Abu Dhabi gears up for Chinese visitor growth
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Current statistics state that China is Abu Dhabi’s 13th largest international source market for hotel guests with more than 20,000 guests. This was recorded for the first half of 2013; a 35% rise on same period in 2012. The Chinese guests also accounted for 38% more guest nights than the corresponding period in 2012.
Riding on these statistics, Abu Dhabi is gearing up for the Chinese Visitor Summit 2013. The two-day event takes off at the Ritz-Carlton Grand Canal. This year’s Summit will witness participation from 75 top Chinese outbound tourism participants. In addition to the Chinese participants, the event will also have decision makers from UAE, Cyprus, Maldives, Mauritius and Seychelles all eyeing China as a tourism source market.
Rob Nicholas, managing director, NPI said: “The summit looks to build inbound Chinese visitor numbers by matching buyers to over 70 travel providers. The market is wide open with the UAE currently representing less than 10% – or 31,980 travellers – of the delegation’s accumulative outbound business.”
Last year’s summit witnessed participation from 76 Chinese travel agents and tour operators and several Chinese government travel dignitaries.
Alexander Glos of i2i concludes saying: “They are looking for destinations that are Chinese-focused – for example, hotels that provide staff who can speak the Chinese language, as well as restaurants that offer authentic Chinese cuisine. They also value the experience of shopping in stores that have Chinese attendants.”
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