INTERVIEW Chinese market among top 3 to Yas Island in 2015!

An emerging tourism and entertainment destination located within a 30 minute drive of the UAE capital, Yas Island drew 25 million tourists in 2015 and is highly popular among Chinese tourists. It is home to the state-of-the-art Yas Marina Circuit, the Ferrari World Abu Dhabi, Yas Waterworld boasting some of the world’s most unique attractions and rides and Yas Mall. Aviamost spoke to the CEO of Miral Asset Management Mohammed Abdulla Al Zaabi to know more about its plans for the year

How was your recent roadshow in China?

We found it very interesting. The Chinese market there is a good awareness in the Chinese market and about the theme and the experience and word of mouth is high and people ask about Yas Island and about how to access Yas Island come more frequently. They are looking for full package and we offering them that now.

How is the performance of Yas Island so far?

It’s excellent when you see it now it’s as if a miracle. In 2006 it was empty land now it’s a city, we have signature world class assets and facilities, such as the F 1 circuit, Yas Mall which is the second biggest in the UAE, we have the Ferrari theme park, which is the world’s biggest theme park in the world, we have the waterpark which is the mega waterpark  the biggest one in the region, and it has a Emirati-themed theme park, we have seven hotels in the island and Golf Course which is registered 24^th worldwide outside the US, we are building more communities in the island, and of course Miral is building more theme parks.

Last week we announced Warner Brother World Abu Dhabi which will be an integrated tourism destination, so we will have an indoor theme park, as well as for the first time a hotel with Warner Brother theme. So you might meet Tom & Jerry in the elevator!

I look forward to that! How important is the Russia market? We know there was a bit of slowdown in the market.

For 3 years we saw good increase of traffic from Russia, unfortunately due to currency exchange there was a third of drop. However, Jan to March we saw some improvement but I think it’s a very large market and I think we should have bigger number of people coming from there but it’s a matter of macro economics and its out of our control but I’m sure soon we will have more Russian tourists to see our world class attractions.

What do you find special about Chinese guests?

The Chinese market in general is very important for us so we made sure all our theme parks are Chinese certified we have the Chinese payment system already implemented to accept Chinese credit cards and we have people speaking Mandarin language in the theme park.

So it’s very important what I like about them is they like to come and experience, see the latest products and do shopping. Today Yas Mall is linked to Ferrari World so you can walk in an air-conditioned environment from a signature latest shopping mall and reach the biggest Ferrari themed park. They like cars and they like Ferrari very much and they like to enjoy their time in Yas Waterworld and that makes us very happy.

Therefore we are super excited to improve and add more attractions and rides to Ferrari World.  We added 11 ride attractions. One of them is 3 Aces which has 3 world records and which has the biggest loop in the world. I have experienced myself and it’s very exciting.

I know one lady who did it 15 times in one hour. Non-stop!

And we have also opened one new ride mainly for family and the traffic has been excellent since the day we opened and the feedback is very good. Kids enjoy its more than adults.

We added California Car where you can drive the car and go outside for 30 minutes in the island and come back. We also added Go Karting experience where you can race family and friends inside Ferrari World and Junior Training Camp for physical activities for kids inside the theme park. The objective behind is to have attractions for all segments, so kids under 3 years, under 7 years and kids under 14 years can enjoy their time while their parents and rest of the family can enjoy themselves too.

Can you share some figures in terms of tourist numbers and percentages?

The numbers are very healthy and they have been growing in very healthy trends. In 2015 we welcomed 25 million visitors to the island and the Chinese market was the top three out of that and we are happy with the growth of that trend year on year and with the programme and the number of events and activities and concerts we have we have I’m sure we will have increase this year.

For instance this year for the first time we are sponsoring the Abu Dhabi Summer Season we are the partner there will be 8 events. for 63 days we will have events, concerts and celebrations, day and night in the island and we will also have two, one-month long events one to target adults and one for kids and the idea is to enjoy indoor activities in summer.

And what are your expectations for the rest of the year?

Our aim is to increase visitation by 10%. And the China market is always in our radar. So we are signing more agreements with tour operators and DMC’s to attract more Chinese.

We try to have packages Dubai and Abu Dhabi and we have Viceroy Hotel which they love to come to as they love luxury products. And we also have 3 and 4 star hotels. So we have solutions for all segments in the island.

What challenges do you see?

There are macro-economic challenges of course. So we are trying to add more attractions soon we will announce a number of projects in Yas Island. Our vision is to put Yas Island as an international tourism and entertainment destination worldwide. We have a very ambitious vision and a clear goal for the island and I think we are taking the right steps towards that.

How do you relate Yas Island to this year’s theme of mid-market travel of this year’s ATM?

From day one we put this into our plans, you can’t just target high-end class segment you have to cater to all segments. Out of our 7 hotels, 3 of them are mid market segment. In Yas Waterworld and Ferrari World the prices are affordable and visitors can enjoy it. For groups you get discounts and families get discounts and I don’t think there are issues for mid market tourists to come and enjoy their time and even in Yas Mall there are affordable products.  

Last year there were huge delegations from China. How do you feel about this?

Yes, that means they like the experience we offer here. What we like about Chinese businessmen is that they like to show their appreciation of their employee’s hard work by sending them to the island as a group to enjoy the attractions we offer. This reflects the good culture of China to show appreciation to their employees.