When Bollywood actor Ranveer Singh said 'Yas hi toh khaas hai' (Yas is special), it not only drove Indian tourists to Yas Island but also helped the destination come out of the Covid lull that travel across the world faced due to the pandemic led restrictions.
Yas Island, one of Abu Dhabi's largest tourism projects, now hopes for similar magic with its latest tie-up with the famous Zindagi Na Milegi Dobara (ZNMD) trio — Hrithik Roshan, Abhay Deol, and Farhan Akhtar.
"When we launched the campaign with Ranveer Singh in India, the main objective for us was to get out of Covid and make sure we have a strong entry into the Indian market," said Badr Bourji, Senior Vice President Marketing, Miral Destinations, which promotes Yas and Saadiyat Island.
In the pre-Covid period, Yas Island recorded visitations from India in the range of 300,000 to 350,000 annually. During the two years of Covid (2020 and 2021) and the early days of 2022, there was a more than 90 percent drop in tourist arrivals from India.
Ranveer Singh's impact
"When we launched the Ranveer Singh campaign in India around March 2022, we recovered our 2019 attendance (from India) within nine months post the campaign launch. We closed last year at 780,000 attendance from India, more than double our attendance in 2019. Ranveer really did help us," Bourji said.
Singh who is known for his zeal and enthusiasm was the perfect fit for Yas as they expected to reflect similar energy and dynamism through Singh's personality in their campaigns.
"The campaign with Singh raised awareness about what Yas Island had to offer. Back in the day, Yas Island was known to be a location that hosts the F1 (Formula 1) and that it has Ferrari World (theme park). Ferrari World now has very high awareness among the Indian audience."
YOLO connect
Bourji is now tapping into nostalgia with ZNMD to keep India number one source market.
"India is our number one market outside the UAE. It's a market which we've been working tirelessly over the last four-five years to develop," Liam Findlay, CEO, Miral Destinations, said.
To make sure that India remains their number one and largest source market, they wanted to build a deeper connection. "We thought there is no better way to do so with ZNMD through which Indians emotionally bond," Bourji said, who noted that going down the memory lane has worked for them in the past as well.
"ZNMD's inspiration came from our past collaborations. Nostalgia worked for us across two campaigns using a band called Miami Band which had some of the biggest hits in the region around 20 years ago. We brought them back to life and saw a massive impact. Nostalgia is one of our key pillars. The reason for that is, again, we're speaking to the children of yesterday or the tweens or teenagers of yesterday," Bourji added.
More collaborations
While Bollywood is its favourite, Yas has also been collaborating with many influencers and shows to promote tourism.
In a year, Miral Destinations works with 20-30 influencers which sometimes goes up to 50.
"With a lot of these influencers, it's a barter deal, where we offer them a visit to Yas Island, and they're free to showcase the island in whichever way they want," the marketing VP added.
A couple of months ago, Miral Destinations had taken 20-30 Indian influencers to Yas Island as part of a challenge called Greatest Of All Trips which was hosted by actor Sonu Sood.
"We have also done brand integrations in India through Jhalak Dikhla Ja, Masterchef India, and Indian Idol. We have some more of these in the pipeline including an upcoming movie," he added.
Yas Island has also been hosting the International Indian Film Academy Awards (IIFA) for the past two years, bringing top stars of Bollywood and the influencer world.
In 2024, as much as 6 million dirhams, or around $1.7 million, were spent on marketing.
"This year, we're investing around $5 to $6 million this year across the India market. I think we've maximised our spend in India in the best way possible," Bourji said.
India interest
Miral Destinations also has the biggest office in India. "We have 10-member staff based in India. We've invested tens of millions of dirhams in the last four years," Findlay said.
From 2022 to 2024, Yas Island saw a 123 percent increase in visitation from India and a 40 percent uptick from 2023.
"Over the next 10-20 years, India is going to be a real growth engine for Yas Island and Abu Dhabi. In 2024, Tier II and III cities saw significant growth of around 22-25 percent for Yas Island over the previous year. Cities like Surat, Chandigarh, Kolhapur, Rajahmundry have seen increasing demand," he added.
Airlines like Air India Express, Akasa and IndiGo have launched new and additional flights for Abu Dhabi from Bengaluru and Ahmedabad, adding additional seats for the destination, Findlay said. "Any additional flights to the UAE naturally boost visitation to Yas Island, as we offer free shuttle services across the country for guests with Yas Island Theme Park tickets."
Tourism driver
He further said that Yas Island is a significant contributor to Abu Dhabi tourism.
"In 2019, 75 percent occupancy in Yas Island hotels was business driven. Today, more than 80 percent of the occupancy is leisure driven. We grew to a point where we no longer have occupancy to drive further growth for Yas Island. So, we started selling stays in Abu Dhabi. Some of these hotels in the city would have very low occupancy in certain seasons. I remember one of these 5-star hotels during summer was at 40-50 percent occupancy. They started seeing 85-90 percent occupancy as soon as they started doing more business with us, Bourji said.
The top attractions for Indians are theme parks to which Indian tourists contribute around 17 percent.
"India accounted for 17 percent out of the 5 million attendance in theme parks last year," he said.
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