Summer in Abu Dhabi expands for 2010
Contributors are not employed, compensated or governed by TD, opinions and statements are from the contributor directly
Abu Dhabi, May 5, 2010: Summer in Abu Dhabi - the six-week family-centric festival now in its third year - has been expanded to attract greater numbers of GCC visitors to the emirate and deliver greater benefits to its tourism sector. The festival’s organiser Abu Dhabi Tourism Authority (ADTA), has brought eight venues in Abu Dhabi and the emirate’s heritage city of Al Ain under the Summer in Abu Dhabi umbrella and galvanised stakeholders to provide 1-for-1 visitor deals during the festival period from June 24 to August 5. “This is the biggest summer event to hit Abu Dhabi yet,” said Dayne Lim, Product Development Director, ADTA. “It’s a strong pitch to families within the GCC to come and spend time in Abu Dhabi where they’ll be guaranteed fantastic value and awesome entertainment.” The festival will see a wide array of family activities and entertainment staged at Abu Dhabi National Exhibitions Centre (ADNEC), Khalifa Park, Abu Dhabi Mall, Marina Mall and Al Wahda Mall in Abu Dhabi, as well as Al Jimi Mall, Al Ain Mall and Bawadi Mall in Al Ain. ADTA will be the main presenter of all of the events across Abu Dhabi and Al Ain, with the exception of Khalifa Park where the Abu Dhabi Municipality will present the entertainment. The ADNEC festivities will comprise two unique branded entertainment acts, which will each run for two to three weeks in the recently-inaugurated Abu Dhabi Hall - the region’s biggest entertainment venue seating 6,000 - as well as Hall 11 which will be packed with six edutainment zones with activities for every age group. Over at the six shopping malls in Abu Dhabi and Al Ain there will be a packed programme over six weeks centred on family entertainment, education and togetherness. The programme included plans for indigenous cultural performances, multi-dimensional entertainment experiences, ‘live’ cooking classes, competitions and workshops. The mall festivities will be complemented by an array of special offers and promotions from retailers. To entice GCC families to ‘Summer in Abu Dhabi’, ADTA and its stakeholders are rolling out an expansive, umbrella one-for-one campaign which will see GCC travellers get free air seats for children, complimentary room nights, meal deals, discounted attractions and free tours. A host of ‘one-for-one’ deals will be on offer with award-winning Etihad, the national airline of the UAE, providing one child’s seat (under 16 years) free for every adult ticket bought, across any class, from any of five GCC cities - Riyadh, Manama, Muscat, Doha and Kuwait. ‘One-for-one’ hotel and restaurant deals will also go on offer at over 30 four and five star hotels in Abu Dhabi and Al Ain. The same one-for-one offering will be rendered by attractions across Abu Dhabi and Al Ain. To cap off the ‘Summer in Abu Dhabi’ experience, ADTA will lay on complimentary cultural tours for visitors, daily tours from Abu Dhabi city to Al Ain and free admissions to selected places of interests. “Our aim is to attract an additional 25,000 hotel guests to the emirate during this festival period which would be a 15% increase on last year,” explained Lim. “At the same time, we want visitors to stay longer and immerse themselves in Abu Dhabi’s varied experiences. We will be taking our message out to the GCC in a dedicated regional road show later this month and meeting both the media and trade there to engage them in this campaign.” The GCC is Abu Dhabi emirate’s second largest international market after the UK. In the first quarter of this year, some 26,685 GCC nationals stayed in hotels throughout the emirate - a 29% rise on the same period last year. “This is arguably the emirate’s most important market on account of its proximity, ease of accessibility and general travel propensity,” said Lim. “We have a much stronger tourism proposition now in terms of infrastructure and leisure product offerings and believe the timing is right for us to market ourselves more tangibly in the region.” For more details visit www.summerinabudhabi.com
Comments are closed.