ABU DHABI SHINES AS YAS MARINA CIRCUIT ANNOUNCES EXTENT OF 2014 ABU DHABI GRAND PRIX SUCCESS
Post-event assessment reveals F1 in 2014 drew biggest crowd to date, recorded its highest ever guest satisfaction scores, witnessed unparalleled social media engagement, and saw largest number of international press attendees
Almasalla, ATP News-Yas Marina Circuit, Abu Dhabi, – Yas Marina Circuit today announced that the 2014 FORMULA 1 ETIHAD AIRWAYS ABU DHABI GRAND PRIX was the most successful to date, packed with an unprecedented series of firsts.
With the largest ever capacity, at 60,000 people – an increase of 5,000 tickets in 2013 – crowds were drawn from all over the world. This year’s weekend saw the highest number of overseas visitors, with 46 per cent of all race goers coming from outside the UAE.
Every year Yas Marina Circuit conducts a customer satisfaction survey and this year’s report, based on 1,200 10-minute, face-to-face interviews across the weekend, demonstrated the extent of the fan experience. Eighty-eight per cent said Abu Dhabi was the best Grand Prix weekend they had ever attended. Further, 98 per cent of respondents said they would recommend attending to others. Incredibly, Yas Marina Circuit scored 100 per cent on overall visitor experience, with 100 per cent saying they would return to attend the event in 2015.
The sporting narrative of Hamilton vs. Rosberg’s ‘Duel in the Desert’ and the double points on offer drew global media interest, and saw the highest ever number of media personnel at Yas Marina Circuit. The Media Centre hosted 440 journalists from all over the world – the biggest media presence at the circuit in the event’s six-year history – resulting in 8,306 articles in print and online worldwide, the biggest ever spread and amount of coverage.
As well as record levels of traditional media engagement, Yas Marina Circuit’s social media footprint registered on a global scale. The hashtag ‘#AbuDhabiGP’ trended number one worldwide on Twitter on Race Day, while recording 302,805 Twitter mentions and 1,808,000,000 Twitter impressions over the Formula 1 weekend (from 21st Nov – 23rd November). These numbers are not just new records for the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix but also for F1 in general.
Continuing the theme of online and digital success, the introduction of the YasHUB F1 experience app that allowed race goers to tailor all aspects of their weekend – from ticketing, to the latest F1 news to entertainment options – saw fantastic pick up. The YasHUB app was downloaded 40,734 times and ranked as the number one downloaded sports app in the UAE’s Apple and Google Android stores. The app recorded 175,000 useage sessions across the weekend.
“This year was a fantastic success across all fronts,” said Al Tareq Al Ameri, CEO of Yas Marina Circuit. “Reviewing our performance post race, we have been delighted to discover that we have hosted the biggest and most well attended race weekend in the circuit’s Formula 1 history. We have promised the world’s motorsport fans a truly unique event and have continued to deliver that year on year and look forward to building on the visitor experience in 2015. We would like to thank everyone for attending and helping to make this year an unforgettable sporting and entertainment experience.”
Abu Dhabi is fast becoming the model for Grand Prix delivery around the world and it is the way in which all Abu Dhabi entities work together that makes the event especially successful. With key partners such as Etihad Airways, Toursim & Culture Authority Abu Dhabi, ESC, Abu Dhabi Police, DoT and Yas Island working together all year in preparation for this big weekend, the benefits are clearly seen by the fans.
“We will continue to work closely with our Abu Dhabi partners and stakeholders to continue to build this great event and ensure that 2015 will be even better”, added Al Tareq Al Ameri.
