It is no secret that we are witnessing an exciting era of growth in our region. Owing to tremendous appetite across leisure, entertainment, and tourism (LET) and a complete recovery of international travel to the Middle East[1], the World Travel & Tourism Council’s (WTTC) 2023 Economic Impact Research[2] forecasts nearly 7,000 jobs will be created in the UAE travel and tourism sector this year. Over the next decade, continued growth in the industry could bolster these numbers to more than 114,000 new jobs across the country – representing one in nine jobs. While these volumes are indeed encouraging, I strongly believe that our collective responsibility does not stop at job creation alone. To ensure true resilience and global competitiveness, the key is a highly efficient, skilled workforce.
At Miral, our commitment to accelerating the realisation of Abu Dhabi’s tourism growth means positively impacting the communities we serve. This, in turn, means that we have an integral role to play in attracting, upskilling, and empowering the UAE’s incredible local talent. Our career development programme, “Maharaty”, is a prime example of how we ensure more and more Emiratis are not just welcomed into the LET sectors but thrive to become future leaders. It is testament to how we propel our nation’s young local talent towards success, as part of our Corporate Social Responsibility initiatives.
Today, we reflect on the successes of the programme. Since its launch in October 2021, the two-year programme has provided an excellent pathway for Emiratis – both fresh graduates and non-employees aged 21-25 years old – to establish a solid foundation in their chosen fields. The programme aims to nurture the participants’ capabilities in core business operations, technological innovations, skills, and overall competencies to keep pace with the latest, in-demand requirements of the LET sector. The curriculum dives deep into industry’s tools, mechanisms, and systems, as well as instilling effective management and communication skills and promoting a culture of continuous learning. Ultimately, participants are empowered to hone and enhance their potential, experience, and leadership skills within the LET sectors, and play an active role in advancing the UAE’s economic development.
Successful completion of the programme enables graduates to kickstart promising careers at Miral and the wider Abu Dhabi ecosystem – be it positions across sustainability, engineering, development, or customer-facing roles.
Indeed, the evolving needs of the LET sectors make such hands-on initiatives more vital than ever before. With the growing appetite of experiential travel, hyper-personalisation, and digitalisation, a specialised workforce becomes a very important piece of the puzzle. I have no doubt that the knowledge and experience that our programme graduates have accumulated with us will go a long way in benefiting our nation and reinforcing its rich hospitality culture. And as the UAE’s economy continues to grow, we look forward to expanding the scope of the programme to reach more local talent.
To all those who are still exploring prospective careers in leisure, entertainment, and tourism, I would like to end with an open invitation to join us at MIRAL GROUP . Our continuous pursuit of excellence and future-forward ambitions mean everyone has a role to play in shaping Abu Dhabi’s – and the wider UAE’s – continuous story of success.
