Dubai Customs organizes awareness workshops on IPR for cruise tourists

The IPR Department in Dubai Customs is organising awareness workshops for cruise travellers at the Hamdan bin Mohammed Cruise Terminal at Port Rashid, to educate them on intellectual property rights and the risks of using counterfeits.

“We will continue to organise these workshops during the 2015 – 2016 cruise season. The campaign is in the framework of implementing the Memorandum of Understanding  signed with the Dubai Cruise Tourism, an entity of Dubai Department of Tourism and Commerce Marketing. This is the first time cruise tourists are targeted for awareness campaigns on the role of Dubai Customs in the fight against counterfeiting,” said Yousuf Ozair Mubarak, IPR Director at Dubai Customs.

Mr Mubarak noted that such awareness functions are of great significance due to the remarkable rise in the figures of cruise tourists during the winter season - From November to May.

“Back in 2006, Dubai received 105,000 passengers from 55 cruise ship calls. On the other hand, Dubai is expected to receive 310,000 cruise passengers this season 2015 – 2016, according to advance bookings. While in the next season of 2016 – 2017, the number is expected to go even higher to 600,000 passengers from 154 cruise ship calls. Spreading awareness among this large crowd of the efforts exerted in the UAE to protect IPR will, no doubt, have a positive impact of the global image of the country in this regard,” added Mubarak.

The IPR Director at Dubai Customs detailed that awareness workshops during the current cruise season - From November 2015 till May 2016 - will amount to 22 workshops, being held on Mondays. A special area was allocated for the Awareness & Education Section team at Terminal 2 (Hamdan bin Mohammed Cruise Terminal) and Terminal 3, where introductory short meetings take place to brief passengers on the concept of IPR and what Dubai Customs is doing to protect it.

Tourists,  who arrived in Dubai on board cruise ships from the United States, Mexico, United Kingdom, Germany, Spain, Holland, Italy, Portugal, Ireland, Republic of Latvia, Russia, Tajikistan, India, Pakistan, Philippines, Nigeria, and Kenya, hailed and commended the gesture.

Mubarak further noted that they hand out brochures on IPR and surveys to find out how familiar tourists are with IPR and the role of Customs to protect it and how happy they are with their time in Dubai. The brochures are in seven different languages: German, Urdu, Chinese, English, Persian, Spanish and Arabic.

“We pay utmost attention to the feedback we get from such surveys, which will be reviewed thoroughly once the workshops are over next May. The review is aimed at devising a comprehensive plan for the IPR Department for the coming years.