(MENAFN Press) Dubai, United Arab Emirates
The UK's tourism promotion agency, VisitBritain, has welcomed Emirates plans to introduce a second, daily non-stop flight to Glasgow, commencing on 1st June 2012.
The announcement comes as a result of continued demand for Emirates' service between Dubai and Glasgow, which began in 2004. Since then, the international airline of the UAE has carried over 1.7 million passengers.
The new twice-daily service will deliver a local economic benefit of 33 million with almost 140,000 inbound passengers in 2012 alone. Over the next five years, the route will be worth more than 200million to the city, bringing more than 846,000 inbound passengers to Glasgow through to 2016.
Already, the average visitor from the Middle East spends 1,400 on a visit to Britain “ more than twice the average for the typical inbound visit.
Sandie Dawe, Chief Executive of VisitBritain said: "Emirates airline enjoys good capacity into the UK, and this new daily-double route to Glasgow will be a boost for international tourism spend to Scotland, encouraging people to visit in 2012 when the eyes of the world will be on Britain through to 2014 when Glasgow hosts the Commonwealth Games. Tourism is a key industry to provide growth to the UK economy delivering economic benefit and jobs right across Britain."
Salem Obaidalla, Emirates' Senior Vice President, Commercial Operations, Europe & Russian Federation added: "This announcement illustrates our commitment to Scotland and to our wider UK route network in difficult economic times." "Our Glasgow route has been a real success story, and we are confident that there is demand for additional services flying to and from Dubai and beyond to our global network of over 100 destinations, Mr Obaidalla added."
Councillor Gordon Matheson, Leader of Glasgow City Council and Chair of Glasgow City Marketing Bureau said: "From a starting point in 2004, Emirates' Dubai route has proved a huge success, generating over AED 931 million (164 million) to date for the local economy and bringing more than 687,000 inbound passengers to Glasgow.
"The operation of a double daily service is a major step forward in terms of forging greater business links and increasing access between Glasgow and key Asian economic decision centres, such as Hong Kong and Singapore, as well as emerging markets in China and India," Councillor Matheson added.
Scotland's Deputy First Minister Nicola Sturgeon commented: "As part of our strategy to support economic growth, the Scottish Government is determined to improve our international air connections. The announcement of this new expanded service cements our growing business, education and cultural links with Dubai and provides an additional link to this key gateway through which to boost trade and tourism opportunities with key global markets such as south and south-east Asia, Africa and Australasia."
