ADTA launches online licence renewal facility

Dubai : The Abu Dhabi Tourism Authority (ADTA) has launched a facility for online renewal of licenses for the tourism-related activities in Abu Dhabi, thereby eliminating the need of personal visits to the ADTA office by the license-holders or their representatives to complete the formalities.

The launch ceremony, held yesterday, was attended by the hoteliers, travel agents and tour operators.

Nasser S. Al Reyami, Director of Licensing and Classification Division at ADTA, said the e-governance project was the result of a fruitful cooperation with the Abu Dhabi Chamber of Commerce and Industry (ADCCI) aimed at providing modern tools for completion of business transactions in a more transparent and time-saving manner.

ADTA and ADCCI had signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) for this project in March. In the second phase, ADTA plans to cover the online issuance of new licenses for all tourism-related businesses in line with the Abu Dhabi government's vision and ADTA strategic plan for the year 2008-2012.

This facility will be of immense benefit to the existing license holders in 18 tourism-related activities licensed by the ADTA. They don't have to visit ADTA and ADCCI to get their license renewed. This includes hotels, hotel apartments, spas and travel agencies.

License holders or their authorised representatives will be provided usernames and passwords. To complete the formalities, they have to visit ADTA website and log on to their individual webpage. Once logged in, they will be able to browse through all the details about their organisation and the fees and penalties, if any.

Once the transaction is completed after the online payment through e-dirham or credit card, ADTA will update the authorised users. The following day, ADTA representatives will visit their offices to handover the renewed licence.

In the second phase, ADTA plans to cover the online issuance of new licences for all tourism-related businesses.