Abu Dhabi Tourism and Culture Authority (TCA Abu Dhabi) received in its headquarters highly ranked marketing experts from the Croatian National Tourism Board (CNTB) and an accompanying delegation including representatives from internet search giant Google.

The purpose of visit was to discuss and identify areas of best practices in the realms of digital content brand development and marketing.

"The delegation's visit reflects Abu Dhabi's growing influence and success in digital marketing initiatives," according to Mouza Al Shamsi, TCA Abu Dhabi's Acting Executive Director of Marketing and Communications, who said, "TCA Abu Dhabi is identified as a leader of innovative brand development in the MENA region and this visit is in recognition of our collaborative approach to strengthen our on-line brand positioning."

"Our Croatian colleagues have also forged close relationships with their Google counterparts to develop their brand outreach, and it is hoped that this Google initiative will enable us to learn from each other's techniques for creative and pioneering digital marketing campaigns in the future," added Al Shamsi.

VisitAbuDhabi.ae – the emirate's online destination resource – has taken many top honours since re-launching in 2013, and received a major upgrade earlier this year including 'responsive' technology enabling its content to fit all mobile screens regardless of brand, technology or screen size.

The Authority's evolving mobile strategy has recently been extended to include 'native' mobile applications of its destination portal for iPhone, iPad, Android & Windows Phone, and has received over 4.5 million visits and over 100,000 installs of its mobile apps.

Led by Tina Jukic Tomljanovic, CNTB's Marketing Director, the delegation encompassed meetings with TCA Abu Dhabi's brand and digital marketing teams and provided a full overview of CNTB's business priorities, as well as complete insight into their marketing strategies and budgets relevant to the fast changing digital environment.

In return, the efforts, successes, challenges and future plans for expanding TCA Abu Dhabi's digital marketing reach through a range of added-value activities and the role of the internet as a planning resource in partnership with Google were explained.

The ongoing partnership between Google and TCA Abu Dhabi extends beyond the traditional search, display and pay-per-click advertising opportunities. Google platforms are used to deliver online marketing campaigns, and an extended 2015 partnership will include a series of Google accredited training programmes for TCA Abu Dhabi and external stakeholder representatives, and a roll-out of Abu Dhabi's landmark destinations on Google street view.