Domestic tourism, arrivals from within the United Arab Emirates, rose 4% in the first 10 months of this year with 778,113 guests delivering 1,792,751 guest nights, an increase of 28%, and an average-length-of-stay of 2.3 nights, up 23%.
“People are staying longer in the emirate which is a key feature of our promotions and marketing thrust. There is far more to see and do in Abu Dhabi and we want guests to experience as much as possible,” said Al Muhairi.
On the overseas front, India remains the emirate’s largest source market with 140,786 Indians checking into Abu Dhabi – a 26% rise compared to January-October 2012. They accounted for 555,945 guest nights – which is up 27%, and stayed on average 3.95 nights.
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“We are looking to build this market further and in December will roll out our biggest road show delegation to India with 25 stakeholders joining in,” explained Al Muhairi.
“The promotion will take in four major cities – New Delhi, Mumbai, Bangalore and, for the first time, Ahmedabad. This corresponds to increasing air accessibility from the Republic to Abu Dhabi via Etihad Airways’ expanded network and it strategic partnership with Jet Airways,” he added.
The UK was the second largest overseas source market with some 130,038 Britons staying in the emirate, a year-on-year increase of 15%. They delivered 604,965 guest nights – a 24% uplift – and stayed, on average 4.65 nights, which is up 8%.
Germany came in third with 95,970 arrivals – up by a quarter year-on-year and accounting for 446,363 guest nights – which is a rise of 35%. The German guests stayed, on average, 4.86 nights.
“We have more expectations from the German market given the fact that Etihad will, from February, increase its daily service from Munich to Abu Dhabi to a double-daily frequency,” said Al Muhairi.
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