Big Dubai plans.
Beautifully handled.

A locally based, licensed company that provides ground services — accommodation, transfers, transport, tours, guides and event logistics — to travel agents, tour operators, OTAs and corporate clients. A travel agent sells the trip to the public; a DMC is the B2B partner that delivers the arrangements the trip depends on.

On a Dubai file: In the UAE the licence is the point. Only an accredited local tourism establishment can sponsor a tourist visa, so the DMC is a regulatory requirement on most inbound files rather than a convenience.

An agency specialising in tour packages for international travellers arriving in a given destination — the receiving end of the chain. Dubai's Department of Economy and Tourism licenses inbound tour operation as a distinct category, separate from outbound, from travel and tourism agency and from airline general sales agency.

A company that develops tour programmes and travel experiences comprising all the elements — transport, accommodation, attractions, tours and meals — and sells them as a package.

An intermediary between supplier and buyer that develops itineraries and programmes and distributes them onward to the retail trade rather than to the public.

Individuals, couples or families who travel on their own rather than as part of an organised group, and who book through a travel professional rather than off a set departure. Each file is planned and quoted on its own.

On a Dubai file: FIT is booked ad hoc and is rate-sensitive per booking, so it lives or dies on turnaround. It is the opposite operational discipline from series.

Group travel where individuals buy a group package and travel with others on a pre-set itinerary — a set date, a set inclusion list and a set programme. Trade practice usually treats a group as starting somewhere around ten to fifteen people.

On a Dubai file: Because the date is fixed ahead, a GIT can be resourced and rate-locked. Most Dubai excursion product is built around this format.

Regular repeating groups — organised travel over multiple dates, typically arriving on the same day each week for an agreed period, with the same organiser but different travellers each time.

On a Dubai file: Series is the most valuable inbound business a DMC can hold, because predictable volume is what justifies contracted allotment and dedicated vehicles. It also carries the most exposure if the season underperforms — which is why the terms behind it are agreed in writing per account.

The gross or best-available rate less commission: the price offered to a trade buyer before that buyer adds its own margin for resale to the public.

On a Dubai file: Net rates are contracted per agent and per season, which is precisely why no DMC can publish a price. There is no single number, and posting one would undercut every agent holding a different contract.

The price the consumer pays. Rack rate is the standard published daily rate a hotel establishes for its rooms — the number on the hotel's own website.

The fee paid to an intermediary for marketing and selling a product to the end consumer, usually expressed against the best-available rate. In a net-rate model the equivalent is the margin the trade buyer adds on top of the net price.

On a Dubai file: Working on commission off gross and working on margin over net are different jobs — they change how you quote and how you protect the client relationship. Agree which model applies before the first file, not after it.

Everything in a programme except the international air: accommodation, transfers, ground transport, guides, excursions, tickets and meals. Quoting land only lets the agent ticket the flights itself.

On a Dubai file: Most inbound Dubai business is quoted land only. If flights are yours, tell us the arrival and departure times early — they set the whole first and last day.

A pre-negotiated number of rooms, places or seats held by a tour operator or wholesaler for sale.

A block of pre-negotiated hotel rooms or carrier seats held by a travel organiser with real purchasing power. The contract reduces the supplier's risk of unsold product and gives the organiser a price advantage. Inventory not contracted this way is handled on request, where every booking has to be confirmed with the supplier before it can be confirmed to the client.

On a Dubai file: Holding allotment is what lets a group be confirmed instantly instead of going back to the hotel each time — and it is a liability if the series does not fill. What is held on any given account is a contract matter, agreed in writing, not a published number.

The point negotiated inside an allotment contract by which the organiser must have used its held inventory. Unsold rooms or seats are released back to the supplier at the release date, which typically falls a set number of days before arrival.

On a Dubai file: The release date governs the whole group calendar: rooming lists and final numbers must land before it, or the inventory is gone and the group is re-quoted against whatever is left. The actual period varies by property, season and contract — ask for it in writing on every group, from any DMC.

Inventory that is not contracted in advance, so each booking must be confirmed with the supplier before it can be confirmed to the client. The opposite of a free-sale allotment.

On a Dubai file: A quote that does not distinguish confirmed from on-request is not a quote. Ours says which is which, line by line.

The operational document that assigns each named guest in a group to a specific room. A single reservation covers the group and the rooming list tells the hotel who stays where — carrying arrival and departure dates, room types, bedding and sharing, billing instructions, loyalty numbers, special requests such as adjoining rooms or accessibility needs, and any shoulder nights. Standard practice from roughly ten rooms upward, and increasingly used for smaller VIP blocks.

On a Dubai file: This is the hand-off point between sales and operations. Late or inaccurate rooming lists are the single most common cause of a group check-in falling apart.

The umbrella term for everything a DMC arranges once travellers reach the destination: arrival and departure management, transfers and coaches, hotel liaison, guides, excursion delivery, reservations, visas where required, manifest control and a 24-hour on-ground contact for the duration of the programme.

On a Dubai file: Ground handling is invisible when it works and catastrophic when it does not, so it is bought on evidence of process rather than on price.

A representative meeting the guest inside the terminal — at the aircraft door, at immigration or in the arrivals hall depending on the service level — and escorting them through the formalities to their vehicle. Fast-track through immigration is a separately purchased airport service, not something a DMC can conjure.

On a Dubai file: Specify the meeting point contractually: meet and greet means five different things across five suppliers. For a group the value is not the greeting but the dispatch plan — who waits, who goes, how late arrivals are handled and who holds the manifest.

The business-tourism segment covering planned corporate and association events. The DMC is the party executing the programme on the ground — venues, room blocks, transport, production, staffing and the single accountable contract across many suppliers.

The 'I' in MICE: a travel programme awarded by a company to reward and motivate employees, distributors or partners. In practice it means bespoke programme design — experiences that cannot simply be bought online — plus welcome functions, gala dinners and excursion days delivered by one on-ground team.

A hosted trip that lets a trade buyer or journalist experience the product first hand before selling or writing about it.