Abu Dhabi has decreased tourism fees to perk up the hospitality industry and lure more visitors as the oil-rich emirate is now interested to expand its economy.
The Department of Culture & Tourism (DCT) explained on Tuesday that it has lessened tourism fees from 6 to 3.5 percent, municipal fees from 4 to 2 percent and municipality hotel room fees per night from 15 dirhams ($4) to 10 dirhams respectively.
The capital city is investing billions of dollars behind industry, infrastructure and tourism to spread out its economy away from oil.
Abu Dhabi is world renowned for the Formula One Etihad Airways Abu Dhabi Grand Prix, the Louvre Abu Dhabi, the Warner Bros. world-themed indoor park and other attractions.
Two additional museums, the Guggenheim and the Zayed National Museum, are being in the process of construction.
In 2018, Dubai welcomed a record of 15.9 million tourists in comparison to Abu Dhabi’s 10 million hotel guests in 2018.
This initiation to reduce the fees came on the back of a study on Abu Dhabi’s hotels conducted by the DCT.
“The tourism sector is a key alternative to oil,” said Saif Saeed Ghobash, under-secretary of DCT. “It is necessary to support this sector as it experiences difficulties to allow it to contribute to the achievement of future goals.”
The financial impact of fees reduction would be 1 billion dirhams over the next three years, he said.
Also, DCT is all set to spend 500 million dirhams in the next three years towards marketing the emirate and draw tourists, as part of the Abu Dhabi government’s accelerators programme called Ghadan 21.
