São Paulo – Representatives from the tourism sector of Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates, will attend the World Travel Market Latin Americam, in the city of São Paulo, with the intention to elevate the number of South American tourists that visit the Emirate. The fair will be held from April 22th to 24th and the Arab group will be present at a joint stand, headed by Abu Dhabi Tourism & Culture Authority (TCA Abu Dhabi), the tourism agency of the Emirate.
Data from the TCA Abu Dhabi indicates that 10,000 Brazilians visited the Emirate last year, an increase of 85% over 2013. According to TCA Abu Dhabi’s director of Promotion and Overseas Offices, Mubarak Al Nuaimi, there was a “very impressive” increase in the number of Brazilian tourists after Etihad Airways started its daily non-stop flights between the Emirate and São Paulo, according to a statement from TCA Abu Dhabi.
The airline is flying to Brazil since June 2013 and the daily route started in August. The Brazilians that travelled to the Emirate in 2014 spent, on average, 3.36 nights in 160 hotels and apartments in the region. That amounted to a total of 36,401 nights, an expansion of 70% over the twelve previous months. “Brazil and its neighbors have a huge growth potential to us”, said Nuaimi, reminding that the local is a point of flight connection to Asia and Australia.
The group that will attend WTM Latin America will be composed by representatives of hotel, destination management companies and tour operators, such as Hilton Worldwide, Jumeirah at Etihad Towers, Hala Abu Dhabi, the Etihad Airways division of destination management, plus Destinations of the World JLT, SNTTA Emir Tours & Travel LLC, The Vision Destination Management, Yas Viceroy Abu Dhabi, Arabian Adventures and Etihad Airways.
The hotel Jumeirah at Etihad Towers is attending the fair to be more involved with its already established partners and increase business, besides creating new relationship networks. “We had a very positive feedback from our Latin American clients and, considering our partnership with Etihad Airways, the hotel is a reference point for a lot of clients that come to the region”, said Stefan Fuchs, general-director of the company, in a statement released by TCA Abu Dhabi.
*Translated by Sérgio Kakitani
