In Australia we owe a debt of gratitude to airlines of the United Arab Emirates for keeping the cost of international air travel as low as it currently is, notwithstanding the current hike in the price of aviation fuel.
There’s a tendency in the “west” to equate the entire Middle East with what’s being beamed out of its various trouble spots on a given day. The reality is that the area straddling eastern Europe and western Asia comprises vastly different cultures, not all of which even speak Arabic.
For the record, the countries of the Middle East comprise Bahrain, Egypt, Iran, Iraq, Israel, Jordan, Kuwait, Lebanon, Palestinian territories, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Sudan, Syrian Arab Republic, United Arab Emirates and Yemen. There’s plenty of desert, but much more besides.
My recent travels took me to Abu Dhabi, the thriving senior partner of the seven emirates which make up the federation of the United Arab Emirates, which is located in the Persian Gulf.
Abu Dhabi is the largest of the emirates and just an hour’s drive south of its high profile neighbour Dubai, which through its aggressive development program in recent years has made itself a major global aviation hub.
Much of the motivation to put Dubai on the map is that its oil reserves are limited, so the ruling family has embarked on a development program to position itself as a key tourism, financial and technology centre.
Things are somewhat different in Abu Dhabi, whose land mass is 70 per cent of the entire UAE. Oil reserves are said to be adequate for the next 150 years and revenue of this river of black gold are being used to recast what 40 years ago was a desert outpost into a modern city, now underpinned by world-class infrastructure.
Many of the trappings of a modern convention destination are already in Abu Dhabi: mirrored skyscrapers, air-conditioned shopping malls, superb hotels, state-of-the-art road systems, substantial exhibition and meetings space, with more to come.
As Dubai drifts towards the Las Vegas model, Abu Dhabi is setting its sights to a more genteel and refined position. The city is actually sited on one of the 200-odd sand islands that jut out into the Gulf. The city’s plans for Saadiyat Island are ambitious, with architectural luminaries such as Sir Norman Foster and Partners down to a shortlist to determine who will be responsible for the design and construction of a cultural precinct of ground breaking significance.
The plans are quite controversial and include branches of the Louvre in Paris and the Guggenheim in New York to be established in iconic waterfront buildings on Saadiyat Island. There are also plans for a major museum honouring one of the founding fathers of the UAE, Sheik Zayed Al Nahyan, who died in 2004. This complex will be devoted to the heritage of the UAE, which goes back several thousands years.
Celebrated American architect Frank Gehry is designing the distinctive Guggenheim which will look something like a rubble of children’s building blocks. Another distinctive building for the cultural precinct will be a performing arts complex which will be the “Sydney Opera House” of the UAE. A maritime museum is also on the drawing board.
Right now, the Sheik Zayed Al Nahyan mosque has been completed. In terms of size the mosque is in the top five in the world and looks set to become the symbol of Abu Dhabi. It’s a magnificent sight on a waterfront position and will accommodate upwards of 40,000 worshippers across a series of giant prayer halls. The world’s largest single piece carpet is one of the complex’s major features.
On the “software” side of the Abu Dhabi experience, Gillian Taylor, one of Australia’s leaders in the business tourism sector heads up Abu Dhabi’s MICE/business tourism division. With her vast operational experience, it’s an inspired appointment, bringing practical experience to a challenging marketing role. She’s a familiar figure around the various industry trade shows in Europe and this month (February) leads the Abu Dhabi delegation to AIME, the Reed-organised international trade fair for the meetings sector in Melbourne.
Etihad, the national airline of the UAE, is certainly helping build the profile of Abu Dhabi in Australia, offering daily flights to Sydney and Brisbane, with connections through to Europe, Africa and North America. The airline is just four years old and is rapidly forging its place in the competitive international aviation industry, while helping put Abu Dhabi on the map.
While the city has some opulent meeting spaces there is still much to be done and the next few years will see a massive increase in infrastructure by way of hotels and the cultural additions as mentioned previously. Most of the meetings facilities are located in the various international hotels, though ADNEC (Abu Dhabi National Exhibitions Company) has some 28,000 square metres of high quality conference and exhibition space. This is set to double in the next 18 months with a mirror image of the existing space currently under construction.
With regard to conference social programs, the repertoire is limited, though certainly sufficient for a stay of a few days. Shopping appears to be the national pastime of the locals – foreign workers and emirati alike and there are a number of shopping malls. The prices are duty free, but there’s little difference in the cost of electronic equipment and textiles from most other places.
The destination management companies such as MCI and Arabian Adventures operate “dinner in the desert camp” experiences which are usually preceded with a dune driving session. This comprises a fleet of four wheel drives with a local driver ripping around the sand dunes for 30 to 60 minutes at sunset before delivering his well-shaken and stirred passengers to a desert camp where they’re welcomed by a phalanx of singing and dancing men of the desert. On my trip some of the delegates to a travel company conference were vomiting from the excessive driving, so some ground rules for the drivers clearly need to be put in place.
These camps – in Abu Dhabi and Dubai - are fully enclosed and are capable of hosting up to 1000-plus guests. Modern kitchen and washroom facilities are provided, as are camel rides, falconry demonstrations, henna applications and belly dancers. Liquor is available outside of Ramadan during which it and live entertainment such as belly dancing are forbidden.
You’re about 70km out in the desert for these events, so the night sky is an absolute picture.
The Beach Rotana Hotel and Spa in Abu Dhabi has a unique situation: at the front entrance it’s a busy city hotel, but walk just 30 metres and you’re on the edge of a pool deck and sparkling sea. The STA travel group was holding a conference for its senior executives during my stay and their comments generally were most positive about the facilities and service. The hotel adjoins one of Abu Dhabi’s major shopping malls.
I had the opportunity to spend two nights at the newly opened Shangri-La Hotel, Qaryat Al Beri. The hotel is a 10-minute drive from Abu Dhabi International Airport, five minutes from the newly refurbished Abu Dhabi International Convention Centre (ADNEC) and 15 minutes from the city centre. The hotel has comprehensive conferencing facilities and 214 guestrooms and suites, all with balconies and six luxury themed villas. Everything’s done with the style that one expects from this hotel group.
How lucky was I! A space available endorsement resulted in my turning firmly left as I entered the sleek Etihad Airbus A340 for its 14 hour-plus flight from Sydney to Abu Dhabi.
The four-year-old airline which brands itself as The Official Airline of the United Arab Emirates has every intention to stake its claim among the world’s leading carriers and has the ability to achieve this as it has none of the baggage of the major legacy carriers.
Diamond First Class offers everything the name suggests. The glass of fine French champagne helps heighten the sense of occasion and it takes all the time before takeoff to discover all the features of the luxurious cocoon in which you find yourself.
The cabin crew were as attentive as one might expect from the premier cabin, though attention to detail was significantly better on the flight home. With such a multi-cultural team it’s inevitable that service levels are sometimes less consistent on one flight than another.
The TV monitor is about treble the size of the screen on most business class cabins and the seat has a menu of the various types of vibration on offer. What better way to sit back with a Bloody Mary and leave it to the seat to do all the work to keep circulation going.
The amenities kit comes in a complete satchel which includes a really comfortable pyjama set. The configuration is such that the seats can be swivelled to allow guests in Diamond First to dine or enjoy a cocktail face to face.
On my aircraft there was a comfortable lounge area complete with seatbelts where passengers have the chance to relax and help themselves to drinks and snacks at a well stocked bar.
The inflight entertainment of on-demand video is standard in all classes and provides dozens of movies, audio channels and games to pass the time. After a five-course gourmet dinner I opted rather to put the seat through its paces and had it converted into a fully flat bed, complete with soft under-blanket.
For the trip home, I had perhaps the only opportunity in my life to order “high tea” at 3.30am Sydney time. It arrived complete with freshly cut sandwiches, scones, jam and cream. Heaven on a stick!
Arriving home, my final Etihad touch was the waiting limousine to whisk me home and back to reality.
Etihad operates daily out of Sydney and Brisbane and from March this year is offering 11 flights a week from Sydney.
Business-class fares to a range of European destinations from Australia are from as little as $6500 approx, with economy-class around the $1800 mark. Destination cities for Etihad include London, Paris, Milan, Frankfurt, Casablanca, Johannesburg and New York.
Virgin Blue in Australia has reached agreement to provide full check through of luggage from point of departure to any one of Etihad’s 45 overseas destinations.
Miles Class visited Abu Dhabi as a guest of Etihad Airways and the Abu Dhabi Tourism Authority.
ITS A GAS
Gastech is one the largest international conferences in the natural gas industries and its Abu Dhabi conference attracted more than 1800 delegates, 286 exhibitors, 124 media representatives and 5400 visitors from 64 countries to the exhibition at ADNEC.
Tony Stephenson, the event organiser, had this to say:
“Abu Dhabi was the right choice for our international exhibition and conference and the fact that we are committed to return to Abu Dhabi is testament to the invaluable support we received from Abu Dhabi Tourism Authority and Abu Dhabi National Exhibition Centre. We are very excited at this prospect having seen that Abu Dhabi is a great destination for an international event such as Gastech.”
Top |