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Abu Dhabi emerges as popular tourist destination in wake of Etihad’s direct flight service to Seoul |
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Tourist traffic to Abu Dhabi has started picking up steam nicely following the recent inauguration of Etihad Airways’ direct flight on Seoul-Abu Dhabi route. "Judging from our initial business performance so far, we are quite confident that Abu Dhabi would emerge as a new popular tourist destination in the Middle East sooner or later," Kwak Ho-cheol, general manager of Etihad Airways Korea Office told the Korea Travel Times, the largest circulated travel journal in Korea. Kwak, however, said that the mainstay of tourist traffic on the route would be business travelers for the time being in view of the ever growing bilateral economic relations between Korea and Abu Dhabi. At present, 36 plus Korean business interests namely Samsung, Hyundai and Korea Electric Power Corporation (KEPCO) are engaged in various projects including construction of multibillion dollar nuclear power plants in Abu Dhabi. He noted that the ratio of Abu Dhabi-destined Korean passengers averaged 42 percent during the first two months of Etihad’s operations on the route, far higher than earlier projected 30 %, which he said a harbinger for Abu Dhabi to become a popular destination for outbound Korean leisure tourists which total more than 10 million a year. "I am also 100 percent sure that we will quickly establish our foothold here by offering both Korean business and leisure travelers onward connections via Abu Dhabi to a number of key destinations across the airline’s global network, including the Gulf, Istanbul, Athens, London, Paris and South Africa," he said. Thanks to the recent series of media coverage of tourist attractions in Abu Dhabi under Etihad’s rebranding efforts in Korea, Ferrari World Abu Dhabi in Yas Island, especially the museum coasts, which includes the Sheikh Zayed National Museum, the Louvre and the Guggenheim" have almost become household words for many Korean travel manias. He then introduced Sheikh Zayed Grand Mosque in Abu Dhabi which is rated as the largest mosque in the United Arab Emirates and the eighth largest mosque in the world, as a must for Korean tourists to visit while in Abu Dhabi. "Tourism is roaring ahead across the UAE with Abu Dhabi clocking up an impressive surge in visitor arrivals,"Kwak explained. ’The impact of the Grand Prix, the recently opened Ferrari World Abu Dhabi and the Yas Island Show Weekends, mean it is now certain that we are optimistic on future course of leisure tourist traffic to Abu Dhabi and beyond in the months to come," he added. He them proudly said of Etihad Airways which recently won six titles at the annual World Travel Awards ceremony for the Middle East, held at The Address Dubai Marina, including the coveted title as the region’s Leading Airline. Votes for the World Travel Awards were cast by 180,000 travel industry professionals from more than 175 countries. This latest success follows Etihad’s triumph in November 2009 when the airline won the global title of the World’s Leading Airline. Kwak quoted James Hogan, Etihad Airways’ Chief Executive Officer as saying "It is a tremendous achievement to win six titles at the World Travel Awards for the Middle East region, which is voted for by members of the travel industry across the world. We have invested significantly in our cabin product and service and these awards illustrate that the airline industry and our passengers like what we have delivered."
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