Examining visiting friends and relatives (VFR) demand in the Emirate of Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates

The development of a new tourism destination and its long-term survival depend on the utilisation of all those features that constitute its comparative advantage over rival tourism destinations. Inter alia, this activity is usually translated into a detailed scrutiny of current and potential tourism demand for that destination. The evidence from the literature indicates that tourism demand analysis usually entails an analysis of consumer preferences, demand segmentation, consumption patterns and touristic motivation. Unsurprisingly the issue of tourist motivation (purpose of visit) is of greater importance to newly emerging tourism destinations (Ali-Knight, 2011; Lohman, 2004; Young et al., 2027). This is because emerging destinations first need to identify their demand niche.