ABU Dhabi is attempting to tap a larger slice of the growing Chinese outbound market by staging roadshows to raise its profile in Greater China.
The Abu Dhabi Tourism & Culture Authority (ADTCA) organised its inaugural Chinese roadshow from April 9 – 17 across five major cities: Beijing, Chengdu, Shanghai, Guangzhou and Hong Kong.
According to Mubarak Rashed Al Nuaimi, international promotion manager, ADTCA, the nine-day roadshow served as a platform to drive business interactions between Chinese outbound travel consultants and hotels, airlines, attractions and destination management companies based in Abu Dhabi.
A total of 11 Abu Dhabi tourism stakeholders and nearly 800 Chinese travel consultants participated in the roadshow, which will become an annual affair, said Al Nuaimi.
“The Chinese market is growing and the world’s first Ferrari World theme park (in Abu Dhabi) has been a big draw. In 2011, the number of Chinese visitors to Abu Dhabi increased by 29.6 per cent compared to the same (period) in 2010. We expect similar growth for this year given new flight connections,” he said.
Last December, Etihad Airways commenced four direct weekly services between Abu Dhabi and Chengdu. In March this year, the national carrier launched a Shanghai (Pudong)-Abu Dhabi route with five-weekly flights, which has been boosted to a daily service from April 16.
