Abu Dhabi Tourism & Culture Authority (TCA Abu Dhabi) will be joined by key attractions and hotels at the World Travel Market Africa 2016 (WTM Africa) next month to capitalise on the surging growth in visitor numbers from the country into the emirate.

Since TCA Abu Dhabi opened an office in Johannesburg, South Africa last year to help promote the emirate as a leisure and business destination, tourist arrivals into Abu Dhabi have increased by 50%.

Joining the Authority’s delegation between 6th and 8th April in Cape Town, South Africa will be Anantara Hotels, Resorts & Spas, Abu Dhabi; Shangri-La Hotel Qaryat Al Beri Abu Dhabi; Orient Tours and the Sheikh Zayed Grand Mosque Center.

“We witnessed highly impressive growth of 42 per cent year-on-year in the number of South African guest arrivals into Abu Dhabi to reach 26,147 in 2015 and we want to build on this momentum and increase our visibility to a huge potential market,” said Mubarak Al Nuaimi, Director Promotions & Overseas Offices, TCA Abu Dhabi.

“The number of guest nights they spent in our 167 hotels and hotel apartments also increased by 27 per cent to more than 91,000 nights. We have excellent air connectivity with our national airline Etihad Airways offering daily flights into Abu Dhabi from Johannesburg and can offer an excellent stop-off option en route to Asia and Australia,” he added.

Maya Hoteit, Director of Sales at Shangri-La Hotel Qaryat Al Beri Abu Dhabi, said: “We plan to meet up with our current partners in South Africa and other African countries while at the travel fair and also meet up with prospective new partners. Africa is a growing market for Abu Dhabi and an important one for us to help us achieve our target of 20 per cent growth on 2015.

“We will be showcasing our property, which is located on a private beach overlooking the strait that separates Abu Dhabi Island from the mainland and which features 213 luxurious rooms and suites.”

Anantara Hotels, Resort and Spas, Abu Dhabi will be appearing at WTM Africa for the first time to increase awareness of the hotel brand while exploring new markets and promoting their five-star Eastern Mangroves property in Abu Dhabi and the luxurious Qasr Al Sarab Desert Resort situated in Abu Dhabi’s Empty Quarter.

Also joining the delegation will be Orient Tours which has branch offices in the UAE and Oman. The company offers ground handling services including meet-and-greet at the airport, excursions, city tours, desert trips, overland tours between Dubai and Muscat, tailor-made round-trips and study-trips, exploring sea safaris, individual fly & drive programmes and cruise ship handling.

The Sheikh Zayed Grand Mosque Center will also be joining the TCA Abu Dhabi pavilion in South Africa.

H.E Yousif Al Obaidli, Director General of the Sheikh Zayed Mosque Center, said: “Sheikh Zayed Grand Mosque Center aims to build awareness about the services that the mosque provides to tourists and to find new opportunities to develop partnerships with similar associations in Europe and Africa for history and art exhibitions. It also aims to be a global pioneer in highlighting Islamic culture and enhancing cross-cultural communication.”

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