Abu Dhabi, Sep 7 (IANS/WAM) The Abu Dhabi Tourism Authority (ADTA) will organise promotional events in three Indian cities next week to attract tourists to the UAE.


The events will held in Mumbai Sep 12, Delhi Sep 15 and Chennai Sep 16. The events follows a seven-city European road show by ADTA in July.

India was Abu Dhabi's second largest source market for hotel guests after Britain in the first seven months of this year, accounting for more than 58,000 guests. The figure was a 25 percent jump compared to the corresponding 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 52 flights a week covering eight Indian cities," ADTA product development director Dayne Lim said.

"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," Lim added.

"Our aim for this inaugural road show in India is three-fold; to showcase Abu Dhabi's expanding range of hospitality, events and attraction 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.

"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," Lim added.

Rotana, the award-winning, Abu Dhabi-headquartered hotel group, is one of several emirate-based stakeholders pursuing the Indian segment. It has opened an outbound sales office in India, describing it as a "key feeder market" for the 10 properties it operates in Abu Dhabi.

"The objective is to increase our market share whether business or leisure outbound travellers to all Rotana properties," said Omer Kaddouri, executive vice president and chief operating officer of Rotana.

Joining Rotana on ADTA's India road show are MSC Cruises, the European operator which will home port in Abu Dhabi for the first time this winter, Etihad Airways, Rocco Forte Abu Dhabi and Jumeirah at Etihad Towers, among others.

The roadshow will spell out the travel trade opportunities emerging from Abu Dhabi's dynamic tourism-driven product deliveries coming over the next six months, the ADTA said.