Abu Dhabi cuts fees to boost tourism
abu dhabi — In a bid to further boost the tourism sector, the Department of Culture and Tourism – Abu Dhabi on Tuesday announced key initiatives like fee reductions as part of the government’s accelerator programme Ghadan 21.
The initiatives are aimed at giving hotel owners access to more capital to reinvest in their businesses, increase investments in attracting tourists and further promote Abu Dhabi’s infrastructure, tourist attractions and events.
The initiatives will see reductions in the overall tourism and municipality fees for hotels in Abu Dhabi from 10 per cent to 5.5 per cent, i.e., tourism fees from 6 per cent to 3.5 per cent and municipality fees from 4 per cent to 2 per cent. The fee reductions are expected to increase available capital for hotels by Dh1 billion over the next three years.
The daily municipality fee for each hotel room will drop from Dh15 to Dh10.
Long-term visitors in hotels, who stay for 30 or more consecutive nights, are exempted from daily municipality fee.
All tourism and municipality fees are removed on any tourist attraction tickets sold by the hotels. Also, the frequency of fee collection is changed from monthly to semi-annually, thereby giving hotel owners access to more capital to help with continuous improvements and the quality of their offerings.
Last year, the Abu Dhabi Executive Council approved a proposal to reduce tourism and municipality fees. And DCT – Abu Dhabi Undersecretary Saif Saeed Ghobash said the department has already begun implementing the initiatives across the sector.
“The initiatives will encourage local, regional and international tourism investment within the emirate and help enhance Abu Dhabi’s position as a global tourist destination,” he said.
The initiatives’ focus is to enhance the relationship between the government and the private sector.
“These initiatives will support tourism companies in Abu Dhabi which, in turn, will help guarantee the continued growth of the sector and contribute significantly to the national economy,” Ghobash said.
Moreover, to attract more tourists, DCT Abu Dhabi will directly invest Dh500 million in promoting Abu Dhabi in major tourism target markets globally. The move comes after Abu Dhabi achieved a record number of visitors and hotel guests in 2018, with a 3.94 per cent growth in hotel guests compared to 2017. Over the year, more than 10 million visitors arrived in Abu Dhabi from around the world.
What is Ghadan 21?
The Ghadan 21 programme was announced by His Highness Sheikh Mohamed bin Zayed Al Nahyan, Crown Prince of Abu Dhabi, Deputy Supreme Commander of the UAE Armed Forces, and Chairman of the Abu Dhabi Executive Council, to accelerate the existing economic agenda.
From 2019 to 2021, Dh50 billion will be invested across four strategic pillars: Economic, Knowledge, Livability and Social. Each of the Ghadan 21 initiatives has been designed to reflect the priorities of Abu Dhabi’s citizens, residents, business owners and investors.