Abu Dhabi's tourism industry heads to Moscow to build on rising Russian hotel guest arrivals

The Leisure Moscow delegation, headed by Abu Dhabi Tourism & Culture Authority (TCA Authority), includes hotels and resorts, Etihad Airways, inbound tour operators and Destination Management Companies.

Together they will mount a co-ordinated promotional push of the destination in an Abu Dhabi pavilion, which will welcome visitors with the chance to have their hands decorated with henna and their photos taken with a falcon or against a selection of backdrops of the emirate.

The move comes as TCA Abu Dhabi figures show a significant rise in the number of Russians staying in the emirate's hotels and resorts. In the first seven months of this year, some 10,061 Russians checked into Abu Dhabi's hotels and resorts - a 38% rise on the same period last year - and together they accounted for some 58,114 guest nights - a rise of 42% over the same comparative period.

"Russia is an increasingly important market for Abu Dhabi with the country now entered our Top 20 ranking of our most productive overseas sources," explained Mubarak Al Nuaimi, International Promotions Manager, TCA Abu Dhabi. "An increasing number of MICE and business travel companies are including more UAE possibilities in their brochures and packages - our aim is to ensure Abu Dhabi features among them.

"Further evidence of Russian interest in Abu Dhabi has come from the relaunch of our visitabudhabi.ae consumer website last June. Since then the site has received double the number of Russian visitors compared to the whole of last year. Site visits from Russia are currently averaging in excess of 12,500 per month, with the majority emanating from Moscow."

Russians' air access to Abu Dhabi has eased during the last seven months with Etihad Airways, the national airline of the UAE flying daily from Moscow and the country's first private carrier, TransAero initiating twice-weekly, non-stop flights for tour operator bookings to Abu Dhabi.

The visit is among a number of initiatives TCA Abu Dhabi is undertaking this month to stimulate increased response from the Russian and CIS markets. Others include road shows taking in Kiev in the Ukraine and Almaty, Kazakhstan.