Mohammad Khalfan Al Dhaheri discusses Destination travel resorts in Abu Dhabi.

Destination travel: Unpacking the appeal

We’re creating destinations in the destination.

So we have a very unique destination, such as Yas Island, which is very sports and adventure-oriented, you know, more leisure.

We have a destination called Saadiyat Island, which is focusing on culture, especially it is going to house three permanent museums – Zayed Museum, Louvre Abu Dhabi and The Guggenheim Museum.

 The way we see it, that the number of hotel guests and visitors inshallah is growing, so at 2015 we’re looking at 3.2 million hotel guests to be staying in Abu Dhabi. ______________________________________________________________ If you found this video about destination travel interesting why not watch more on The Hospitality Channel?  

Abu Dhabi has a Tourism & Culture authority who help develop the sector. Mohammad Khalfan Al Dhaheri explains what they do.

Abu Dhabi: from ‘dull and soulless’ to top 10 destination

Well I come from Abu Dhabi Tourism & Culture Authority. We are the government authority that is leading the development of the tourism and cultural sector in Emirates Abu Dhabi, the capital of United Arab Emirates.

Okay, I can tell it to you qualitatively and quantitatively. The Lonely Planet described Abu Dhabi 2004 as a dull, boring soulless place. In 2009 they recommended us as one of the top ten destinations to visit in the world. And that should tell you how much effort it took between this time and that time to actually change that perception. In 2004 we started with 6,000 rooms, today we have 22,000 rooms. That tells you how much opportunity creating a government entity actually has provided for the private sector.

We have done extensive work in terms of actually facilitating the regulations of opening businesses in the tourism sector, that’s one of our key focus areas. In addition we actually maintained developing quality standards for the sector, such as the hotel establishment classification system, that gave the sector confidence that we actually differentiate between a business and a business and we allow that competitive businesses to be acknowledged and recognised. _______________________________________________________________ If you found this video about Abu Dhabi interesting why not watch more TV shows on The Hospitality Channel?