INTERVIEW Ajman launches key projects at ATM 2016

One of the UAE’s seven emirates, Ajman’s culture is steeped in exceptional hospitality. There have been a lot of exciting events since the launch of Ajman’s Tourism Development Department’s new destination brand.  It has been busy promoting the emirate in terms of touristic and sporting activities.

On the first day of ATM 2016 it unveiled a major milestone in its history marking the Emirates as a tourism, leisure and business destination. Aviamost spoke to General Manager of Ajman Tourism Faisal Al Nuaimi to discover what exciting plans it had for tourists

As a fast developing tourist destination, what are your new projects?

This is the fifth year we are participating in the ATM. We attracted 200,000 tourists in 2012 and last year we attracted 31 million tourists. We have so many plans implemented in the last 5 years and the most recent is 36 hotels which will meet all the needs of all the nationalities who visit Ajman. For instance end of this year, the high-end Oberoi will be opening which will boost the Indian market segment.

Ajman as a city has a unique and beautiful combination of mountains, desert and the city. And here in Ajman in any hotel or F & B outlet a tourist goes to they will offer service with a unique Emirati touch. What is more attractive is that Ajman is in the centre of the UAE so you can move from Ajman to Dubai in a maximum of 20 minutes, in 1 hour to Abu Dhabi, 10 minutes to Sharjah and in 40 minutes to Ras Al Khaimah.   

Now people have started to recognize that Ajman is a place where you can stay overnight, eat, play and get back. Ajman aims to open a new project with 16 resorts end of 2016 and an F & B chain is coming up offering a variety of international cuisine and we have lots of resorts coming up and we have mid market segment 

Ajman has started from this year to focus on the sports activities and we have most beautiful beaches. Our aim this year is to increase the tourists from 1 to almost 1.almost 2 million. We are targeting 5 million tourists in 2021.

Do you have that many hotel rooms?

We are aiming to add 45 more hotels - 5, 4, as well as 3 star hotels and F & B chains offering every cuisine like Russian, Chinese and especially local cuisine.  

We are also aiming to link Ajman and Dubai to the sea with the support of the Ajman Transport Authority.

That is interesting. How about linking other emirates?

 Once we complete this and the route is clear we will start with Sharjah and Abu Dhabi.

What is interesting for Russian market will you have water sport activities for them?

First of all the Russian market is our first choice. Before the crisis happened as the biggest number of tourists comes from Russia. We do have plans to open a theme park and we are recently negotiating to have cruise tourism taking tourists to Ajman where they can have lunch or dinner on board. This will attract Russian tourists.