UAE Vice President and Prime Minister Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum launched the second season of the World’s Coolest Winter campaign.
The campaign is carried out by the UAE Government Media Office, in collaboration with the Ministry of Economy and relevant tourism and culture entities.
An official statement said it is the largest campaign of its kind and will highlight the diversity of the UAE’s tourism and recreational attractions.
The campaign will run from 15 December 2021 until the end of January 2022 to familiarise residents and international tourists with the activities that the UAE winter offers.
This year’s edition will expand on last year’s campaign and will cover both domestic and foreign tourism.
Al Maktoum tweeted: “The primary target audience of the campaign is domestic and family-oriented, with the aim of gathering our families in our beautiful nation. We want families from Dubai and Abu Dhabi to enjoy Ras Al Khaimah and Fujairah, and families from other emirates to experience Abu Dhabi and Dubai. Everyone should enjoy the Emirates.”
He said that UAE’s winter “is pure as the soul of the nation’s people and the world’s coolest winter is in the world’s most beautiful country among the world’s most pleasant people”.
Al Maktoum said UAE’s tourism recovered the quickest globally, while the seven emirates have a rich history, geography, nature, urban architecture, and community.
“The UAE’s archaeological sites, culture centers, historical landmarks, and nature reserves, offer visitors a holistic experience,” he said.
The official statement said the campaign opens the door for influencers and celebrities from the country, the Arab region and the world to introduce the most prominent tourist attractions to their millions of followers.
The statement said the UAE achieved tourist occupancy rates in hotel and tourism establishments of 64 percent between January and October of 2021.
The UAE outperformed the top 10 tourist destinations in the world such as the United States, which achieved an average of 58 percent, China (54 percent), Britain (50 percent), Turkey (49 percent), France (44 percent), Mexico (43 percent), Spain (40 percent), Italy (37 percent), Germany (33 percent), and Thailand (21 percent).
In the first half of 2021, hotel and tourist establishments attracted about 8.3 million guests, a growth of 15 percent compared to the first half of last year.
During the same comparison period, the number of hotel nights spent by guests amounted to around 35 million nights, a growth of 30 percent, and the average guest stay increased to 4.1 nights, with a growth of 12.5 percent.
This was accompanied by a 31 percent growth in hotel establishment revenues, to reach AED11.3 billion. The share of domestic tourism reached more than 30 percent of the total guests of hotel establishments.
The global data website Statista expects the UAE to attract more than 31 million tourists annually by 2025, and the travel and tourism sector to contribute AED280.6 billion to the UAE’s GDP by 2028.