Russian hotel guest arrivals to Abu Dhabi on the rise

A sixteen-member delegation from Abu Dhabi’s tourism industry is heading to Russia’s top travel show this week as the destination looks to building on rising hotel guest arrivals from the Federation. The Leisure Moscow delegation, headed by Abu Dhabi Tourism & Culture Authority (TCA Authority), includes hotels and resorts, Etihad Airways, inbound tour operators and Destination Management Companies. The move comes as TCA Abu Dhabi figures show a significant rise in the number of Russians staying in the emirate’s hotels and resorts. In the first seven months of this year, some 10,061 Russians checked into Abu Dhabi’s hotels and resorts — a 38 per cent rise on the same period last year — and together they accounted for some 58,114 guest nights — a rise of 42 per cent over the same comparative period. “Russia is an increasingly important market for Abu Dhabi with the country now entered our Top 20 ranking of most productive overseas sources,” explained Mubarak Al Nuaimi, International Promotions Manager, TCA Abu Dhabi. “An increasing number of MICE and business travel companies are including more UAE possibilities in their brochures and packages — our aim is to ensure Abu Dhabi features among them. “Further evidence of Russian interest in Abu Dhabi has come from the relaunch of our visitabudhabi.ae consumer website last June. Since then the site has received double the number of Russian visitors compared to the whole of last year. Site visits from Russia are currently averaging in excess of 12,500 per month, with the majority emanating from Moscow.” Russians’ air access to Abu Dhabi has eased during the last seven months with Etihad Airways, the national airline of the UAE flying daily from Moscow and the country’s first private carrier,