UAE's Abu Dhabi sees sharp rise in Chinese tourists

[Photo/CGTN]

In the first two months of 2018, about 86,400 Chinese visited Abu Dhabi, capital of the United Arab Emirates (UAE), up by 40.9 percent from 2017, the city said Sunday.

February alone accounted for an impressive increase of 83.6 percent over last year, due to the traditional Chinese new year holiday of Spring Festival, the Department of Culture and Tourism – Abu Dhabi (DCT Abu Dhabi) said in a statement.

Popular tourist spots like Ferrari World leisure theme park and Yas Marina Mall held special events to celebrate the festival in order to attract more Chinese tourists.

DCT Abu Dhabi said the emirate aims to attract 600,000 Chinese hotel guests a year by 2021.

In a recent marketing tour to China, the leading source of tourists for Abu Dhabi, a DCT Abu Dhabi delegation visited three major Chinese cities in March to introduce the emirate as a travel destination.