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Camp opens career avenue in tourism

This summer, 60 Emirati teenagers — boys and girls all aged between 15 and 17 years — spent part of their holiday learning about the emirate’s tourism attractions.

They all enrolled and graduated from Abu Dhabi’s annual Tourism Youth Summer Camp, an Abu Dhabi Tourism and Culture Authority (ADTCA) programme organised in conjunction with the European International College (EIC).

Participants of the programme visit Shaikh Zayed Grand Mosque in Abu Dhabi. — Supplied photo

“The programme was designed to create a positive perception of the tourism industry and encourage the next generation of Emirati leaders to consider tourism as a major for their university studies,” said Fatima Al Melhi, industry awareness executive at the ADTCA.

“Abu Dhabi’s tourism industry is maturing and the programme is expanding year-on-year based on feedback from students and the industry to ensure topics covered bring the youngsters up-to-date with developments in the destination,” she added.

The camp saw students take part in various workshops designed to boost their awareness of the emirate’s tourism industry and its impact on economy, society and environment.

They also went on field trips and got to take a closer look at the Capital’s most obvious attractions — Shaikh Zayed Grand Mosque, fun parks on Yas Island, the Zayed Centre, Abu Dhabi Pearl Journey, St. Regis Saadiyat Island Resort and the Manarat Al Saadiyat exhibition centre — as well as experiencing a behind-the-scenes tour of the Etihad Airways’ Training Academy.

In these field trips, they had to participate in team building exercises to develop their interpersonal skills.

At the end of the intensive three-week programme, the top three boys and three girls received prizes following completion of a written quiz and evaluation of their attendance and interactive participation. They were 15-year-old Maitha Naser Al Saeedi, 14-year-old Mariam Thani Saleh Al Neyadi, 16-year-old Sara Abduallah Al Mazrouei, 17-year-old Mousa Ahmed Al Kaabi, 15-year-old Omar Al Ali and 16-year-old Saif Mohammed Al Dhaheri.

“I was very young when I first heard of the programme and vowed to join the class to find out more about our national tourism when I turned 15. Now I can say that I have a clear vision about the future projects underway to develop our destination and am committed to pursue a career in museum management,” said Maitha.Mousa, on the other hand, was encouraged by his mother to join the programme and he was glad to do it.

“It was an important experience for me as I visited many interesting tourist destinations in Abu Dhabi. It was useful to know how to attract new people to those places. I’m now really enthusiastic to consider studying something related to the industry,” said Mousa.

silvia@khaleejtimes.com