Royal Rose looks to tap into Chinese market

Royal Rose Abu Dhabi has set out its strategy to attract more Chinese guests, with the emirate seeing rapid growth from the country as a source market.

According to statistics released by Abu Dhabi Tourism & Culture Authority (TCA Abu Dhabi) last month, Chinese arrivals surged 208% year-on-year to 32,259 in the first quarter of 2014, making it the emirate’s fourth largest overseas source market.

Speaking to HotelierMiddleEast.com recently, Royal Rose Abu Dhabi general manager Gianni Malerba explained why the hotel, which had its soft opening in March, was so keen to tap into this growing number of Chinese arrivals.

“In five star hotels you see the presence of Chinese people – and they are spending,” he said. “They don’t buy packages like the Germans or Italians. They come and they spend. They have the power and that will make a big difference in the next few years.”

Malerba explained some of the initiatives already implemented and upcoming developments which he believes will help to build a Chinese customer base.

“We do have Chinese speaking staff at the hotel and we have Chinese channels available. We have a brigade of 49 people in the kitchen where we are planning to implement Chinese food.

“Chinese people don’t all speak English so when they find someone who speaks their language, they find it very vital.”

He added that the City Seasons-operated hotel was also starting to consider the South American market, especially Brazil, although it would become more active on that front at a later stage.

Commenting on the Q1 statistics last month, TCA Abu Dhabi deputy director general HE Jasem Al Darmaki detailed the authority’s efforts to grow China as a source market.

“We are conscious of the potential of the Chinese market, as are our stakeholders who are increasingly tailoring product for this segment,” he said. “Our task now is to build both the number of arrivals from the People’s Republic and convince their travellers to stay longer.

“Our successful Access Abu Dhabi trade engagement programme, which we launched last year in conjunction with Etihad Airways, has now been extended to China and we can expect more visitors from the Republic towards the end of this year, beginning of next.

“We have also taken part, for the first time as a destination in the recent IT&CM fair in Shanghai where we were joined by six stakeholders and received a very positive response.”