His Highness Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, UAE Vice President and Prime Minister and Ruler of Dubai, received heads of the local departments and the leaders of the second and third tiers at Zaabeel Palace ................

Dubai residents and visitors can now explore interesting facets of the emirate’s traditions, heritage, and culture and also experience the famed Arabian hospitality as a vast array of programmes have been lined up by the Department of Tourism and Commerce Marketing (DTCM) for the month-long Dubai Shopping Festival (DSF-2010) that started on 28th January. ...................

The Dubai Department of Tourism of Commerce Marketing (DTCM) took its energetic marketing and promotional drive in Europe, the emirate’s traditionally-strong source market over the years, and successfully reached out to the promising Spanish market through the 2010 edition of FITUR, the Spanish International Travel and Tourism Fair, held in Madrid. .........

DUBAI — City officials launched their biggest-ever clean-up drive on Tuesday and announced tough penalties against dropping cigarette butts on streets and public places.

The Dubai Municipality also introduced a reusable, compact pouch named ‘Stubbi’ which can be used as a pocket ashtray to prevent throwing cigarette butts on streets.

Hassan Mohammed Makki, Director of the Waste Management Department at the municipality, told Khaleej Times that over 10,000 people are fined every year for littering.

Dirtying public places, including throwing cigarette butts around,
attracts a fine of Dhs500 as per municipal laws.

“It is difficult for us to push smokers to quit the habit, though there are lots of efforts towards that,� Makki said on the sidelines of the Clean up the
World Campaign launched at Al Mamzar Park.

“We are not supporting smoking. But we want the smokers to keep our surroundings clean. We don’t want them to litter cigarette butts. We hope this pouch will help in changing the littering habit of smokers,� he said.

Dubai had a strong presence at the 15th edition of the Russian Travel and Tourism Exhibition (Leisure-2009) held in Moscow from September 22 to 25 as part of the efforts of the Dubai Department of Tourism and Commerce Marketing (DTCM) to consolidate Dubai’s position in the Russian and CIS markets.