DRAbu Dhabi: The 12th TAFI Convention was held at at Emirates Palace Hotel in September. Since May 2018, Indian travellers have constituted the largest number of international visitors who checked into Abu Dhabi. From January to August 2018, the Emirate recorded 2,65,600 Indian hotel guests, registering an YoY increase of 18.4 per cent. In 2017, the number of Indian hotel guests in UAE stood at 3,60,364, an increase of 11.4 per cent than the previous year. China continues to be the top source market for inbound tourism for the Emirate with 2,74,200 visitors till August 2018.
By hosting the annual convention of Travel Agents Federation of India (TAFI) in late September, the Department of Culture and Tourism – Abu Dhabi (DCT Abu Dhabi) has further bolstered ties with India, one of the Emirate’s major outbound traveller source markets.
“We are expecting a consistent 10 to 15 per cent growth from India in tourist arrivals,” said Sultan Al Mutawa Al Dhaheri, Executive Director, DCT Abu Dhabi, while interacting with media persons on the sidelines of the convention. “Towards achieving this goal, DCT Abu Dhabi will continue to invest in the Indian market. We are also educating the local stakeholders so that they can be better equipped to offer customised services to suit the requirements of Indian travellers. Meanwhile, the Government is making all efforts to create infrastructure to ensure the destination is more accessible to travellers.”
Of late, the Emirate has identified tourism as a key growth driver of the economy. “In 2006, we only had 7000 hotel rooms and around 1 million international hotel guests. Today, the inventory has touched 32,000 across 162 properties. We expect an increase of 10,000 hotel rooms over the next three years,” Dhaheri said.
In 2017, cruise ship calls to Abu Dhabi recorded a remarkable growth. During the 2015-16 season, 2,31,660 tourists took part in 113 cruise ship calls to Abu Dhabi. Those numbers jumped by 50 per cent during the 2016-17 season, with 3,45,664 tourists taking part in 161 ship calls. Port Zayed accounted for the bulk of visitors (2,91,363 visitors across 134 ship calls), while Sir Bani Yas Island attracted 54,301 visitors across 27 ship calls.
Dhaheri informed that the VAT refund for tourists to Abu Dhabi will be operational from 2019. He also said that DCT is now encouraging local DMCs to design short duration packages for transit passengers to avail of the recently introduced transit visa facility.
TAFI CONVENTION 2018
Themed ‘Innovate, Transform, Disrupt: Redefining the Offline Travel World’, TAFI’s 12th Annual Convention proved to be a roaring success in terms of active participation from the members, power-packed sessions, well-planned and executed FAM trips, and the extra ordinary arrangements done by the host, DCT Abu Dhabi.
Saif Saeed Ghobash, Under Secretary, DCT; Sultan Al Mutawa Al Dhaheri and Navdeep Singh Suri, Ambassador of India to the UAE lit the traditional lamp marking the official inauguration of the event on September 25. “Hosting an event of this calibre is testament to Abu Dhabi’s growing reputation as a world-class destination for high-profile conventions and meetings,” Ghobash said. “As the UAE continues to further boost its knowledge-based economy, tourism is singled out as one of the leading sectors that guide our vision and strategy for the future. Against this backdrop, we recognise India as one of Abu Dhabi’s top overseas source markets for guests, as it has recorded a remarkable upward trend over the last few years. As such, we are proud to host this prestigious event,” he added.
The decision to host TAFI in Abu Dhabi was taken when members of the TAFI managing committee met Sultan Al Dhaheri at Arabian Travel Market (ATM) in Dubai earlier this year. “TAFI will strive to make sure that Abu Dhabi becomes the second gateway for the India tourist traffic in the Middle East,” said Praveen Chugh, President, TAFI.
Speaking to Destination Reporter, Bejan Dinshaw, Country Manager – India, DCT Abu Dhabi said, “We are expecting a phenomenal growth after the TAFI convention. As a family destination, Abu Dhabi has always been the choicest destination of Indian travellers. We have something to offer to every member of the family. Till 2020, we are confident that it is going to be a steady double digit growth.”
For most travellers from India, Dubai has been a destination and people used to come to Abu Dhabi only for Sheikh Zayed Grand Mosque and Ferrari World. Now with the opening of Louvre Abu Dhabi, Warner Bros. World, the entertainment facilities at Yas Island and the like, tourists cannot enjoy all those products in a day. “Our aim is to promote Abu Dhabi as a standalone destination and increase the average room nights spend by Indian tourists to three nights. There are a vast majority of Indian tourists who include Abu Dhabi as a day visit destination in their itinerary. We would like to convert those into overnight stays at Abu Dhabi. We will encourage our members to chalk out itineraries wherein tourists can spend at least two to three nights in Abu Dhabi amidst their vacation in the Middle East,” said Chugh, who heads Business Travels, New Delhi.
Echoing the view, Bharat Shah, Chairman TAFI Convention Committee said TAFI had the glorious history of positively impacting the host destinations referring to recent TAFI editions in Isreal and Turkey. “The facts speak for themselves. The number of Indian tourist arrvials to both countries has shown remarkable increase following TAFI holding its conventions. Earlier, there used to be one flight, El Al, Israel’s flagship carrier, to Tel Aviv from India, four days a week. Then in March, Air India started flying to Tel Aviv from New Delhi thrice a week. That shows the growth in passenger traffic. Agents started promoting Israel after they got a first-hand experience of the destination and realised how safe the place is. I must say that the Government of Israel is extremely happy with TAFI. Similarly, after the political turmoil in Turkey, Indian tourists hardly considered visiting Turkey. When we announced the Convention, even members criticised us for taking people on a suicide mission. But, we proved it otherwise that Turkey is really safe. Suddenly, the destination has come up and so many weddings are happening now in Turkey.”
Adding further, Chugh expressed hope that the flight connectivity between India and Abu Dhabi would improve sufficiently to achieve the tourist arrival targets. “Amidst this Convention, three managing committee members including me got an opportunity to visit Qasr Al Sarab Anantara. And, we have already given three wedding bookings for that particular property. The first wedding is happening in the month of March and 205 rooms have been booked. That’s the kind of impact we are talking about,” Chugh said.
Two years ago, Abu Dhabi also hosted the annual convention of Travel Agents Association of India (TAAI). By hosting the two largest travel and tour bodies in India, Abu Dhabi has literally reached out to almost all travel agents across the country. “India’s outbound travel market is booming. More and more countries are vying to grab a pie of this. Also, India is a market for every one – be it luxury clientele, mid-segment or family travel. In 2016 we had over 21 million people travelling out of the country. The way we are growing I think India outbound travel will cross 35 million by 2025. I think the target should be to look at 50 million outbound travellers by 2035-40,” said Rajeev Nangia, CEO, TRAC Representations (India).
The event witnessed a heated discussion on the newly launched New Generation of IATA Settlement Systems (NewGen ISS) in India. Moderating the session, Michel de Blust, Secretary General, European Travel Agents’ and Tour Operators’ Associations (ECTAA) said the number of accredited agents has come down in Europe as IATA is making the relationship complex for them. “Now, the number of IATA-accredited agents in Europe will come around 18,000. A few years ago, it was over 25,000,” he said.
Senior leaders of travel industry criticised that the new Billing Settlement System (BSP) is adversely affecting the businesses. Datuk Hamzah Rahmat, Executive Director, Federation of ASEAN Travel Associations (FATA) alleged IATA of following a ‘divide and rule’ policy in the region. “When an agent joins IATA, he/she becomes a partner. Sadly, IATA does not treat partners as equal. It is high time agents think if they want to retain IATA membership or not,” he said.
However Rodney D’Cruz, Assistant Director, Passenger & Cargo Services – India, Nepal and Bhutan, IATA, begged to differ. “Businesses will not be affected as the agencies won’t be blocked even if their financial security has to be downgraded following accumulated irregularities,” he said.
The conference was followed by sightseeing tours around Abu Dhabi, Al Ain and Al Dhafra regions where the 480 delegates had a chance to experience Abu Dhabi’s tourism offerings. The tour covered iconic landmarks such as Louvre Abu Dhabi, Sheikh Zayed Palace Museum, Warner Bros. World Abu Dhabi and Sheikh Zayed Grand Mosque amongst many others.
There were motivational sessions by Dr. Pawan Agrawal (Mumbai Dabbawala), Founder & President of Kamalabai Educational and Charitable Trust; Dr. Vivek Bindra, Founder and CEO, Global ACT and Nithya Shanti, Spiritual Teacher.
Destination Reporter was one of the hosted media partners for the event.
