The dedicated efforts of the Department of Culture & Tourism, Abu Dhabi to increase the numbers of tourists from India, has got off to a promising start when several 100 Mumbaikars witnessed the opening of the 1st ever “Abu Dhabi Week” in India.
The exposition ran last week from Fri to Sun at Mumbai’s sprawling MMRDA grounds, BKC and featured a collection of Abu Dhabi’s tourist & cultural attractions, which the organizers believe will encourage more Indians to consider the emirate as a holiday destination.
Before declaring the opening of the weekend festival, Mubarak Al Nuaimi, Director of Promotions & Overseas Offices at the Department of Culture & Tourism, Abu Dhabi addressed the media, members of the travel trade & distinguished invitees and averred that during the 1st 8 months of 2017, Abu Dhabi had seen a 9% increase in hotel occupancy by Indian guests.
A total of 223,000 guests from India stayed in hotels in Abu Dhabi for an average of 2.8 days during this period, he added. In a pre – event statement reflecting the increasing potential of India for the Abu Dhabi tourism sector, Mubarak Al Nuaimi averred, “India is a key tier – one priority for Abu Dhabi and it represents our 2nd – largest international source market for hotel guests.”
“Apart from positioning the emirate as a holiday destination, we will also underline the message that Abu Dhabi is an ideal business locale for the meetings, incentives, conferences & exhibitions, MICE, industry, with a superb selection of venues for delegations from India,” he added.
Celebrities like Amardeep Singh Natt , Music director Vickey Prasad, TV Actors – Bhavesh Balchandani, Reem Shaikh, Roshani Walia, Anushka Sen, Arishfa Khan, Ashnoor Kaur, Ekta Jain, Shree Rajput, Harshvardhan Joshi, Saloni Daini, Ashila Bhatia, Sanchiti Sakat & Ahsaas Channa, Aditya Kumar & Imran Shaikh of Travelegend.com who attended Friday’s inaugural ceremonies shared their views .
