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.

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

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."

Source:WAM