Wooing Down Under
In a bid to increase awareness about the Emirate’s growing tourism opportunities, Abu Dhabi Tourism & Culture Authority took a four-city roadshow to Australia.
Adelegation of 11 members, led by the Abu Dhabi Tourism & Culture Authority (TCA Abu Dhabi) headed to Perth, Melbourne, Brisbane and Sydney from August 3-6, 2015, to apprise the Australian retail travel agents and MICE consultants about current and new tourism experiences and offerings across Abu Dhabi.
The delegation visited Perth in Western Australia for the first time to leverage interest and potential trade between the two cities since the launch of daily flights into Abu Dhabi from Perth in July 2014 by Etihad Airways.
Mubarak Al Nuaimi, Director, Promotions and Overseas Offices, TCA Abu Dhabi, along with representatives of MSC Cruises, among others, met around 450 travel agents and key influencers from Australia’s top retail chains along with representatives from leading tour operators at a time when more Australians are visiting Abu Dhabi than ever before.
Etihad Airways currently operates daily flights from all four cities with double daily flights from Sydney and Melbourne into the UAE capital. In the first six months of this year, 23,794 Australians stayed in the Emirate’s hotels and hotel apartments, an increase of 11 per cent on the corresponding period the previous year. and delivered 161,371 guest nights, staying on average 3.26 nights.
Stefan Fuchs, General Manager, Jumeirah at Etihad Towers, said, “The Australian market continues to grow in its importance for our hotel as the air links between our two regions continues to deepen.
“We have seen steady growth in booked room nights by Australian guests over the last two years.In 2014 the total number resulted in a more than 50 per cent increase compared to the total number of room nights booked by Australians in 2013,” he added.