Tourism chiefs in Abu Dhabi are heading to Shanghai later this month as they look to build on growing hotel guest arrivals from China.

Abu Dhabi Tourism & Culture Authority (TCA Abu Dhabi) and six of its key stakeholders will make up the delegation taking part in the China International Travel Mart.

The delegation will include tour operators, hotels and resorts, Etihad Airways and Ferrari World Abu Dhabi, the world's largest indoor theme park.

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"Apart from making the necessary contacts to build the number of Chinese guest arrivals our task ahead is to convince the market that there is now much more to see and do in Abu Dhabi," said Mubarak Al Nuaimi, international promotions manager, TCA Abu Dhabi.

"Chinese guests currently represent an average-length-of-stay of just 1.81 days - and we want to significantly expand that.

"We now have the product with more hotels and resorts, headline attractions and major events and look forward, by the year end, to the opening of Yas Waterworld on Yas Island, which will be the UAE's biggest waterpark with 43 rides and attractions and a major visitor draw."

Abu Dhabi's CITM promotion comes as more Chinese than ever begin to stay in Abu Dhabi's 131 hotels and hotel apartments.

Latest TCA Abu Dhabi figures show that in the first nine months of this year 21,530 Chinese stayed in the emirate's accommodation - a 78 percent rise on the same period last year and ranking the country 16th in Abu Dhabi's key international source markets.

The Chinese hotel guest nights accounted for 39,047 from Q1-Q3 this year, which was up 52 percent on 2011.

Bruno Wiley, sales director, Ferrari World Abu Dhabi, added: "We are enjoying a steadily growing footfall from Chinese tour groups, which is particularly noticeable around key Chinese holiday periods, such as Chinese New Year and national holidays.

"We are working closely with our travel trade partners locally and in China to offer a full range of creative promotional tools and collaterals in different languages, including Mandarin, to help Chinese tour groups better understand what to expect during their visit.

"We also have Chinese staff members who can assist with queries about individual rides and attractions."

Last month, TCA Abu Dhabi data showed that a total of 1.74m people stayed in the UAE capital’s hotels and hotel apartments during the first nine months of 2012, representing a 15 percent increase compared to the same period in 2011.

TCA Abu Dhabi said the rise in the number of guests translated into 5m hotel guest nights, 10 percent up against the first nine months of last year.