Rotana, recently voted World’s Leading Business Hotel Brand by World Travel Awards, welcomed more than 300,000 guests from the UK last year - making the country its third-biggest source market to the UAE as well as Rotana.

With total traffic from the UK to Rotana accounting for 19% of the business, the company is further strengthening its positioning in the market, with a promotional campaign on the famed black taxis of London. Through this initiative and other marketing campaigns, Rotana aims to increase business from the UK by at least 15% in 2014 versus 2013, thereby giving an added boost to the UAE’s tourism sector.

The year-long campaign launched this month with the city-wide deployment of a fleet of liveried taxis. Fully branded with the Rotana name and logo, the designs aim to draw increasing traffic from the UK to Rotana’s excellent hotels and properties in the UAE.

“Reflecting its strong position as one of the world’s top tourism destinations, the UAE is experiencing a year-on-year increase of 10% in the number of visitors from the UK. The goal of our campaign is to capitalise on this ever-growing interest by investing in one of Rotana’s prime markets. With a growing number of guests from the UK already choosing Rotana for their trips in the Middle East, we believe we are well-positioned to promote UAE’s tourism through this full-fledged marketing campaign. The famed black taxis constitute an integral part of London’s identity and we are proud to grow awareness of our brand through this popular British icon,” said Omer Kaddouri, President & CEO of Rotana.

The campaign leverages the high impact mobile taxi advertising format, which ensures reach to key target audiences throughout London and beyond, from business people to native day-trippers. The livery will be extended to the interior with branding on tip seats and receipt pads for maximum brand exposure.

In November when World Travel Market 2014 (WTM), the leading global event for the travel industry, comes to London’s ExCeL centre, Rotana will reinforce the campaign. Doubling the number of cabs featuring the designs and adding taxi super-side adverts will maximise the opportunity to promote the UAE and Rotana to WTM visitors in the UK capital.