past 20 years. “It was a natural progression,” says Payet.
“I’d already spent a lot of time running the day-to-day business as vice president of Ara- bian Adventures, working alongside Frédéric and (Emirates’ Destination & Leisure Man- agement Division SVP) Hans Haensel. “The only thing I had to grasp – and fast –
was attending the senior vice president meet- ings with senior managers such as Emirates Airline president Tim Clark, but that was fine because I’d already had one-to-one meetings with them before. “It’s quite exciting for me to be involved
in the strategy of the business – not just for Arabian Adventures, but for the Emirates Group as a whole.” In fact, Payet has spent the first six months
in his new role reviewing old strategies and putting new ones in place in response to the ‘New Dubai’ that has emerged post-recession. “The old strategy was based on Dubai as
it was in 2006 and 2007 when expansion was rapid, but not all projects came to fruition so we are now re-working the plan with the next five years in mind,” he explains. He claims the economic crisis was a bless-
ing in disguise for Dubai because it forced the government and investors to become more business-focused. “Before the reces- sion the attitude was ‘build it and they will come’ because there was an abundance of money to invest.”
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CRISIS WAS A BLESSING IN DISGUISE FOR DUBAI BECAUSE IT FORCED
THE ECONOMIC
THE GOVERNMENT AND INVESTORS TO BECOME MORE BUSINESS- FOCUSED
“But now when a project is on the table,
people are more realistic. It is properly researched and return on investment is a key consideration.” Part of Payet’s role as SVP is to liaise
with the government and discuss current and potential projects that will not only benefit the Emirates Group, but the pros- perity of Dubai as a business, leisure and meetings destination.
ACHIEVEMENTS AND CHALLENGES Strategising aside, Payet has also spent the last six months putting some immediate changes into effect. In May, he launched Arabian Adven-
tures’ ‘Exclusive Collection’ brochure – “a new bespoke service offering a range of tailor-made excursions aimed at the dis- cerning traveller looking for luxurious, yet off-the-beaten-track experiences”. Payet has also established an exhibition
unit within CSI and is currently identifying four brand new exhibition concepts for the Dubai market. All this has been achieved during a time
when Payet has also had to grapple with challenging business conditions. He concedes that a “significant increase
in Dubai’s room stock, combined with the negative effect of regional and global trends have had an impact on arrivals from some key source markets”. “However, with every challenge there
are always opportunities and we have increased our focus on incentive groups and markets that are looking for new des- tinations to visit as a result of these issues,” says Payet. Recent Dubai Department of Tourism
and Commerce (DTCM) figures bear wit- ness to this. In the first quarter of 2011, the number of visitors to the emirate increased 13 percent year on year to 2.38 million (from 2.1 million in Q1, 2010).
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