UAE rides crest of Chinese tourism boom

China’s fast-emerging middle class is providing a lifeline to the UAE’s tourism ambitions, as the Gulf country fights to meet its goal of attracting 15 million tourists by 2020. The UAE is spending billions of dollars on visitor attractions and luxury hotels in a bid to diversity its petrodollar-driven economy, a blend that has proved appealing to China’s increasingly wealthy citizens. “We take the Chinese market extremely seriously,” a spokesperson for the Abu Dhabi Tourism Authority said. The UAE capital hosted 1,256 Chinese travellers in August, a rise of 14 percent on the year-earlier period, the ADTA said. In neighbouring Dubai, the trickle of Chinese visitors is rapidly becoming a flood, with more than 150,000 visiting the emirate in 2010. The figures showed a 41 percent rise on the previous year’s figures, the city’s Department of Tourism and Commerce Marketing said. “The Chinese market poses a new untapped opportunity for the UAE tourism sector,” said Basel Abu Alrub, managing director of UAE-based travel agency Utravel. “The UAE attracts the Chinese by offering a metropolitan that has something to offer for all kinds of travellers. It also acts as a hub connecting China to Western Europe.” Among the main attractions for Chinese tourists are tax-free luxury goods, branded hotels and the wide array of traditional Chinese cuisine, he said. A large share of China's tourist spending is already flowing beyond its borders, with many luxury retailers counting Chinese among their biggest spenders. By 2015, China expects 100 million people to venture abroad, making the Asian country the world's biggest outbound tourism market. This influx of budget and luxury Chinese travellers means a mix of tour operators, iconic hotel chains, airlines and retailers are all in a position to profit, Alrub said. UAE brands have not been slow to capitalise on the China boom. Abu Dhabi flag carrier Etihad said in December it would bolster its existing flights from Beijing with four, non-stop services a week from Chengdu, China’s south-west economic hub. In July, the state-backed airline said it would operate daily returns between the UAE capital and Shanghai from March 2012. In Dubai Duty Free, the world’s largest airport retailer, Chinese travellers rank among those from Russia and Europe as the company’s biggest spenders. Chinese cigarette brands represent 14 percent of DDF’s entire tobacco sales, with top-selling label Chungwa alone accounting for one tenth.