DCT Abu Dhabi's revitalisation strategy leverages cultural experiences to build a distinctive brand with a clear positioning.
DCT Abu Dhabi's revitalisation strategy builds upon the warmth of the Emirati welcome and rich cultural heritage to turn an experience rich destination into a brand with a clear positioning that carves a distinct place in the hearts and minds of local and visitors.
DCT Abu Dhabi's revitalisation strategy builds upon the warmth of the Emirati welcome and rich cultural heritage to turn an experience rich destination into a brand with a clear positioning that carves a distinct place in the hearts and minds of local and visitors.
The best brands in the world own hearts and minds and really carve out a special place. Destination brands are all about owning memories and the stories shared by travellers focused on escaping daily life for personal growth or to connect with loved ones. Emma Campbell, from Abu Dhabi's Department of Culture and Tourism (DCT Abu Dhabi), shared how the Emirate is on a mission to transform itself into a premier global destination.
Abu Dhabi is the largest of the seven Emirates that form the United Arab Emirates (UAE). While the city of Abu Dhabi has captured international attention due to the rapid economic growth of the region, most people don't know about the broader touristic offer in the Emirate:
In 2021, Abu Dhabi was relatively unknown as a travel destination, facing a significant awareness challenge, with only 4% top-of-mind recall compared to Dubai’s 18%. When prompting awareness of the Emirate, consideration remained low, outlining a struggle to convince potential visitors, with many unfamiliar with what Abu Dhabi offered as a destination. This situation is compounded by misconceptions about Abu Dhabi being a luxury destination with restrictive laws and customs.
DCT Abu Dhabi understands it is competing in a crowded market and must work harder to ensure its message is clearly communicated. While Abu Dhabi has strong assets, such as beaches - with Saadiyat Beach crowned as the best beach in the Middle East for 11 consecutive years, nature and adventure, entertainment - with the fastest rollercoaster in the world - and outstanding culture, from the architectural marvels of the Sheikh Zayed Grand Mosque to the Louvre Abu Dhabi, relying on these alone would not be enough to differentiate the destination from competitors. Instead, the Emirate needed to define its unique identity and communicate the feeling it evokes for visitors.
Taking a step back from keeping up with the competition, enabled DCT Abu Dhabi to launch a more strategic approach to destination marketing that focused on the specific challenges they faced. After engaging in extensive consultation and research, DCT Abu Dhabi realised that the Emirate's strength lies not only in its assets, but also how it makes people feel. Abu Dhabi is a liveable and relaxing destination and somewhere that encourages exploration and learning. This makes it an excellent place to visit for curious travellers that want to find undiscovered attractions. Despite being slightly off-the-beaten-track, Abu Dhabi has also been voted the safest city in the world. These elements are the real differentiators and unique selling points that need to be brought to life through all communications and messaging to encourage more people to visit.
DCT Abu Dhabi's revitalisation strategy aimed to turn an experience rich destination into a brand with a clear visitor emotion focused positioning that carved a distinct place in the hearts and minds of local and visitors. The warmth of the Emirati welcome and rich cultural heritage are the enablers to that bring this feeling to life. To put this into perspective, while only 18% of people initially considered Abu Dhabi a cultural destination, 80% reported high satisfaction with the cultural experience after visiting. This insight shows the importance of placing culture at the core of the brand proposition in order to effectively shift perceptions to match the destination offer.
DCT Abu Dhabi are currently engaged in a number of initiatives to reinforce the role of culture across every touchpoint. Firstly, the DMO is actively involved in upskilling the industry through the "Hayyak" welcome programme that trains frontline operators on everything needed to provide a consistent Emirati welcome across the entire tourism ecosystem, including guidance on cultural practices such as pouring Arabic coffee. Engaging local audiences to spark pride is also key to ensuring this welcoming and friendly vibe. On National Day, DCT Abu Dhabi launched the "Our Traditions, Our Roots" cultural heritage campaign to educate the Emirati population and residents about the country’s heritage, something that is particularly important in a country over 200 nationalities living together.
Cultural experience development is being driven by the opening of the Saadiyat Cultural District with more than seven world-class museums within walking distance between each other, making the area a global cultural hub. Building upon the presence of the Louvre Abu Dhabi, which attracts around a million visitors annually, over the next couple of years a number of new museums will be opened, including the Sheikh Zayed National Museum that will share the story around how the UAE was established, TeamLab Phenomena - an immersive art experience, the Natural History Museum and a Guggenheim. These developments are being supported by the upgrading of existing cultural attractions, with the Al Ain Museum, for example, receiving a complete refresh and other grassroots level museums being opened across the entirety of Abu Dhabi.
Abu Dhabi's brand proposition is to offer thoughtful experiences that inspire visitors to discover at their own pace. It's a brand that is welcoming, empowering and bold, but also extremely ambitious. At the same time, it's grounded in reality and remains genuine by considering every marketing opportunity in detail.
The Experience Abu Dhabi brand was launched in 2022 to drive inspiration and aspiration by showcasing the destination's beauty and culture in an innovative way, differing from typical Middle Eastern destination marketing. Through annual campaigns, this brand is designed to present a fresh perspective of Abu Dhabi, highlighting its natural beauty and cultural richness.
In contrast, the Experience Al Ain brand was launched in 2024, with a campaign aimed at domestic audiences to fuel local pride and encourage domestic tourism. This campaign promotes an 'escape' from the busy working culture of the UAE, encouraging weekend travel to experience something meaningful. While there was initially no plan for including a voiceover, snippets of conversations captured by the director from people during filming helped bring the advert to life, adding a very authentic and personal touch to the brand videos.
To combat misconceptions and build trust, Abu Dhabi heavily relies on third-party advocacy, using a “show, don’t tell” approach. Capitalising on key events to produce content is key to the strategic marketing approach. For example, Formula One is particularly attractive for European audiences, with 15% of visitors coming from the UK, Italy and Germany, with thousands of others following the race from home. As such, it is a great opportunity to work with micro and macro influencers, as well as local influencers, to build upon the destination's visibility and amplify messaging that showcases Abu Dhabi's diverse appeal at a time when the country is in the international spotlight. Instead of attracting hundreds of influencers to promote the destination like neighbouring destinations, DCT Abu Dhabi is ensuring consistency across its entire marketing by retaining control of the narrative and helping to build a stronger narrative around the reasons to visit the Emirate.
Alongside this, DCT Abu Dhabi fuels advocacy through the Friends of Abu Dhabi by cultivating relationships with people who have invested in or are passionate about Abu Dhabi. For example, the "Street Bites with Shaq" culinary campaign featuring Shaquille O’Neal explores the hidden gastronomic gems. This campaign led to a top-tier media interview in the US market, with Shaquille sharing his authentic perspectives about why he loves the country.
Working with celebrities as brand ambassadors helps to build trust, amplifies exposure and strengthens Abu Dhabi's international reputation. After visiting Abu Dhabi with his entire family to watch the Formula One, Chris Hemsworth asked how he can work together with DCT Abu Dhabi; something that is seen quite regularly with celebrity visits to the country. As a global ambassador, Hemsworth works with his wife and children on various projects, with their children also featuring in the campaign video. The power of celebrity endorsement is clearly observable from the campaign performance statistics, with 15 million organic views in 24 hours and a PR reach of 3 billion people within two weeks, with people in 60 countries being exposed the campaign.
In the drive to share enriching experiences and the culture of Abu Dhabi with the world, four key objectives have been established by DCT Abu Dhabi to track their progress in building a strong brand:
The success of the brand transformation is measured through various metrics to identify the direct impact of campaigns and the halo effects generated for Abu Dhabi's economy. These include monitoring campaign marketing metrics, brand uplift studies and organic visits to DCT Abu Dhabi's website, along with changing travel searches for Abu Dhabi, using data from key partners such as Google, Skyscanner and TripAdvisor, and the number of guests arriving in the Emirate's hotels, an important metric considering how at peak times the destination has full occupancy and needs to incentivise the accommodation sector to consider long-term growth opportunities. These metrics are all contrasted with historical performance and global benchmarks to get a complete picture of how DCT Abu Dhabi is actively shaping the destination's continued development as an up-and-coming destination.
It will take time time for DCT Abu Dhabi to truly observe the impact of its marketing activities in changing brand perceptions and becoming more competitive. In the meantime, DCT Abu Dhabi has expanded its marketing efforts from 12 to 27 source markets. While awareness and familiarity are up in primary markets, consideration has been impacted by geopolitical situations in the region. Despite this, Abu Dhabi is focusing on showing it is a safe and welcoming destination. In tier two markets, all indicators remain on an upward trajectory, having started from a low base, through the enhanced visibility from launching marketing activities in these new markets.
Sector Marketing Director and Acting Director of Strategic Communications
DCT Abu Dhabi
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