The Dubai Festivals and Retail Establishment (DFRE) has announced the names of the 14 talented students from across the Mena region who have been selected for the Dubai Summer Surprises (DSS) apprenticeship program.

DFRE is an entity under the Dubai Department of Tourism and Commerce Marketing and the organizer of DSS which runs till July 7.

Touline Bassam Alish from Jordan University will be representing the Kingdom in the eighth edition of the award-winning destination marketing internship, a highly coveted component of the DSS.

This year the program welcomes its largest-ever group of winners from 14 markets including the UAE, Saudi Arabia, Qatar, Kuwait, Bahrain, Oman, Lebanon, Syria, Egypt, Jordan, Palestine, Morocco and first-time participants from Iraq and Sudan, said a statement from DFRE.
 
Welcoming Touline to the new edition, CEO Laila Suhail said: "In her essay, she showed a firm grasp of online tools and social media in promoting the festival to a diverse audience and effectively linking this promotion to on-ground initiatives for the best results. We are sure she will gain a great deal of benefit and further develop her sharp marketing capabilities during the program.”
 
The winners win an all-expense-paid trip to Dubai, inclusive of return flights and a two-week stay at The Emirates Academy of Hospitality Management, one of the world’s leading hospitality business management schools, managed by Jumeirah Group.

The winners will work closely with the marketing team responsible for successfully staging DSS, attend workshops, take part in visits to key DSS events and tourism landmarks and meet leading players responsible for building the Destination Dubai brand.

Itineraries have in the past included winner interactions with Dubai-based entities that have helped build the city’s world-class tourism offering and global brand cachet, such as Emirates, Emaar Retail, MBC Group, Roads and Transport Authority, Dubai Economic Department and Dubai Cares and this year’s winners can look forward to a similarly impressive agenda of key visits.

Many of the interns who will be making their maiden visit to Dubai will also get the opportunity to experience first-hand the city’s iconic tourism landmarks such as Burj Khalifa, Dubai Metro, Ski Dubai, Wild Wadi and lots more, said te statement.

The selection process for this year’s program began with each participating university nominating its top six senior students from marketing, business, administration and travel and tourism streams. Each student was asked to submit an essay on a topic chosen by the DSS Apprenticeship Program team.

This year the students were asked to submit an essay on the topic “How would you further market DSS in your respective local market if you were to become the Chief Marketing Officer for DSS?”  A special jury comprising key DFRE executives and other marketing professionals evaluated all the final submissions before selecting a winner for each country.
 
In her winning essay, Touline said: “As its chief marketing officer, I would promote DSS by building up huge anticipation about the event through Twitter, creating a Facebook page that will keep tabs on event updates, and releasing two-minute video teasers on Youtube that promote DSS. Aside from these online marketing efforts, I believe that awareness of DSS will increase by executing on-ground promotions."

"I suggest organizing raffle draws as well as putting up branded vans inside the mall where kids can come and get treats. I am certain that aggressive use of social media plus exciting on-ground marketing campaigns would help increase awareness about DSS," she added.

According to Laila, the internship will offer students the opportunity to get hands-on experience working alongside the DSS team in a packed agenda of activities that will both enhance their theoretical understanding of their chosen field of study as well as its practical application, while building a valuable network of potential future employers and corporate mentors.
 
At the end of the two-week internship, the apprentices will be asked to work together as a team to present their fresh and creative ideas to senior management, based on their observations and experiences of the event, she added.-TradeArabia News Service