The ‘#MyDubai Trip' is a social travel series that documents the journey of some of the most influential Instagrammers from around the world as they experience Dubai.
Dubai's Department of Tourism and Commerce Marketing (DTCM) on Wednesday announced that Qabeela New Media will join the #MyDubai initiative to produce a 12-episode travel series curated by well-known Emirati social travel experts, Peeta Planet.
The ‘#MyDubai Trip' is a social travel series that documents the journey of some of the most influential Instagrammers from around the world as they experience Dubai.
The twist? Their itineraries are thoughtfully curated and crowd-sourced from several of Dubai's renowned social media personalities. Peeta Planet is an international, award-winning travel series broadcast to 50 million TV viewers across the Middle East. It is a travel series about two brothers from the UAE who visit countries across the world, with their journeys being destined by recommendations made on social media.
Social travel
Rather than treading the tired, overdone tourist trails, brothers Mohammed and Peyman Parham Al Awadhi interact with their social media community to practice "social travel” — travelling through the eyes of local people.
The creators and hosts are enthusiastic about the #MyDubai Trip series as it draws upon local knowledge and aims to transform residents of Dubai into advocates of tourism for their city. Leveraging Peeta Planet's expertise in social travel, the brothers will use social media channels to crowd-source daily itineraries for the series, based on what a local resident would recommend for incoming visitors.
Fifty itineraries will be curated by Dubai residents, who are prominent across social media, within their respective industries of fashion, food, sports, culture and entrepreneurship. The itineraries will be posted on Peeta Planet's Facebook page with the general public asked to vote for their favourite. The 12 most voted itineraries will then each be filmed as one episode of Peeta Planet's #MyDubai Trip series.
Fully reliant on social media to determine the itinerary for their travels, Mohammed and Peyman are no strangers to the benefits of crowd-sourcing. This expertise and know-how will be leveraged and put to the test as they explore their hometown with the #MyDubai Trip series.
"We believe that a city is defined by its people and their hospitality,” said Mohammed. "We want to create a sense of ownership and pride, empowering our community to take on the cause of promoting Dubai as local advocates. The #MyDubai Trip series will serve as a focal point for meaningful, fun and heartening activities to experience in Dubai, regardless of whether you are a resident or a visitor.”
The #MyDubai Trip series will be filmed in September and October 2014 and is scheduled for online broadcast between November 2014 and January 2015.
Local insights
Issam Kazim, chief executive officer, Dubai Corporation for Tourism and Commerce Marketing (DCTCM), said: "Getting local insights into a destination's hidden gems and must-do activities is something that global travellers are increasingly looking for whenever and wherever they travel. By using social media to share our #MyDubai stories, we can let the world know much more about Dubai.
"We can share the breadth and wealth of our activities, the diversity of our destination offering, our unique culture and heritage, and spirit of true hospitality. By working with local ‘insiders', international instragrammers and the Peeta Planet team, we can create content that reaches all four corners of the globe and encourages visitors to experience a side of our city that may be unfamiliar and unexpected. We're very excited about what we'll see and where we'll go on the #MyDubai Trip (series).”
#MyDubai
Launched in January 2014 by Shaikh Hamdan bin Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Crown Prince of Dubai, #MyDubai aims to create an autobiography of the emirate of Dubai — through social media. With over 1.34 million Instagram submissions of photos and videos to date, the #MyDubai initiative tells an interactive human story of residents and visitors to Dubai. The intention is to celebrate the everyday lives of the people and communities of Dubai and show the city that is beneath the landmarks, headlines and superlatives.