Abu Dhabi has outlined plans to capitalise on the growing numbers of Indian visitors taking a break in the emirate.

Visitors from the sub-continent have become increasingly important to the Abu Dhabi Tourism Authority (ADTA) in recent months, with the body preparing a three-city road show in India.

Starting next week, the event which will see the destination and 12 of its key stakeholders take their expanding tourism proposition to trade and media in Mumbai, New Delhi and Chennai.

ADTA’s first road show in India follows on from a highly-successful, seven city European road show in July and begins in Mumbai on September 12th, heads to New Delhi two days later and ends in Chennai on the 16th.

The move comes as India rose, in the first seven months of this year, to become Abu Dhabi’s second largest international source market for hotel guests after the UK, accounting for some 58,724 guests - a 25 per cent rise on the same period in 2010.

In terms of guest nights in the first seven months, India was the third largest international source market after the UK and USA accounting for 235,695 - a 52 per cent rise on the same period last year.

“There are strong air links between India and Abu Dhabi with routes between the two currently being served by Air India, Jet Airways and our own national airline, Etihad Airways, which operates a total of 52 flights a week covering eight Indian cities,” said Dayne Lim, product development Director, ADTA.

“The excellent air access, allied with market proximity and close business and social ties between Abu Dhabi and India, provides us with a strong competitive advantage to capitalise on the undoubted growth potential of India’s outbound tourism market.

“This point has increasingly been recognised by our tourism stakeholders who are also stepping up their own in-market activations.

“Our aim for this inaugural road show in India is three-fold; to showcase Abu Dhabi’s expanding range of hospitality, events and attractions products, strengthen the distribution and packaging channels of these products, as well as deepen our market insights for valuable input to our future product development,” Lim added.

City.Mobi

Also in the United Arab Emirates today, City.Mobi is celebrating the success of its new guide to Abu Dhabi.

City.Mobi offers the most comprehensive mobile travel guides available, with over 800 cities in 200 countries listed. Each is developed by the City.Mobi team to combine into a single global travel directory.

However, each city retains its own mobile identity via a dedicated domain. Already on offer are Brussels.Mobi, Paris.Mobi, Sanfrancisco.Mobi and Sydney.Mobi.

AbuDhabi.Mobi is the latest in this illustrious line up, offering click to call functionality – which means no scribbling down telephone numbers.

Most entries are also linked to websites where users can quickly access more detailed information if needed.

Other key features include information on accommodation, restaurants, attractions, entertainment, nightlife, shopping, and transport.

City.Mobi guides include user reviews and traveller utilities such as a translation guide, currency converter, news and local weather guide.