Ajman’s tourism authority has signed a strategic partnership with German travel group DERTOUR to strengthen its presence in the European market, the Ajman Department of Tourism, Culture and Media said in a statement on May 19.
The agreement was signed during a visit to DERTOUR’s headquarters in Frankfurt, led by Mahmood Khaleel Al Hashmi, director general of the Ajman Department of Tourism, Culture and Media, on the sidelines of the IMEX Frankfurt 2026 trade show.
DERTOUR is one of Europe’s largest travel groups, with a portfolio spanning tour operators, hotels, destination management companies and travel agencies across multiple European markets. The partnership aims to launch joint promotional programmes bringing Ajman’s tourism offering to German and European travellers.
“This partnership with DERTOUR Group embodies our approach to building strategic relationships with the world’s leading tourism institutions. Access to their extensive distribution network across the European market represents a genuine opportunity to introduce travellers to Ajman’s comprehensive tourism experience,” Al Hashmi said.
The director general said the agreement formed part of a wider network of partnerships being built in line with the targets of Ajman Vision 2030 to diversify economic sectors and increase tourism revenue.
The deal builds on Ajman’s wider push for the European business events market. The emirate took its tourism pitch to IMEX Frankfurt 2026 with a public-private delegation spanning most of its branded resort stock, courting German MICE buyers as a quieter, lower-cost alternative to Dubai and Sharjah.
Ajman, the smallest of the seven emirates that make up the United Arab Emirates, has leaned on its beaches, luxury resorts and value positioning to carve out a distinct place in the federation’s tourism market. The UAE has prioritised tourism as a pillar of economic diversification, with individual emirates increasingly running their own destination marketing and source market strategies.
Why it matters for the trade
The DERTOUR tie-up gives Ajman direct access to one of Europe’s deepest distribution networks, a sharper play than awareness-building alone. For agents and operators, the deal signals that Ajman product will appear in mainstream German programming and brochures, lowering the barrier to selling the emirate as a packaged short-haul option rather than a niche add-on to a Dubai itinerary.