Nicolas Mayer

Growth with soul: Culture, tourism, and the cities people come back to

The core message of the provided session excerpt is that cities earn repeat visitors, residents, investors, and pride when livability is treated as a growth engine rather than a soft side benefit. The session opened by framing Abu Dhabi as a city increasingly connected to global audiences through sport, community, culture, and aviation. Before the fireside conversation with Ryan Reynolds, Etihad Airways CEO Antonoaldo Neves positioned the airline as a practical gateway into Abu Dhabi’s livability story: it brings people in, sends residents and visitors out, and turns connectivity into economic and civic opportunity. Neves backed that argument with specific expansion numbers. He said Etihad had grown from 70 destinations, about 70 aircraft, and 10 million annual passengers in 2022 to about 25 million passengers per year and more than 130 destinations today. Seats into and from Abu Dhabi rose from 6.4 million to 12.6 million per year in three years, and he described each seat as a possible visitor, investor, student, or new resident. He also projected 37 million passengers per year to Abu Dhabi by 2030, requiring about $20 billion in new aircraft investment, while noting Etihad’s cargo role, including about 700,000 tons of freight annually and its position as the largest freighter carrier from the Middle East to China. The presentation then turned from scale to conversion: Etihad wants to turn journeys through Abu Dhabi into visits to Abu Dhabi. Neves highlighted the Abu Dhabi Stopover program with Abu Dhabi DCT, now bringing about 310,000 visitors annually and offering one to two free nights, plus an extension to Al Ain after the March and April disruption. He also announced the relaunch of Etihadscapes to sell Abu Dhabi as a destination globally from November and December, alongside hotels and destination offers. He connected this tourism push to talent attraction, noting Etihad hires about 2,000 people annually, employs 14,000 people, grows its workforce by 20% each year, and supports UAE national aviation talent through cadet programs. After the transition to the fireside chat, Ryan Reynolds and Tyler Brûlé shifted the discussion from aviation infrastructure to civic identity. Reynolds argued that livable communities have a strong sense of self: branding is adjacent to identity, and cities work when people feel pride, ownership, and belonging. He used Vancouver as an example of a place that nurtures community and the outdoors as part of infrastructure, not only industry. He then pointed to Wrexham, where he said residents once identified more broadly as being from Northern Wales but now proudly say Wrexham because the community feels seen. The provided transcript ends at around 15:00 as the conversation begins moving into Reynolds’ early life and entrepreneurship.