Abu Dhabi finalises Indian roadshow
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Abu Dhabi is looking to penetrate India’s growing outbound tourism market on the back of the South Asian republic’s rapid rise up the emirate’s hotel guest rankings. Abu Dhabi Tourism Authority (ADTA) is spearheading a three-city road show in India next week which will see the destination and 12 of its key stakeholders take their expanding tourism proposition to trade and media in Mumbai, New Delhi and Chennai.ADTA’s first road show in India follows a highly-successful, seven city European roadshow in July and begins in Mumbai on September 12, heads to New Delhi two days later and ends in Chennai on the 16th.The move comes as India rose, in the first seven months of this year, to become Abu Dhabi’s second largest international source market for hotel guests after the UK, accounting for some 58,724 guests – a 25% rise on the same period in 2010. In terms of guest nights in the first seven months, India was the third largest international source market after the UK and USA accounting for 235,695 – a 52% rise on the same period last year.”There are strong air links between India and Abu Dhabi with routes between the two currently being served by Air India, Jet Airways and our own national airline, Etihad Airways, which operates a total of 52 flights a week covering eight Indian cities. The excellent air access, allied with market proximity and close business and social ties between Abu Dhabi and India, provides us with a strong competitive advantage to capitalise on the undoubted growth potential of India’s outbound tourism market. This point has increasingly been recognised by our tourism stakeholders who are also stepping up their own in-market activations,” said Dayne Lim, product development director, ADTA.”Our aim for this inaugural roadshow in India is three-fold; to showcase Abu Dhabi’s expanding range of hospitality, events and attractions products, strengthen the distribution and packaging channels of these products, as well as deepen our market insights for valuable input to our future product development.” India’s increased significance for Abu Dhabi’s tourism sector is backed by wide industry recognition of the republic as one of the world’s fastest growing markets, with the number of Indians travelling aboard annually exceeding 16 million by the end of 2010, and double-digit growth rates on the being forecast over this decade. “We have been monitoring the Indian outbound market for some time and now, in line with our infrastructural and product expansions as well as support from our valued stakeholders, is the opportune time for us to capitalise,” concluded Lim.Stakeholders involved in the roadshow include Rotana, MSC Cruises, Etihad Airways, Rocco Forte Abu Dhabi and Jumeirah at Etihad Towers, the Aloft Hotel, InterContinental Abu Dhabi and Grand Continental Flamingo Hotel, as well as Al Masood Holidays, Kurban Tours, DBA & Sons and Net Tours.
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