Acting as the backdrop for ‘Fast & Furious 7’ is paying off for Abu Dhabi tourism, as visitor numbers spike during the first four months of the year.
New figures released by Abu Dhabi Tourism & Culture Authority (TCA Abu Dhabi) show guest arrivals between January and April increased by 20 percent compared to the previous year.
Around 1.37 million people stayed in the emirate’s 161 hotels and hotel apartment, delivering 3.89 million guest nights – an increase of 11 percent on the same period 2014.
Domestic tourism from within the UAE remained the primary source of hotel guests and guest nights, accounting for a 44 percent share of all arrivals. This saw 441,154 guest arrivals generating 1,004,525 guest nights – a rise of 20 percent on 2014.
Guest arrivals from China increased 75 percent during the period to 79,713 Chinese guest arrivals into Abu Dhabi.
Visitors from India recorded a 16 percent growth to achieve 79,793 guests for the same period.
Major market strides were also made with arrivals from Saudi Arabia, which grew 46 percent, making it the sixth largest international market behind the UK, India, China, Germany and the United States.
Abu Dhabi is expecting more visitors from the US after the city featured in ‘Fast & Furious’.
The UK remained the leading European market with arrivals jumping 17 percent to 80,673 delivering 328,410 guest nights.
The US recorded an increase of 34 percent in guest arrivals to 55,570, who stayed 237,530 guest nights.
Further growth is expected throughout 2015 from the United States due to increasing airline capacity, pre-entry customs clearance and an anticipated boost in destination awareness on the back of the Furious 7 and latest Star Wars movies.
