Well-deserved recognition for Abu Dhabi

Abu Dhabi has been witnessing rapid growth and development on its journey to become a world-class destination and several positive factors reflect that reality.

The singling out of Abu Dhabi as one of the most cultural cities in the world in a recent online list compiled by Skyscanner, the popular travel fare website, adds another feather to the Emirate’s cap.

Historic monuments, ancient buildings, oases and natural heritage are the essential elements that constitute Abu Dhabi’s remarkable environment.

The UAE capital made it to the exclusive list after the Chinese-owned website identified its top five destinations for expanding any travellers’ horizons with art and culture-filled holiday.

Incidentally, the city came in at number two, only preceded by Florence in Italy.

The UAE capital was singled out for being one of the Middle East’s most exciting cultural centres, featuring the National Theatre and the Sheikh Zayed Grand Mosque.

The website has also rightly highlighted the addition to the Emirate of Louvre Abu Dhabi in 2017, with the museum having been designed by Pritzker-winning French architect Jean Nouvel an additional draw for the UAE capital as a cultural destination.

The website has also added to a description of the Louvre Abu Dhabi’s significance as the Arab world’s first universal museum with further information about the emirate’s outstanding dining scene, describing it as being “as diverse as its multicultural population.”

The fascinating growth of interest in electronic music in Abu Dhabi was also highlighted, adding a modern element to the cultural appeal of the emirate.

As Saif Saeed Ghobash, Under-Secretary of the Department of Culture and Tourism - Abu Dhabi, pointed out, for Abu Dhabi to have been named as one of the most cultural cities in the world reflects positively on the work the Department of Culture and Tourism - Abu Dhabi has done to position the emirate at the very forefront of people’s minds when they consider their next great cultural adventure.

Year-on-year, the Emirate has been witnessing a record number of tourists arriving to visit the UAE capital and experience everything from Qasr Al Hosn, to Sheikh Zayed Grand Mosque and the heritage sites in Al Ain.

In fact, the list of accolades for Abu Dhabi has been expanding continuously.

Earlier, it was selected as the safest city in the world for the second year by Numbeo, a website that curates and collates data to develop the world’s largest user-contributed database about cities and countries worldwide.

Surpassing more than 300 cities across the world, including Tokyo, Basel, Munich, and Vienna, the UAE’s capital topped the list as the most secure city in the world.

On the technology front, the ranking of Abu Dhabi on top of a list of cities in Africa and the Middle East in the McKinsey Global Institute study “Smart Cities: Digital Solutions for a More Livable Future” is testimony to the fact that the Emirate not only recognised the tremendous power of technology, but also pressed the “smart” key well ahead of most others.

The Sheikh Zayed Grand Mosque, a symbol of Islam that embodies the message of peace, tolerance and diversity, welcomed 4,480,000 visitors from 249 nationalities in the first half the Year of Tolerance, according to the half-yearly statistics released by the Sheikh Zayed Grand Mosque Centre recently.

Abu Dhabi, undoubtedly, is an incredible destination of distinction. The capital’s expanding portfolio of attractions makes it an adorable place to reside in or visit.