Business | Tourism
Abu Dhabi set to welcome 2.7m tourists by 2012
The Abu Dhabi Tourism Authority (ADTA) on Sunday revealed the details of its five-year strategic plan up to the year 2012, aimed at boosting the number of visitors to the UAE capital.
- By Ahmed A. Elewa, Senior Reporter
- Published: 23:50 April 20, 2008
- The five-year tourism development strategic plan addresses the human resources needs of the sector through providing for training programmes.
- Image Credit: Gulf News Archive
Abu Dhabi: The Abu Dhabi Tourism Authority (ADTA) on Sunday revealed the details of its five-year strategic plan up to the year 2012, aimed at boosting the number of visitors to the UAE capital.
The authority is the first among 26 government departments that will be announcing strategic plans in tandem with the directives of the emirate's executive councils as part of its government services reform plan.
"Our five-year strategy indicates the increase of expected tourists arrivals to 2.7 million visitors by the year 2012, representing a 12.5 per cent increase compared to our previous estimates," Shaikh Sultan Bin Tahnoun Al Nahyan, ADTA's chairman said.
ADTA's original target is to increase the number of visitors to three million tourists by the year 2015, a figure that is now under revision given the suggested increase in the five year-plan.
"It is difficult to predict in the field of tourism, but we expect the figure to be in the vicinity of three million visitors by 2015 with an error margin of 10 per cent," said Mubarak Al Muhairi, ADTA director-general, emphasising that the emirate will only target the high-end segment of the market. "Hotel rooms are also expected to reach 25,000 within five years according to the plan, exceeding our earlier projections by 4,000 rooms," he added.
The plan has been set after elaborate studies and close coordination with the Executive Council, to develop the emirate's tourism sector which represents one of the major sources of revenue within the context of the efforts to diversify the economy away from relying totally on oil and gas.
"The World Travel and Tourism Council said, the international tourism sector will generate $8 trillion worth of revenues in 2008, a figure that will grow up to $15 trillion within ten years up to the year 2018, an annual growth average of 4.4 per cent," Shaikh Sultan said.
"The sector provides for 297 million jobs and contributes by a 10.5 per cent share in the global gross domestic product (GDP)," he added.
According to the council, the tourism sector in the Middle East is among the fastest growing, projected to record an annual growth rate of 5.2 per cent during the coming decade, surpassing the Americas and Europe.
"This remarkable growth, accompanied by the robust economic performance will help in converting Abu Dhabi to an international cultural, leisure, and business tourism destination," Shaikh Sultan said stressing the importance of the private sector's role in this respect, through delivering its projects under construction in a timely manner according to high standards of quality.
The five-year tourism development strategic plan addresses the human resources needs of the sector through providing for training programmes, as well as reaching to agreements with the education authorities to introduce hospitality and travel related studies and programmes. "Since its inception in September 2004, ADTA has achieved several remarkable accomplishments, including the establishment of tourism promotion offices in Europe, the launch of Tourism Development Investment Company (TDIC)," Mubarak Al Muhairi, the authority's director general told the reporters yesterday.
"Other landmark accomplishments include the launch of Al Saadeyat and Yas islands' development projects, as well as attracting renowned hotel brands to the emirate," he added.
The authority was also successful in introducing many online services, especially in the field of licenses issuance and renewal for some tourism and travel related activities.
"We are now planning to introduce eight more new online services, as well as the finalization of hotels classification criteria this year and establishing a research department to carry out annual surveys," Al Muhairi revealed.
"Other planned developments include the establishment of three overseas offices this year, and a total of seven offices by 2012," he added.
The three offices will be located in Australia, China, and Italy, to complement the growing network of ADTA's overseas representation offices.
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