Dubai Business Events (DBE), the city’s official convention bureau, has recorded exceptional results during the first half of 2019, securing 118 successful bid wins for events to be hosted in Dubai over the coming years. These events won in H1 2019, including conferences, meetings and incentives, are set to attract 75,288 delegates from around the globe to Dubai over the coming years, representing a growth of 17% on the delegate impact of bid wins from the same period in 2018.
Issam Kazim, Chief Executive Officer(CEO) of Dubai Corporation for Tourism and Commerce Marketing, said: "Dubai continues to consolidate its position as a leading destination for global travel and business events, and the recent bid wins are a testimony to the strides we have made as a city to attract and host large scale business events. With the DBE team working closely with stakeholders to ensure that the city has the robust capabilities to cater to a wide range of business events, we are seeing meetings planners and decision makers are finding the city to be an increasingly compelling option. We would like to thank our partners and stakeholders for their ongoing support in driving the contribution of business events to achieving our overall tourism strategy.’’
During H1, Dubai won a variety of key business events across multiple sectors and industries, including: the Amway China Leadership Seminar 2020, which is expected to attract 8,000 delegates, Sun Hope International Incentive 2020, with 1,500 delegates, World Hospital Congress 2021, with 1,100 delegates, Geospatial Week 2021, with 750 delegates, and AIPPI World Intellectual Property Congress 2025, with 3,000 delegates.
Dubai Business Events also built on its efforts to engage with meetings industry professionals, both in the city and around the world, through a busy calendar of trade shows, roadshows, study missions and other engagements. At IMEX, a major annual trade show in Frankfurt for the meetings industry, Dubai Business Events was joined by 30 co-exhibitors including Coca-Cola Arena, Dubai World Trade Centre, Emirates, and Expo 2020 Dubai, demonstrating a strong focus on news and upcoming offerings and business events infrastructure in the city.
The city’s official bureau also hosted five study missions, including groups from India and Europe, which attracted 205 planners and buyers during the first half of 2019. In addition to these inbound missions, DBE also organised roadshows across key markets, visiting cities including London, Toronto, Moscow and Chennai. These roadshows and study missions acted as a platform to meet and engage with key decision makers around the world, and to educate them about the city’s offerings as well as services offered by Dubai Business Events.
Steen Jakobsen, Assistant Vice President of Dubai Business Events, said: “Dubai continues to see a healthy pipeline of meetings, conferences, congresses and incentives which will take place over the coming years, and this is a testament to the combined efforts of stakeholders and partners across the city and the DBE team in Dubai and in our international offices.
The past six months have been a busy and productive period in terms of DBE’s ongoing activities and projects, and Dubai’s elevation on a global scale has been supported by new hotel and venue openings, as well as activities and attractions in the city. These developments directly contribute to providing planners with a wide array of options and possibilities when it comes to their events. We look forward to building on this in the second half of 2019, engaging with our stakeholders to promote the city, convert bids into more wins and identify new events to bring to Dubai.’’
Among the upcoming developments set to enhance the city’s status as a business events hub is the Dubai Exhibition Centre, which will be co-located at the Expo 2020 Dubai site and become a major new events venue. The 45,000 square metre facility will be a unique platform for planners, allowing them to host events during the Expo, giving delegates access to a global stage for the six-month duration of the world’s largest meeting of minds, while also being a venue option beyond Expo as part of its legacy.
Dubai is gearing up to host an array of business events through the second the half of the year, including the second edition of the Dubai Associations Conference (DAC). DAC will take place in December 2019 at the Dubai World Trade Centre (DWTC), and over the course of two days the conference will bring together industry experts from around the world in order to create a positive social impact by building the association community in the region. Dubai is additionally prepping to host world class business events such as Amway APAC Expo 2019, which will attract approximately 10,000 delegates, the World Congress of Neurology, with 5,000 delegates, and the World Conference on Desalination and Water Re-use, with over 1,000 delegates.