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This chapter provides an overview of Yas Island, which hosts several of the emirate’s major touristic attractions and accommodation options. The chapter also provides a listing of Abu Dhabi’s other leading hotels and resorts, as well as useful telephone numbers and facts for visitors, including information about language, visas, currency and more.

This chapter outlines the general rules for establishing a business in the emirate, including the key corporate, labour and property laws relevant to companies doing business locally in Abu Dhabi. The chapter also includes an overview of the judicial structure, as well as information on arbitration and appeals.

This chapter provides an overview of tax regulations in Abu Dhabi. It includes information on corporate taxation, foreign investment incentives and free trade zone advantages for foreign businesses. It also provides a guide to intellectual property law and import taxation.

Recent growth within the media and advertising sector has highlighted the potential of local creative industries. Indeed, going forward the industry is expected to expand considerably, with advertising projected to top $94m in 2015. However, the sector is also undergoing a number of important changes. Newspaper and radio advertising, for example, is expected to decline slightly between 2011 and 2015, while the use of mobile phones to access digital content, we well as the popularity of social media sites are trends that are reshaping the sector. Furthermore, in recent years social networking has overtaken news and information as the most popular online activity among UAE internet users. Abu Dhabi and the wider UAE are also seeing continued efforts to expand the availability of Arabic-language content, another key theme within the sector. This chapter includes an interview with Noura Al Kaabi, CEO, Abu Dhabi Media Zone Authority – twofour54.

As one of the 12 strategic sectors identified in Abu Dhabi Economic Vision 2030, tourism plays a central role in the government’s plan to reduce the economy’s reliance on the hydrocarbons industry. To this end, Abu Dhabi has invested heavily in the sector in recent years, creating more attractions to draw tourists, as well as building hotels and expanding the national airline. Indeed, the tourism sector has grown steadily, as reflected in the consistent increase in the number of hotel guests; the emirate hosted more than 2.1m visitors in 2011 alone. This figure is set to continue to rise, with the authorities targeting 3.2m by 2015. To cater for – and bring about – this uptick, the sector is witnessing major developments in entertainment, retail, global sports events and large corporate functions. The government is also keen to develop the meetings, incentives, conferences and exhibitions (MICE) segment, aiming to more than double its economic impact by 2020. This chapter includes an interview with Sheikh Sultan bin Zayed Al Nahyan, Representative of the President of UAE and Chairman, Culture and Media Centre.

In tandem with the increasing diversification of Abu Dhabi’s economy, the information and communications technology (ICT) industry has come to take on a more prominent role, featuring a much broader range of businesses than was the case even five years ago. Telecoms companies in the UAE are continuing to invest in the country’s physical infrastructure, which is among the most advanced in the world, while the public continues to show a growing appetite for data services, which are driving the telecoms market, as margins on voice services fall. One key feature of the IT sector is the government’s efforts to encourage greater use of IT via e-government and e-learning. ICT is now a full and integral part of the national curriculum in the UAE, and the government is moving to introduce greater use of computers in schools in a bid to enhance overall learning as well as improving e-literacy. This chapter includes an interview with Ahmad Abdulkarim Julfar, CEO, Etisalat Group.