Dubai eGovernment said it has signed a new joint agreement for ePay with the Department of Tourism and Commerce Marketing (DTCM) for settling the fees of the tourism sector.

The move comes as part of Dubai eGovernment's efforts to facilitate the transactions of the public in obtaining government services in a speedy, secure and reliable manner, said its director general Ahmad Bin Humaidan after signing the deal with DTCM director general Khalid Ahmed Bin Sulayem on the sidelines of the Gitex.

The joining of DTCM to the ePay gateway currently allows online payment of the fees of two services: Tourist guide training management system and hotel classification.

This will open new prospects for facilitating the implementation of the services related to the tourist sector in Dubai by facilitating the payment of the fees of these services, either through credit cards or direct debit from the customer’s account with the banks participating in the portal.

These include Dubai Islamic Bank, Commercial Bank of Dubai, Abu Dhabi Commercial Bank, Abu Dhabi Islamic Bank and Union National Bank.

"We are pleased to co-operate again with the DTCM as this joint agreement consolidates integration and the connected government concept among government departments," remarked Bin Humaidan.

"This is an indicator of the growing adoption of the portal year after year, which contributes to increasing the customers’ trust in the efficiency and security of eServices and supporting the use of the ePay portal for paying the fees of government transactions," he added.

Bin Sulayem said the DTCM is always seeking to develop its services and facilitate transactions with customers, thereby saving their time and effort by using the latest technologies within the framework of developing the tourist products in Dubai in general.  

“Joining the ePay portal is a significant step for us to streamline our contribution to consolidating the eServices available in the emirate and making procedures easy for customers. Our keenness on participating in Gitex comes as part of our bid to support Dubai eGovernment’s vision based on easing government transactions,” he added.

Bin Humaidan said the amounts collected through the ePay portal rose by 23 per cent to over Dh3.2 billion ($870 million) through 2.45 million transactions over the first nine months compared to Dh2.6 billion through 2.054 million transactions in the same period last year, up by 19 per cent in terms of number of transactions.-TradeArabia News Service