Tag Archives: Abu Dhabi

The Department of Culture and Tourism, Abu Dhabi announced its calendar of events and activities for December across the capital, Al Ain city and Al Dhafra. The programme includes the inaugural of the annual ‘Dar Al Zain’ Festival in Al Ain, launch of the New Year’s Eve Countdown Village and the return of the annual Abu Dhabi Food Festival. This news was presented alongside other Q4 private sector events, including announcements from Miral and Sheikh Zayed Sports Stadium. Saif Saeed Ghobash, Director General, Department of Culture and Tourism, Abu Dhabi, said, “Abu Dhabi continues to attract a growing number of visitors annually as it develops a strong pipeline of unique event experiences. The capital, which boasts of an exceptional cultural and visitor attractions, has successfully transformed itself into an international tourism destination. In partnership with the private sector – events companies, hotels and tourist destinations, we are proud to announce an engaging series of recreational activities planned for December across the cities, activity that will further cement the capital’s standing as a destination of distinction.”

The National Civil Aviation Authority (GCAA) in Abu Dhabi and Dubai participated in ‘One Million Signatures of Loyalty to the Nation’, a national initiative launched by the Al Dhaid Cultural and Sports Club in cooperation with the Emirates Vision Media Network and the Happiness Ambassadors Volunteers. The aim of the initiative is to gather one million signatures on pieces of material distributed to government agencies and public and private sector institutions over the next three months. The initiative was welcomed by officials, employees and clients of the GCAA. Both Emiratis and residents alike decorated the piece of material with messages of love and support for the UAE. Saif Mohammed Al Suwaidi, Director General of UAE, GCAA said, “Our loyalty to our beloved country and its values has no limits, the values of giving are firmly rooted in the hearts and minds of its residents.” He also believed that such initiatives served to “strengthen ties to the homeland and allow them to express their loyalty to the UAE under the leadership of Sheikh Khalifa bin Zayed Al Nahyan, President of the UAE.”

The Department of Culture and Tourism, Abu Dhabi will launch an incentive scheme to develop content and programme collaboration with the private sector to drive inbound tourism growth. Already home to more than 800 events including spectacles such as the Formula 1 Etihad Airways Grand Prix, Abu Dhabi Food Festival, Abu Dhabi HSBC Golf Championship and the Abu Dhabi Classics international concert season, the tourism body is now incentivising international, regional and local companies to build on this success and further enhance the programme. Saif Saeed Ghobash, Director General, Department of Culture and Tourism, Abu Dhabi, said, “Throughout the year, we host a wide range of flagship events as part of our ongoing commitment to creating rich, engaging and vibrant cultural experiences for our residents and visitors. We intend to expand our events calendar in partnership with the private sector while adding value to our established events programme.” The Advantage Events Abu Dhabi initiative is being introduced to boost the emirate’s appeal as a thriving tourism destination by funding leisure and entertainment events driven by the private sector.

Russian guests jumped by 49 per cent from January to August as compared to the same period in 2016. A roadshow to Moscow and St Petersburg led by Abu Dhabi’s Department of Culture and Tourism resulted in a surge in visitors into the emirate from Russia. Sultan Al Dhaheri, Acting Executive Director, Tourism Sector, Department of Culture and Tourism, said, “Since visa restrictions were lifted on our Russian visitors at the start of the year into the country visas now granted on arrival, we have witnessed an upsurge into the emirate, both from Russia and from counties within the Commonwealth of Independent States, with both markets together showing significant growth.” Leading Russian tour operators, travel agents and trade partners were representatives from key partners in Abu Dhabi. The delegation included Etihad Airways, Rotana Hotel Group, Yas Marina Circuit, Yas Island, Intercontinental Abu Dhabi, Fairmont Bab Al Bahr, Hilton Abu Dhabi, Emirates Palace, St. Regis Abu Dhabi, Sheraton Abu Dhabi, Le Meridien Abu Dhabi, Yas Viceroy, City Season, Ritz Carlton Abu Dhabi and Gromaxx Hotel Management.

The Abu Dhabi-Medina Etihad Airways will introduce three additional weekly services during the peak winter period. Effective from February 1, 2018, the current overnight departure from Abu Dhabi will be replaced by a mid-morning flight offering an attractive schedule for travellers flying between the UAE’s capital city and Medina in Saudi Arabia. The schedule will improve connectivity to a number of destinations served by Etihad Airways across the Indian subcontinent. The airline will also increase frequency to 10 flights a week for two months between December 1, 2017 and January 31, 2018 to cater to increasing demands. The additional capacity will be operated with a two-class Airbus A320 featuring 16 seats in Business Class and 120 in Economy. Mohammad Al Bulooki, Executive Vice President Commercial, Etihad Airways, said, “The re-timing of our Medina flights to a daytime operation and introduction of additional services strengthen our business proposition and commitment to the Saudi Arabian market.”

Abu Dhabi witnessed a double digit increase in the number of hotel guests during August compared to the same period in 2016, helping to drive the total number of guests staying in the emirate to more than 3.1 million for the first eight months of the year. Figures released by the Department of Culture and Tourism, formerly known as Abu Dhabi Tourism & Culture Authority, reveal that 426,912 hotel guests stayed at the emirate’s 166 hotels and hotel apartments in August, a rise of 13 per centover the same month last year. The total number of hotel guests so far in 2016 is up 7 per cent in comparison to the comparable time frame in 2016, with occupancy standing at 68 per cent. H.E. Saif Saeed Ghobash, Director General, Department of Culture and Tourism, said: “We are encouraged by August’s figures and the increased growth, during a month which is traditionally a quieter time of the year for hotel guests. Our annual Abu Dhabi Summer Season, which ran from July 20th until August 20th, once again proved highly popular with domestic visitors and we saw key international markets all show notable growth during the month due to concentrated promotional and marketing campaigns locally, regionally and internationally. “As the year moves on, we expect to see further progress, not least due to the highly-anticipated opening of Louvre Abu Dhabi on November 11th which has rightly attracted huge interest from across the world. We still have some opportunities to increase length-of-stay at our hotels and maintain revenues, but we are actively addressing these things as we constantly strive to improve our destination’s appeal with concerted international marketing campaigns in tandem with our 11 overseas offices.”

The first Outbound Travel Bazaar was held in Abu Dhabi at InterContinental Hotel on September 21, 2017. The brainchild of travel expert Mario Anthony, Proprietor, Luxury Connections, the event saw participation from buyers hailing from Egypt and Saudi Arabia. The Ambassador of Finland stated that this was the first time that Finland was promoting the destination for MICE sector and that they were able to have many buyers with genuine inquiries as the destination is currently an emerging market for the UAE. The show started off with an interactive session with two experts in the field of travel followed by B2B sessions. The B2B meetings were a closed door event and allowed ample time for both buyers and sellers to connect.

Latvian airline, airBaltic in code share with Etihad Airways, will launch a direct service between Riga and Abu Dhabi on October 29, 2017. The four-times weekly service will depart from Abu Dhabi at 9:45 am, providing travellers from the UAE and surrounding Gulf countries with excellent and convenient access not only to the Baltic states of Latvia, Estonia and Lithuania, but also to the northern European destinations of Finland, Sweden, Norway, Denmark and Russia.  To promote the flights and act as the airline’s General Sales Agent (GSA) within the UAE, airBaltic has selected AVIAREPS. Martin Gauss, Chief Executive Officer, airBaltic, says, “We are delighted to link Latvia and the UAE with our brand-new Bombardier aircraft. Riga is a notable business and leisure hub in Northern Europe, attracting millions of passengers every year. In addition to that, our clients appreciate the convenient transfer possibilities we offer to over 60 destinations in Scandinavia, Russia and the CIS.”

Gold Medal, a leading UK travel company, has heralded Abu Dhabi as one of the most popular destinations for this summer, following a surge in the number of British holidaymakers visiting the United Arab Emirates this year. Offering a variety of online travel services and products, including airfares, hotel reservations and car rentals to travel agents, Gold Medal has reported a 294 per cent year-on-year increase in the summer 2017 holiday bookings than 2016 holiday bookings from the UK to the UAE capital. British travel agents will get to sample for themselves the many attractions of Abu Dhabi when Etihad Airways and the Abu Dhabi Tourism & Culture Authority (TCA) host a large familiarisation visit to the emirate in September. They will be able to sample the cultural attractions, beaches, sports facilities and excellent hospitality for which Abu Dhabi is increasingly renowned.

This summer, to adjust the growing number of holiday makers on their flights, Etihad has increased the frequency of their flights as well as the capacity of their vessels flying between Abu Dhabi and their key markets, such as Amman, Beirut, Cairo, Casablanca and Rabat. There will be a fourth new daily flight to Damman, second new daily flight to Amman, four new flights a week to Beirut with the introduction of Boeing 787, a fifth flight to Cairo, one extra flight to Rabat and an aircraft upgrade to Airbus A340 for Casablanca.