Abu Dhabi aims to boost tourism's contribution to GDP to 12% by 2030, official says

Emirate's new Midfield terminal will play critical role in promoting the destination, Department of Culture and Tourism undersecretary says

The Abu Dhabi skyline. The emirate is intensifying its promotion and marketing campaigns to attract 24 million visitors this year. Khushnum Bhandari / The National

Abu Dhabi plans to increase the tourism sector's contribution to its gross domestic product to 12 per cent by 2030, up from 5 per cent this year, as the emirate continues to promote itself as a travel and culture destination.

The emirate's long-anticipated new Midfield terminal at Abu Dhabi International Airport will enable the city to tap into new source markets and provide the capacity to handle more international passenger traffic once it opens, Saood Al Hosani, undersecretary of the emirate's Department of Culture and Tourism, told The National on Thursday.

"The airport is going to play a critical role in, first of all, promoting the destination and giving accessibility to a large number of international visitors," he said.

"With [the airport's] expansion and growth strategy, this is going to open new markets for us to tap into."

Abu Dhabi is seeking to diversify non-oil sectors – as part of wider plans to reduce the economy's reliance on oil – with a focus on growing strategic industries including tourism, manufacturing, advanced technology and logistics.

The emirate is promoting Emirati heritage, cultural experiences, international theme parks, global sports events, corporate events and incentive travel.

In April, it launched a new fund aimed at further growing its meetings, incentives, conventions and exhibitions (Mice) industry.

The UAE capital is intensifying its promotion and marketing campaigns and is "on track" to meet its target of attracting 24 million visitors this year, up from 18 million last year, Mr Al Hosani said.

Abu Dhabi is running promotional campaigns to 44 markets currently, up from 22 markets previously, to spread awareness about the city's diverse tourism offerings, he said.

The top source markets for Abu Dhabi include China, India, the GCC, Egypt, Italy, France, Germany, US and the UK, the undersecretary said.

"We have expansion into a lot of markets in western Europe, but what's going to give us a huge difference is ... the expansion into the Chinese and Indian markets. These are where we are tapping into more and getting more market share in China and India," he said.

While China has reopened its borders to international travel, airlines are still slowly adding more capacity into that market.

Abu Dhabi is working with aviation stakeholders to make sure "that their ramp-up and growth strategies goes hand-in-hand with our targets", Mr Al Hosani said.

In March, Abu Dhabi's Etihad Airways and Asia's biggest carrier China Southern Airlines signed a preliminary pact to expand their flight codeshare agreement that will allow both partners to offer more destinations to their passengers.

Mr Al Hosani emphasised the importance of diversifying tourism source markets for sustainable growth, a key lesson learnt from the Covid-19 pandemic, he said.

Abu Dhabi, home to a branch of the Louvre museum and to Ferrari World theme park, also expects to register hotel occupancy rate of 72 per cent for this year, Mr Al Hosani said. This is up from 70 per cent occupancy in its hotels 2022.

To meet the forecast growth in tourism and hospitality sectors, DCT expects 20,000 to 25,000 jobs to be created in the industry by 2026, he said.

Coming out of the pandemic, Abu Dhabi will forge ahead with a "very ambitious plan, I'm not looking for one or two-digit growth, we're looking for a game-changing initiative that will give Abu Dhabi as a destination a competitive advantage," Mr Al Hosani said.

Abu Dhabi is growing the number of leisure and business events in its calendar to increase visitors' length of stay in the city and increase the economic multiplier-effect, the official said.

"We're going to continue to protect our identity, our heritage and our language, and focus on building a culture and creative industry that supports the quality of life and supports community development," he said.

"We will also continue to promote Abu Dhabi as a culture and tourism destination."