Dubai: When a massive group of 14,500 Chinese tourists from one company visited Dubai exactly one year ago, the city watched in awe.
The group was the biggest batch of tourists Dubai had ever accommodated. They were flown into the UAE in batches on 77 flights, including two chartered trips organised by Emirates airline.
With that huge number, it’s no surprise 409 tourist guides were booked along with 39,514 rooms in 40 hotels, almost half the emirate’s hotel room capacity.
But the deluge of Chinese tourists did not end there.
In fact, hundreds of thousands of Chinese tourists followed suit and toured the UAE throughout 2014.
“In 2014, more than 400,000 Chinese tourists came to the UAE. It is obvious that the environment for investment, life and tourism in the UAE is more and more attractive,” Chang Hua, Ambassador-Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of China to the UAE, told Gulf News.
“With the development of China-UAE strategic partnership, cooperation and contacts between the two countries in all sectors have been booming,” he added.
Over the past five years, Chinese tourists have turned their attention to Dubai as the new “It” destination, which used to be either Singapore or Thailand.
Those who travelled and saw opportunities for work, business, and leisure in the UAE stayed or came back and formed part of the now 250,000-strong Chinese expatriate community in the UAE.
“At present, there are hundreds of thousands of Chinese nationals from different parts of China doing business, working and studying in the UAE. The number of Chinese nationals in the UAE accounts for more than half of the total in the Mena region,” Hua said.
The Chinese community in the UAE is employed in different sectors, from big state-owned enterprises in energy, telecommunications, transport, finance and real estate to self-employed businessmen in trade and service.
Known historically to be mass immigrants around the world, the Chinese can adjust easily to a new environment. But the UAE isn’t entirely new to China, Hua said.
“China and the UAE share a time-honoured friendship. As early as the 7th century, they have been conducting maritime trade. Before the establishment of diplomatic relationship, the two countries have had contacts in such fields as politics, economy and trade, civil aviation, public health and sports,” Hua said. “China and the UAE are both important countries along the maritime Silk Road. People-to-people exchanges are very much important for country-to-country relations,” he added.
Diplomatic relations with China and the UAE began in November 1984. In April 1985, China opened its Embassy in Abu Dhabi and sent its first Ambassador to the UAE. In November 1988, China opened its Consulate-General in Dubai.
Hua said there had been steady friendly cooperation between the two countries ever since.
Cultural exchanges
In fact, in 2012, China and the UAE established a strategic partnership and since then, bilateral relations have stepped onto a new stage be it in the political or economic field.
“Bilateral trade volume hit $54.8 billion (Dh201 billion), hitting a new high. Our cooperation in energy, investment, finance, civil aviation and tourism has been very fruitful, achieving mutual benefit in a win-win manner,” Hua said.
Cultural exchanges between the two countries are also robust.
“More and more Chinese students come to the UAE and people of the UAE have shown an increasing interest in learning Chinese,” Hua said.
“I am confident that Chinese nationals in the UAE will continue to make positive contributions to pushing forward bilateral cooperation and enhancing people-to-people friendship.”
