ETW Staff – Mumbai
Ras Al Khaimah Tourism Development Authority (RAKTDA) has signed an agreement with Cox & Kings to strengthen its relationship and expand its presence in the India market. This agreement will focus on promoting the various aspects of Ras Al Khaimah and popularise it in the India market. The agreement, which was signed at Arabian Travel Market (ATM), is aimed at increasing tourism arrivals to Ras Al Khaimah from India. The partnership will take effect from May 1, 2016 and will introduce Ras Al Khaimah to the India market through specially created itineraries, creation of stand alone tourism products for the emirate and market the destination via a series of campaigns and training programmes for Cox & Kings staff.
India has already cemented its position as one of the emirate’s leading source markets with an 80 per cent increase in visitors year-on-year during 2014-2015.
Haitham Mattar, CEO, RAKTDA, said, “Following our revised strategies and vision to reach one million visitors by the end of 2018, we will be announcing a number of partnerships such as this. Air India Express has already launched new routes to the emirate and our agreement with Cox & Kings will ensure we are making the destination as accessible. We are proud to begin a long relationship with such an established travel company within one of our top source markets. India offers a significant contribution to our overall visitor figures and we are keen to progress this opportunity to target Indian travellers even further.”
Ashutosh Mehere, senior vice president – alliances and special projects, Cox & Kings, added, “Ras Al Khaimah offers the Indian traveller an opportunity to explore a new destination. We will focus on promoting the destination aggressively in the India market and create affordable packages that capture the essence of the destination.”