Tag Archives: Liam Findlay

Experience Hub, the trade and promotion arm of Yas Island Abu Dhabi, has enrolled more than 7,000 travel agents into its distinguished ‘Yas Expert’ programme – a destination training and certification program for travel professionals and agents. Among the 7,000 enrolled, more than 5,000 travel agents have already received certification and been recognised as a Yas Expert, joining an elite team of specialists with enhanced knowledge of the destination and all it has to offer. Throughout the pandemic period, Experience Hub has been virtually engaging with travel trade in key source markets including UK, Russia, China, India and GCC, and training them online to assure continuous product knowledge in preparation for gradual market re-openings. In the GCC, which has seen more than 500 agents enrolled, Yas Expert works with entities such as Seera, Jumbo Travels, Fursan Travel and many more to create Yas Island Brand Ambassadors, a network of people who are able to drive visitation to the island globally. Commenting on the programme, Liam Findlay, General Manager, Experience Hub said, “Experience Hub continues to show its commitment to global partners by refining and enhancing its valuable trade programmes such as Yas Expert. Our top priority through the travel slowdown has been to support our industry and evaluate how we can improve our offering ready for the travel rebound. We look forward to helping more agents globally to become Yas Experts and showcase a destination like nowhere else”.

Yas Island Abu Dhabi has launched a new online brand campaign entitled ‘Experience it to Believe it’, designed to entice Israel-based holidaymakers to visit Yas Island, the destination ‘like nowhere else’.  The advertising campaign represents one of the first destination marketing campaigns targeting Israeli holidaymakers, encouraging them to visit one of Abu Dhabi’s leading vacation hotspots. The 150,000 USD online campaign, features a 45 second brand campaign introducing the destination in English and Hebrew, will run from 6 April 2021 until 8 May 2021, on platforms including Facebook, Instagram and YouTube among others. The promotional push builds upon the inauguration of the historic Etihad Airways twice-weekly flight between Abu Dhabi and Tel Aviv which took place on 6 April 2021, with analysts and industry executives expecting around 1.25 million tourists travelling between the two cities for tourism and business and 500,000 Israelis expected to travel for tourism and leisure during the initial stages.* Liam Findlay, GM of Experience Hub said, ‘We are delighted to launch the ‘Experience it to Believe it’ campaign which showcases the very best of Yas Island, from award-winning theme parks, record-breaking attractions, outstanding motorsports, golf and watersports to Israeli holidaymakers.  We look forward to welcoming visitors from Israel to Yas Island and cannot wait to share our world-class hospitality and introduce holidaymakers to a host of exceptional experiences at the destination like nowhere else.”

Trip.com Group has signed an exclusive 18 month China Business Development Collaboration with Experience Hub, to support Trip.com employees to promote Yas Island, Abu Dhabi, one of the fastest growing leisure and entertainment destinations globally, as the perfect holiday destination for Chinese tourists. Amanda WANG, General Manager of Destination and Government Relations said “Trip.com Group is keen to cooperate with Experience Hub to provide full support for the promotion of Yas Island Abu Dhabi in new product forms and new marketing strategies. The success of the Trip.com 3-day Yas Island Week aims to further deep relationship between Trip.com Group and Experience Hub, whilst engaging our employees. It not only brings wonderful activities and rich products, but also provides training for Yas Island travel experts through education and entertainment, opening a new chapter for Trip.com Group cooperation with Experience Hub.” Liam Findlay, General Manager of Experience Hub said, “Through the program we aim to develop and celebrate staff loyalty to Yas Island and increase visitation from China, one Yas Island’s key source markets. With over 100 staff members attending the 3 day Yas Island Week event, we are confident  the partnership will help rebuild consumer confidence in China, support recovery of the sector and foster growth of the travel industry. We look forward to welcoming back guests to Yas Island from China.”

Seera Group signed an exclusive GCC partnership with Experience Hub, a subsidiary of Miral and the trade and promotion arm of Yas Island Abu Dhabi, one of the fastest growing leisure and entertainment destinations globally. The agreement will see the two entities work together to train Seera’s agents and sales associates on the iconic attractions in the UAE capital city and drive further visitations from Kuwait and the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. A comprehensive calendar of virtual training activities has been lined-up to cover the various attractions on Yas Island Abu Dhabi, enabling Seera to promote these destinations further to its consumer travel customer base. Another initiative by Seera Group to foster strong industry linkages to support the recovery of the travel and tourism sector, the partnership is expected to drive stronger visitor footfalls to Abu Dhabi from Saudi Arabia and Kuwait. Muzzammil Ahussain, EVP of Consumer Travel at Seera Group, said, “Abu Dhabi is one of the fast-growing destinations of choice for visitors from Saudi Arabia and Kuwait. Through our partnership with Experience Hub, we are offering our sales associates and travel agents more insights into the diverse aspects of Yas Island. As we prepare for travel and tourism activity to reopen and flourish, such virtual training programmes will not only keep our teams motivated but also accelerate the sector’s growth.” Liam Findlay, General Manager of Experience Hub, said: “The GCC is a key source market for Yas Island and our first priority in welcoming back international visitors to the destination. Our aim at Experience Hub is to forge deeper relationships with our partners through collaboration and resource-sharing so that together we can rebuild consumer confidence and foster growth …