Rasha Tubeileh (Abu Dhabi)
The Abu Dhabi tourism sector is attracting more tourists and visitors from all over the world, as evidenced by the 18 million individuals the emirate welcomed last year, up 13% from 2021. Last summer also saw new tourism activities, organised by various institutions in the sector.
Content on Abu Dhabi’s official social media social platforms receives billions of views in addition to global media coverage in short timeframes.
In its annual report for the 2022, the Abu Dhabi Department of Culture and Tourism confirmed the success of its promotional campaigns which include the “Experience Abu Dhabi” initiative in addition to several summer and winter tourism campaigns.
Last year, hotel occupation rates exceeded 70%, higher than the Middle East average of 67%. This year, the emirate hopes to welcome 24 million visitors, according to the report.
Experience Abu Dhabi furthered the department’s progress towards its tourism targets by providing exceptional experiences to visitors and promoting over 30 Abu Dhabi landmarks.
In total, the content produced under the campaign received 3.6 billion views, and videos produced for the campaign received 467 million views. The campaign’s official website witnessed 85.2 million visits. Experience Abu Dhabi plans to reach 40 destinations around the world this year through 22 creative promotional campaigns.
The initiative also launched a number of campaigns tailored to specific markets this year, including a promotional video dedicated to the Gulf Cooperation Council featuring campaign ambassadors Ahmed Helmy and artist Mona Zaki.
The campaign signed a two-year brand ambassador agreement with Bollywood star Ranveer Singh, ensuring resonance among an Indian audience.
Last year’s winter campaign was covered by 94 global media institutions in five languages, receiving 705 million impressions, 22 million clicks on X (formerly Twitter), and visits from 461 influencers.
The first Ramadan campaign launched after Covid-19 was also a great success, registering 229 million impressions and 141 instances of international and local coverage.
The summer campaign likewise witnessed exceptional engagement, registering 2 billion media impressions, 1,300 instances of local, regional, and international coverage, 44 participating influencers, and 58 million views on YouTube.
The department participated in international exhibitions and forums, including the Arabian Travel Market, where it won an award for best pavilion design, and received 35.6 million media impressions.
The exhibition achieved 1.5 billion views and 3.9 million views of its video content, and formed 36 high-level partnerships.
With a focus on attracting celebrities and influencers, the department adopted the international basketball player Shaquille O’Neal, as the official global face of its digital campaign. The department announced the launch of the winter season campaign before O’Neal’s visit to the emirate, where he attended the NBA matches hosted in Abu Dhabi in 2022.
During this campaign, more than 100 events were been announced throughout a 180-day period, receiving 241 million impressions regarding the 2022 Abu Dhabi schedule of events.
Inspired by the popular song “Praise be to Allah that we have seen you” by Kuwaiti band Miami, Abu Dhabi’s Yas Island attracted a notable quantity of visitors during the summer campaign. The song achieved more than 75 million views and thousands of shares and comments across social media.
Yas Island has also appointed the famous American actor Jason Momoa, as the island’s ambassador. In the very first flight to Abu Dhabi’s new international airport, the city welcomed American actor Tom Cruise to celebrate the premiere of his movie Mission Impossible – Dead Reckoning Part One, parts which were shot in Abu Dhabi.
The promotional poster of the film was also printed on an Etihad Airways Boeing 747 Dreamliner. As the official airline partner of the film, Etihad Airways will promote the film on its flights.