The UAE capital Abu Dhabi has won the ‘Destination of the Year’ award for the city category in UK’s Travel Agents Choice Awards, a travel award entirely nominated and voted for by travel retailers in the UK.

The awards are based on the votes by readers of one of the country’s top trade magazine, Selling Travel and Travel Uni, a leading online travel training provider.

“This accolade comes as Abu Dhabi recorded, in the first nine months of this year, a 25 per cent increase in hotel guests from the UK, compared to the same period last year. The UK is currently our second largest overseas producer of hotel guests and we envisage building on this further in June next year when Etihad Airways, the national carrier of the UAE, begins daily services from Edinburgh to Abu Dhabi International,” said Nabeel Zarouni, country manager UK, Abu Dhabi Tourism & Culture Authority (TCA Abu Dhabi).                                                                             

Designed to acknowledge travel industry star performers, the awards cover a broad span of trade categories. Sally Parker, Selling Travel publisher, said: “Many congratulations to the Abu Dhabi Tourism & Culture Authority which has been successful in these awards. Ours is an extremely competitive industry and to be acknowledged as a star performer by the retail trade is a great accolade.” – TradeArabia News Service