ANALYSIS / ABU DHABI
He says that ADTA has increased its focus this
year on regional markets, such as Saudi Arabia, while benefitting from the unrest in certain Middle East and North African countries that has seen a migration of visitors to Abu Dhabi owing to the assurances of the emirate as being safe and secure. “Another market that is of obvious interest, from a
volume and existing potential sense, is India. Dubai claims that India is now its largest international market. It’s certainly up there for Abu Dhabi too and is growing very strongly over time,” Franklin says. Other regions on ADTA’s radar include China
and Russia, where it has recently opened an inter- national office and will continue to expand pro- grammes and activities. In the first six months of 2011, the UK was Abu
Dhabi’s largest visitor source market accounting for almost 73,000 hotel guests, a 20 percent increase on the first half of 2010. Other significant growth markets were India (up 22 percent), Germany (up 15 percent), Saudi Arabia (up 44 percent), France (up 29 per- cent), Italy (up 22 percent), Australia (up 18 percent), Kuwait (up 19 percent) and Russia (up 40 percent). Helping Abu Dhabi boost its visitor numbers,
CAPITAL GAINS
With new luxury hotels and world-class sporting events, Abu Dhabi is on target to attract two million visitors this year. By Amanda Tomlinson
As the capital of the United Arab Emirates, it’s no surprise that a high percentage of Abu Dhabi’s visitors are primarily in the city for business. With embassies, government headquar- ters and petroleum companies based in the capital, the percentage of business travellers far outweighs those in the destination for leisure purposes. But that is steadily changing thanks to the Abu Dhabi Tourism Authority’s (ADTA) efforts
to promote the emirate as a luxury leisure destination for culture, sport and nature, while also improving and enhancing the offerings available. In recent years, the number of people visiting Abu Dhabi has risen and this year the emirate
is on target to achieve two million guests, having recorded just over one million hotel guests in the first half of 2011. Not only were hotel guests up by 11 percent, guest nights increased 26 percent to over three million, occupancy rose 10 percent (to 70 percent), revenue climbed six percent to AED2.26 billion (US$619 million) and the average length of stay expanded 13 percent (to 2.97 nights). Positive news for Abu Dhabi, coming on the back of concerted efforts from the emirate’s national tourism organisation. Lawrence Franklin, Strategy and Policy Division director for the ADTA, says the broad
focus has been on generating demand through a global marketing campaign to increase awareness and interest in the destination.
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national airline Etihad has been rapidly opening new routes, working on codeshare arrangements and building partnerships with other airlines. “We work closely with Etihad, talking about routes
and when they open, by exploring or expanding the tourism potential. Etihad provides the lion’s share of inbound capacity into Abu Dhabi so they are an important influencer and partner,” Franklin elaborates.
EVENTS AND ATTRACTIONS A large part of ADTA’s strategy is major events, either through sponsorship of sporting teams or by staging world-class events, such as the Volvo Ocean Race which will come to the Middle East for the first time from January 1 to 14, 2012. “The Volvo Ocean Race ticks the awareness box
in terms of global television audience and commu- nications, but obviously we want to tick the visita- tion box by getting people to come and spend their money and time here,” Franklin says. “Our expectation is for hundreds of thousands of
visitors, but that will be a mix of international visi- tors, people from the region and residents. “It’s a substantial investment that we’re making,
but it’s another example of a first for the region, the integration of Abu Dhabi and the UAE onto a broader global stage by linking up with an event like that. Our objective is reinforcing our role as a destination and where we sit on the world stage.” One of the emirate’s biggest annual events is the
Formula 1 Etihad Airways Abu Dhabi Grand Prix, held each November at Yas Marina Circuit.
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