Abu Dhabi looks to tap into Chinese inbound tourism
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Abu Dhabi Tourism & Culture Authority (TCA Abu Dhabi) along with a 12-strong delegation is heading to China next week for a five-city road show.
The aim of the road show is to tap into the growing inbound business from the country. The event will commence from 13 – 17 May covering Beijing, Shanghai, Chengdu, Guangzhou and Hong Kong.
China is now Abu Dhabi’s 13th largest overseas source market for hotel guests with 10,468 Chinese checking into the emirate’s hotels during Q1 of this year – a 17% increase on the first three months of 2012. They delivered 21,030 guest nights, which was up 29% on the same period last year with an average-length-of-stay of 2.01 nights, a rise of 10%.
Abu Dhabi’s stakeholders, conscious of the huge potential of the Chinese market, are now tailoring products and services specifically to win the lucrative outbound Chinese traffic.
In early September, Abu Dhabi will host The Chinese Visitor Summit, aimed at giving top Chinese tourism producers specific destination networking opportunities at the recently-opened, beachfront Ritz Carlton Grand Canal, Abu Dhabi.
Home to almost 20% of the global population, China is a rapidly emerging market that has changed the world’s tourism landscape. According to the United Nations World Travel Organisation (UNWTO), the Chinese outbound travel market is expected to expand to 100 million by 2020. The World Travel and Tourism Council forecasts China’s outbound travel expenditure to reach over US$137 billion by 2022.