The United Arab Emirates (UAE) has announced that the emirate of Abu Dhabi is introducing a national tourism body to promote travel to all emirates within the destination. The new body was established by President Shaikh Khalifa bin Zayed Al Nahyan and will be operated by the UAE Ministry of Culture.
“A federal decree has been issued,” said Bilal Bodour, undersecretary at the Ministry of Culture. "Our next step is to chalk out the details of how this department would work. Since this is going to be a national tourism authority, we will probably have representatives from each of the seven emirates’ tourism entities working with us.”
The Abu Dhabi Tourism Authority alone has plans to attract 2.7 million visitors in the emirate by the end of 2012, with an emphasis on business, luxurious, cultural and eco tourism.