With the global hospitality industry still reeling from the effect of Covid-19, destinations around the world have been searching for imaginative ways to hold themselves in the minds of travelers ahead of the reopening of borders.
While the capital of the United Arab Emirates, Abu Dhabi, remains closed to foreign visitors, that did not mean that officials were sitting on their hands with the local tourist board.
Instead, to keep the emirate in the public eye, the Department of Culture & Tourism has worked to exploit established partnerships.
There was an emphasis on sport, with an outsized roster of top-level activities welcoming the Middle Eastern destination.
As Saeed Al Saeed, Destination Marketing Manager with the Abu Dhabi Department of Culture & Tourism, tells Chris O'Toole, editor of Breaking Travel News, there have been prospects even in the ruins of the pandemic.
"We are open for business in terms of sport, and we have made that clear," he says.
"It's not about us collecting and dumping as many sports as we can into the emirates, it's more about cultivating long-term partnerships, allowing us to showcase the lengths we're going to go to to welcome the best events."
The most eyebrow-raising showcase, perhaps, was Battle Island, a pay-per-view Ultimate Fighting Championship that took place in July this year.
More commonly associated with cities like Las Vegas, at the height of the Covid-19 shutdown, Abu Dhabi pulled out all the stops to create a bio-secure case.
The UFC, for instance, is a five-year agreement that we signed in 2019, but that partnership allowed us to add Fight Island as an additional partnership," Al Saeed continues."
I was personally part of the Battle Island squad, and we spent two weeks in a hotel quarantine before anyone from the UFC even arrived at their destination.
We spent five weeks in the bubble overall, an enormous endeavor to make it a reality on behalf of a variety of organizations.
There have been other sporting bubbles across the globe, but I'm not sure if everyone has gone to the degree that we have done-we have conducted 18,000 Covid-19 experiments on just over 2,000 participants.
The advantage of hosting such major events, however, is evident - everyone was talking about Battle Island, which was clearly closely connected to Abu Dhabi.
We have been able to send a signal in the sporting world, with other governing bodies already contacting us here at the Culture & Tourism Department and at the Abu Dhabi Sports Council to host other events.
The rest of the world is still trying to find out how to bring sports back to life, and in this field, we now have some great expertise.
"When it comes to world class sports within world class facilities, it puts us on the map."
The organization behind Battle Island was praised by Dana White
As far as publicity is concerned, the importance of the event can also not be underestimated, bringing in new viewers from around the world and maybe even for the first time making people aware of Abu Dhabi.
"It gave us an opportunity to present ourselves to an American audience, there is often a lot of misunderstanding there, and we have been able to start correcting some misapprehension," Al Saeed says.
But Brazil, in Russia, also has a large following for UFC-many markets follow their own fighters, via social media and pay-per-view events.
This enabled us to nullify some preconceived misconceptions about Abu Dhabi and, more broadly, the area.
"A lot of people who came here for the first time expected something entirely different, and they ended up falling in love."
Fans are hoping that they will attend the F1 finale
For many, Abu Dhabi, of course, is synonymous with the end-of-season F1 Grand Prix, which takes place every November in the Emirates.
The race is the highlight of a weekend-long extravaganza in normal times, inviting headline musical acts, thousands of visitors and celebrities to the emirates from around the world.
This year, things are going to be on a smaller scale, but the race will still provide chances to promote the destination.
"As it stands, at the F1 Grand Prix, we have no plans for spectators-there are always discussions, but we are not yet in a position to welcome them," Al Saeed said.
For us, the festival is a city-wide gathering, a celebration of several different pillars of our tourism offering, so it is a lost opportunity for us to cut it back this year.
"The sporting element, but also the nightlife, the events, we are losing."
However, final preparations are still being put in motion with more than three months to go before the chase.
Later this month, Abu Dhabi will welcome the Indian Premier League,
In the meantime, the United Arab Emirates will hold an annual sports tournament, the Indian Premier League, to compete with everyone on earth.
The event will welcome the best cricketers to the destination, attracting an audience of millions from India, Pakistan and other markets, taking place across Abu Dhabi, Dubai and Sharjah.
Al Saeed tells Breaking Travel News the fast-paced action will give viewers plenty with the players already settling in their luxurious hotels.
One of the factors that allowed us to bring the Indian Premier League to Abu Dhabi was Fight Island. We played a small role, but there was a long-established relationship that helped.
"During this pandemic, they knew we were able to offer what they needed."
"He continues: "This is a massive gathering, with world-class athletes from all over the world, from Australia, South Africa, England, India and Pakistan, the United Arab Emirates will be the eyes of the world.
We want people to be able to see what we deliver once again, how the players are being handled, and give them more confidence in the destination.
A lot of fans will be very excited about the game, and there's a lot to give.
"Every fan of every sport is hungry to come back for events, and we're in a position to do that for them, and for us it's a moment of pride."
However, visitors wooed by the top-class sporting showcase will have to wait for Abu Dhabi's borders to reopen before they can visit.
Officials in the capital are taking a more cautious stance while neighboring Dubai has reopened.
"We have plans to look at the next step, with the necessary steps in place, to open the borders, but there is no timetable for this yet.
"The measures may seem extreme, but our people's health and safety must come first," Al Saeed concludes.
More Info
The Department of Culture & Tourism-Abu Dhabi preserves and promotes the heritage and culture of the Emirates and leverages them to create a world-class, sustainable destination of distinction that enriches tourists and residents alike in their lives.
The organisation, through a wide variety of activities aimed at attracting tourists and investment, manages the tourism industry and markets the destination internationally.
Abu Dhabi is recognized by judges at the World Travel Awards as the World's Leading Sports Tourism Destination.
On the official website, find out more about visiting when the time is right.
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