A 20-strong delegation of Finnish students from the HAAGA-HELIA University of Applied Sciences, one of Scandinavia’s forerunners in service industry education, has ‘graduated’ from an Abu Dhabi fact finding mission where they used the destination as a ‘best in class’ case study.

The group, studying the Bachelor Degree Programme for Hospitality and Tourism, were identifying future job opportunities within Abu Dhabi’s hospitality and travel sectors, and met with officials from Abu Dhabi Tourism & Culture Authority (TCA Abu Dhabi), who outlined the destination’s ongoing tourism strategy.

“Our core objectives of being in Abu Dhabi were to enlarge the students´ knowledge of the international hospitality and tourism business; to understand possible leadership and operations challenges for companies with multinational staff, and, how TCA Abu Dhabi is developing this destination and what the emirate will be like in future,” said Ms Salla Juustila, Senior Lecturer, Tourism Management Programme at HAAGA-HELIA University of Applied Science.

“Abu Dhabi is seen in Finland as a destination where everything is possible. It has huge resources to attract the world’s best experts to plan, develop and build this destination for whatever is wanted. We noticed that Abu Dhabi has a clear vision and a scheme for development and the process is very much planned out.

“Some of students were also looking for work placement and future jobs in Abu Dhabi, so this study trip was also very useful for their future careers.”

The group got a firsthand look at some of the emirate’s leading attractions, including the flagship Emirates Palace hotel, the recently opened Yas Waterworld mega water park on the multi-experiential Yas Island and the iconic Sheikh Zayed Grand Mosque, named one of the world’s most talked about attractions by TripAdvisor.

“We learnt about destination management and marketing. It was very interesting to hear which client segments Abu Dhabi is heading for and what kind of brand and image Abu Dhabi is achieving. Also the future plans for Yas Island and Saadiyat Island are astonishing and remarkable,” added Juustila.

“Maybe most interesting was the presentation on www.visitabudhabi.ae and how it has been created and is being used to attract tourists.”

The information gathered on the trip will now form part of the University’s future curriculums.

“We have already informed our professors and lecturers about our discussions with TCA Abu Dhabi and will be using the presentations in our future lectures. Students will produce essays on different topics of our study trip and share the gathered information with other students,” added Ms Juustila.

TCA Abu Dhabi welcomed the news that the emirate is being viewed as a ‘best practic’e case.

“We work with a number of educational institutes around the world and knowledge transfer is a critical component in any destination’s ongoing development. To be able to help nurture the tourism industry’s future leaders is essential to its long term success,” said Nasser All Reyami, Director Tourism Standards, TCA Abu Dhabi.

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