Guest arrivals in Abu Dhabi were up by more than a third this January over the same period last year. The emirate’s hotels registered 276,970 check-ins in that month and reported a 36 per cent rise year-on-year, as a strategy of events tourism bears fruit.
The figures are in line with the emirate’s target of hosting 3.1 million visitors this year. In a statement, Jasem Mohammad Al Darmaki, Deputy Director General at Abu Dhabi Tourism and Culture Authority (TCA), says, “We have stretched our hotel guest target to 3.1 million per year following last year’s record-breaking performance when we exceeded our targets and achieved our 2014 goal of 2.8 million.”
The figure is a 15 per cent growth target. The guest intake last year was close to 8.8 million guests nights, up 26 per cent from 2012, and total revenue climbed 18 per cent to Dh5.48 billion.
Eventful start
“January reaped the benefits of the international holiday season and the hosting of many major events in the emirate including the World Future Energy Summit and the Abu Dhabi HSBC Golf Championship,” he adds. “This is an excellent start to the year.”
Events are an important component of the emirate’s tourism strategy, including highlights such as the Formula One Etihad Airways Abu Dhabi Grand Prix in November and the annual Volvo Ocean Race in December. Throughout the year, the emirate hosts big events including a food festival every February and an arts festival in the spring, in addition to concerts, exhibitions and trade shows.
Locally relevant events are also a big draw, and the emirate regularly adds these to its already packed calendar. This December will see it host the International Festival of Falconry (Bayzarah), which will draw visitors from 75 countries, including more than 500 falconers. As with other festivals, Mohammad Khalaf Al Mazroui, Adviser for Cultural and Heritage Affairs at the Crown Prince Court of Abu Dhabi and Chairman of the Cultural Programmes and Heritage Festivals Committee — Abu Dhabi, says this one enhances Abu Dhabi’s stature as a top cultural destination on both regional and international levels. “It is in line with the strategy of the Cultural Programmes and Heritage Festivals Committee, which works towards the preservation of the cultural heritage, and the sustainment of the cultural memory,” he says, adding that the event complemented other staples such as the Al Dhafra Festival, the Liwa Date Festival, the Baynounah Camel Mazayna (beauty contest), and Al Gharbia Watersports Festival.
Mice business
Shaikh Sultan Bin Tahnoun Al Nahyan, Chairman of the Board at the Abu Dhabi Tourism and Culture Authority, told WAM recently the authority was optimistic about reaching its revised 2014 target, thanks to the new initiatives. These include incentivising to encourage the private events sector to bring their products to Abu Dhabi. The emirate’s travel trade made a major push for business events and MICE bookings at the recent Gulf Incentives, Business Travel and Meetings Expo (GIBTM).
“The simple fact is that there is now much more to business events in Abu Dhabi,” says Mubarak Al Nuaimi, Promotions and Overseas Offices Director, TCA Abu Dhabi. “There is growing impetus among our private sector to develop Mice-specific products. We have assets and activities in the emirate, which clearly set the destination apart and will give us an edge.”
Currently, India is the emirate’s biggest source market, followed by the UK. More than 157,000 guests from India visited the capital in 2013, reporting a 26 per cent rise on 2012. They stayed on average for 3.9 nights. The number of British tourists were 147,800 for the year, a 14 per cent rise.
As Etihad Airways proceeds with route expansion, the 2014 target looks achievable. The carrier’s planned schedule for the year has daily flights from Rome, Zurich, Perth, Medina, Los Angeles and Jaipur, as well as four weekly flights from Yerevan in Armenia and flight from Dallas Fort Worth three times per week.
Together with the TCA, Etihad is expanding the joint Access Abu Dhabi trade engagement programme to five new markets this year, taking the campaign’s outreach to ten countries across four continents. The year-long campaign has already notched up considerable success with hotel guest booking hikes from its initial target markets of Germany, the UK, Russia, India and Australia. Now, for 2014, the programme will reach out to potential partners in China, France, Italy, Brazil and the US.
During its first year of operation Access Abu Dhabi progressed 38 destination co-marketing initiatives, undertook ten destination familiarisation trips for 755 travel agents, 250 free, independent traveller agents and their staff and completed successful partner engagement missions in the initial target markets.
Al Darmaki says, “We have experienced strong results — particularly from Germany and the UK — with a significant increase in the length of a guest stay emerging through packages sold by our travel and tour operator partners. The programme was an influencing factor for last year’s record hotel performance.”
The Access Abu Dhabi team is also looking into a tailored version of its programme to address the specific needs of the GCC market.
