ABU DHABI has signed a three-year deal to be the premier partner of World Travel Market (WTM) up to and including the 2012 event.
The emirate plans to use its partner status to promote its expanding leisure travel proposition, which includes this October’s opening of Ferrari World Abu Dhabi, the world’s first Ferrari Theme Park which opens on October 27, 2010, less than two weeks before WTM 2010, making the event key in the promotion of the park’s exciting and unique attractions.
World Travel Market, which celebrated its 30th event last year, attracts more than 46,000 participants to London every year to negotiate deals and discover the latest trends and opinions. WTM 2009 welcomed 5,121 exhibitors.
Ferrari World Abu Dhabi has more than 20 rides lying beneath its iconic 200,000-sq-m Ferrari-red roof including the world’s fastest roller coaster Formula Rossa, which powers to 240 km/ph in less than five seconds, and the G-Force, a thrilling tower ride that will shoot thrill-seekers through the park’s roof 62 m in the air and then back to earth experiencing the same G-force as a Ferrari.
The theme park also charts the history and heritage of arguably the world’s most famous and iconic car manufacturer.
Ferrari World Abu Dhabi is to be a key plank in Abu Dhabi’s campaign to build its inbound leisure business, now accounting for around 30 per cent of all hotel guests.
Abu Dhabi recorded a 16 per cent rise in hotel guests in the first half of 2010 compared to the previous year, according to Abu Dhabi Tourism Authority (ADTA) figures.
An impressive 936,579 guests stayed in the emirate’s 116 hotels and apartments from January to June, with guest nights rising 11 per cent from the same period in 2009 to 2.47 million.
Abu Dhabi is set to meet its 2010 target of a 10 per cent annual increase in hotel guests, taking the total number of arrivals to 1.65 million.
The UK was the most productive overseas market with an 18 per cent rise on 2009 to 60,994 visitors.
Significantly, Abu Dhabi is building its traditionally slower summer months with hotel guests in June 2010 rising 17 per cent on June 2009.
ADTA director general Mubarak Al Muhairi said the authority is aiming to achieve a more evenly balanced business and leisure tourism profile by 2010.
“Our leisure proposition is growing with new attractions, tours and services emirate-wide and, in conjunction with our expanding stakeholder base, we will be pushing this aspect strongly at World Travel Market 2010,” he added.