LOUVRE ABU DHABI THE BIG DRAW FOR CHINESE TOURISTS
▶ ... and more UAE tourists will be going the other way with new visa centre promising to make travel easier
The opening of the Louvre Abu Dhabi in November will attract many more Chinese tourists, says China’s consul general in Dubai.
Li Lingbing, who was speaking at the launch of the Middle East’s first Chinese visa application centre yesterday, said relations between the countries had developed rapidly.
“We can see that Abu Dhabi as a city and an emirate has been built beautifully and it is a modernised city today,” Ms Li said. “It is also a big attraction and destination for Chinese tourists. Most Chinese visit Dubai and Abu Dhabi, as well as the Northern Emirates.”
In recent years, Abu Dhabi has increased promotions to attract more Chinese tourists.
Although Paris is one of the top destinations for Chinese, it is expected that the Louvre Abu Dhabi will prove popular because it is closer to China.
“It has been very successful,” Ms Li said. “We believe that at the end of this year, the opening of the Louvre in Abu Dhabi will have a big influence on Chinese tourists to visit the emirate.”
Last year, about 600,000 Chinese tourists visited the UAE.
“We anticipate this number to grow even more,” Ms Li said. “This is why we established this visa centre. We believe in the future that many more Chinese will visit Abu Dhabi as it is also very environmentally friendly, something Chinese people are very impressed by. They like Abu Dhabi, and so do I.”
About 40,000 tourists from the UAE visited China last year, most of them Emirati.
“We carried out many steps to attract more Emiratis to China,” Ms Li said. “We encourage more delegation visits for business,
education both ways, as well as government.
“Since last November, the UAE has lifted visa restrictions for Chinese nationals and, as a result, more Chinese people visit the UAE.”
She said the new visa centre was a big step in improving services and convenience for all applicants wishing to visit China.
“Visa demands from UAE nationals and others are sharply increasing,” she said. “The opening of this centre will be another boost for further uplifting our people-to-people exchange, cultural communication and practical co-operation between China and the UAE.”
Last year, more than 28.3 million foreigners visited China.
“China has a long friendship and deep strategic partnership with the UAE,” said Chen
Xiongfeng, deputy director general of services for the foreign ministry.
“Dubai isn’t just the economic and financial centre of the region, it is also an important international airline hub. It is the right time to open this centre in this city, which serves our common interests by promoting the future exchange of both countries.”
China has so far signed mutual visa exemption agreements with 132 countries, and 69 visa simplification deals with 41.
“In the future, China will keep working with other countries to further facilitate the exchange of people,” Mr Chen said.
“In recent years, it has become an active participant in the process of globalisation and, as travelling becomes easier, it places greater demand for visa facilitation, and more countries have improved the quality and efficiency of their visa services by setting up such centres.”
He said China was taking the lead in this trend.
“As an old Chinese saying goes: ‘How delightful it is to have friends coming from afar’,” Mr Chen said. “Since the first centre was set up in London in 2008, we’ve had 55 centres in 25 countries across five continents and expect to exceed 60 by the end of this year.
“As the first Chinese visa application centre established in the Gulf and the Arab world, it is a milestone.”