Global Arab Network | UAE - ADTA heads to China to boost leisure and business tourism

Translate this article to your language:

GANPublications

e-Publications

Add Site to Favorites

Add Page to Favorites

Make Homepage

Share This Page

RSS Feed

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
| |

UAE - ADTA heads to China to boost leisure and business tourism

Global Arab Network - - John Short

Wednesday, 12 August 2009 21:12

Abu Dhabi's expanding business tourism suppliers are heading East next month for the destination's largest promotion to date in the vast, emerging market of China.
The move follows hard on the heels of news that Chinese tourist groups are now allowed by the country's National Tourism Administration to send delegations to the UAE.

A delegation headed by the Abu Dhabi Tourism Authority (ADTA) will stage a destination workshop with over 50 travel agents in Shanghai.

Its debut participation in the China Incentive, Business Travel and Meetings Exhibition (CIBTM) in Beijing will follow where business tourism professionals will be updated on ADTA's Advantage Abu Dhabi initiative aimed at catalysing and seeding innovative and viable business events.

"This is one of today's most important markets and it is crucial that Abu Dhabi is well represented there if we are to build destination awareness and increase our share of an outbound business meetings and incentive markets which is growing by more than 15% annually and is valued by the industry at around $14.6bn a year, according to the China Council for the Promotion of International Trade," said Mr Mubarak Al Muhairi, Director General, ADTA.

China Meetings Industry Research suggests that over the next 12 months, Chinese meetings professionals expect a significant increase in the number of events to be staged outside the republic. The research shows that key deciding host destination factors will be location, quality of accommodation, service, security and safety - all of which Abu Dhabi can successfully address.

Joining in the ADTA-led initiative will be Abu Dhabi National Exhibition Centre, exhibition foundation partner IIR Middle East, Abu Dhabi Travel Bureau, Le Meriden, the Western Region Development Council and Al Masaood Travel.

'In times of widespread economic global uncertainty there still remains opportunity and much of this lies in the emerging BRIC nations. China now has the second highest GDP in Asia, coming in shortly behind Japan. Etihad our national carrier currently flies to the People's Republic. In April this year, Chinese outbound travel grew 3.9% over the same month in 2008. We cannot let this market go unnoticed. We have the right infrastructure, destination safety and service quality China requires - but we have to go out and meet it,' said Al Muhairi.

Abu Dhabi's renewed Chinese focus will be in evidence again this November when a destination delegation, again led by the ADTA, will make its debut at the China International Travel Mart - Asia's largest professional travel fair. Being held in Kunming, the capital of China's Yunnan province, the show regularly attracts over 90,000 visitors.

'This is our opportunity to build awareness of Abu Dhabi and its distinctive nature and cultural based proposition to the Chinese consumer,' said Al Muhairi. 'At the same time through engaging with them, we will find out how better to meet their needs through carefully planned product development.'

Abu Dhabi's Chinese campaign began one year ago when the authority opened offices in three key cities within the People's Republic which, accordingly to the UN World Travel Organisation will be the world's biggest outbound market by 2020. The ADTA offices are in Beijing and the country's largest and third largest populated cities of Shanghai and Guangzhou.

Participation in overseas exhibition is a key element of ADTA's five-year strategic plan which this year sees the authority, and the destination, represented at 17 overseas trade fairs across 11 countries - three more than in 2008.

Global Arab Network

Add comment

The opinions of the authors in articles published are theirs alone and do not necessarily reflect the views of Global Arab Network
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Published comments are the opinions of private individuals and do not reflect the views of Global Arab Network