More than 20 sharing partners at Abu Dhabi’s pavilion at ITB Berlin, the ongoing leading travel trade show, are drawing a stream of trade enquiries from German speaking markets.

ITB Berlin opened yesterday (March 9) and will conclude on March 13.

“I have received two enquiries from major German corporates who are looking to stage incentive tournaments at the Abu Dhabi Golf Club staying at the new Westin next year,” said Klaus Niefer, general manager, The Westin Hotel & Spa Abu Dhabi which will open next to Abu Dhabi Golf Club later this year.

Niefer gave the UAE Ambassador to Germany Mohammed Al Mahmoud a briefing on the new property which is being developed by Tourism Development & Investment Company (TDIC).

ADTA is reporting an upturn in awareness of the destination following the success last year of Sebastian Vettel in winning the Formula 1 Etihad Airways Abu Dhabi Grand Prix and January´s success of Martin Kaymer in lifting the Abu Dhabi HSBC Golf Champion title for the third time.

“Abu Dhabi was hardly out of the press when these two Germans won these titles and awareness really took off,” said ADTA´s Frank Mullauer. “This combined with a major expansion in the product line-up is really capturing industry attention.”

ADTA figures show a six per cent increase in the number of tour operators throughout Germany, Switzerland and Austria now featuring Abu Dhabi in their offerings.

The number of catalogue pages in the German speaking markets devoted to Abu Dhabi has risen 22 per cent to 427. The number of Abu Dhabi hotels being featured by German speaking tour operators has gone up 28 per cent to 579 in print and 38 per cent online to 1,365 sites, a statement said.

In January this year, the number of German guests staying in Abu Dhabi´s hotels rose 26 per cent on January 2010, accounting for 5,596 guests, according to ADTA figures. – TradeArabia News Service