ETIHAD Airways has dubbed 2011 ‘the year of Abu Dhabi’ with the launch of its ‘Essential Abu Dhabi’ destination marketing campaign.
Designed to enhance Abu Dhabi’s place as a top tourist and Mice destination, the campaign will see Etihad unveil a number of exciting promotional activities across the globe.
For the first time, all the major tourism operators in the emirate of Abu Dhabi have come together under one showcase umbrella to promote the very best Abu Dhabi has to offer.
Hotels, tour operators, dining outlets, shops, adventure parks, cultural attractions and sports facilities are providing a range of offers to entice tourists and business travellers alike to spend time in Abu Dhabi with a wide range of fantastic discount offers and deals.
All are accessible with the Etihad Airways boarding pass, using the tagline ‘the pass to the magic’. Visitors flying into Abu Dhabi on Etihad will simply need to present their Etihad boarding card at participating outlets to redeem the offers within seven days of arriving in the emirate.
Peter Baumgartner, Etihad Airways’ chief commercial officer, said: “Etihad plays a hugely important role in bringing visitors to Abu Dhabi and Essential Abu Dhabi will give extra momentum to our efforts to promote the capital as one of the world’s best destinations.
“We will be promoting Essential Abu Dhabi in all of our overseas destinations, as well as online and in-flight and refreshing the programne’s special offers regularly so that frequent visitors will always have something new to look forward to.”
A dedicated website (essentialabudahbi.com) will act as a one-stop-shop, backed with brochures on board all Etihad aircraft featuring the exclusive offers.
The programme will be also supported with an international marketing campaign co-funded by all the partners as well as being promoted through all partner outlets and sales channels.
In addition, a new Etihad Airbus A330 aircraft will be painted in a striking Visit Abu Dhabi in 2011 livery, which will carry the message to many international destinations around the world.
As well as appealing to visitors planning a trip to the UAE, the programme is also targeting the millions of passengers transiting through the Abu Dhabi hub, to entice them to stop over in the city for a few nights. Free stop over room nights will be made available to such passengers in the near future.
Offers will be updated every two to three months and the number of participating outlets is expected to grow from the initial 36 to more than 100 by the end of the year. Anyone considering visiting the UAE will want to make essentialabudhabi.com an essential read before they travel.