A delegation of Abu Dhabi travel industry players is going to Seoul this week, in a bid to target the South Korean outbound industry.

Seven of the emirate’s leading travel industry stakeholders are making their exhibition debut at KOTFA - South Korea’s main tourism exhibition which runs from June 2 to 5 - in a pavilion and mission led by Abu Dhabi Tourism Authority (ADTA).

“Our move to target the South Korean market follows the opening of the Incheon-Abu Dhabi International route by Etihad Airways which now operates the service daily,” said Mubarak Al Nuaimi, international promotions manager, ADTA.

“We have an expanded product portfolio to promote and a growing hotel guest base from South Korea on which to build.”

“We now have the product to attract them with our golf courses, November’s Grand Prix, Ferrari World Abu Dhabi, the Sir Bani Yas island resort and Qasr Al Sarab desert resort. The time is right to source new partners in Korea for MICE, leisure and corporate travel to Abu Dhabi.”

The delegation includes Etihad, tour operators, accommodation providers and destination management companies.

ADTA’s latest hotel guest performance statistics point to rising demand for the destination from South Korea. In the first four months of this year some 2,839 South Koreans stayed in the emirate’s hotels and hotel apartments – a 118 per cent increase on the same period last year.

Abu Dhabi believes its enhanced golf offering will resonate particularly well with the golf-mad Korean segment.

“Our golf offering now includes three championship-ready courses within a 25 kilometre radius; a floodlit, down-town facility, another 18-hole, all-grass course in our heritage city of Al Ain and an intriguing sand course close to the international airport – it is a highly distinctive and diverse offering which should set us apart,” added Al Nuaimi.

ADTA plans to soon have a Korean version of its consumer website – visitabudhabi.ae – and has produced destination collateral in Korean.-TradeArabia News Service