meet dubai INTRODUCTION


“The US and Europe remain strong focuses


for us and overall, there has been growth in the number of leads with a 50 percent increase for 2011 over the previous year, while we have seen a conversion ratio of 35 percent of the total leads and bids we are generating over the year,” he adds. “According to our hotel partners, business


tourism events contribute between eight and 20 percent of their occupancies.” To come, the Swift Annual Congress


in November 2013 is expected to attract 8,000 delegates, while other upcoming events include the Asia Pacific Dental Federation Congress in June 2014 (with 3,000-plus attendees), the International Destination Expo 2013 (with 1,200-plus) and the International Symposium on Electronic Design (with 1,000-plus). Bachar emphasises the expansion of


Emirates Airline as a key selling point, as well as safety, large venue capacity and the advanced infrastructure network including the Dubai Metro that now links Dubai International Airport, the Dubai World Trade Centre and 24,000 hotel rooms.


“Dubai’s hotel inventory is an advantage


and great selling feature for the emirate,” he stresses. “We are still able to offer enough options across all price points and we are seeing a strong presence from conference hotel construction which is very favourable for the destination as there are many clients who have not graduated from a hotel environment to a convention centre. “Dubai needs to have hotels that can


accommodate plenary sessions, exhibitions, breakout rooms and catering space for 1,000-plus delegates and, while we have a few that work well, there are more to come.” Meanwhile, Bachar says DCB has


refined the Dubai Bid Alliance – a ‘package’ selling tool used for any congress or corporate event attracting more than 1,500 delegates and 750 peak room nights.


“This has been used on 16 opportunities in 2011 and 18 in 2012,” he says. “While the DCB, Dubai World Trade


Centre and Emirates Airline form the base of the programme with incentives, attractive room rental offers and official carrier fares, we have now reviewed terms


DUBAI METRO NOW LINKS DUBAI INTERNATIONAL AIRPORT, THE DUBAI WORLDTRADE CENTRE AND 24,000 HOTEL ROOMS


6


THE PROFESSIONALS’ VIEWPOINT


PETER PAYET, ARABIAN ADVENTURES/ CONGRESS SOLUTIONS INTERNATIONAL


Part of the Emirates Group, both Arabian Adventures and Congress Solutions International (CSI) are major players in the Dubai events sector and their performance during the past year has reflected the overall growth in visitor numbers to the city, according to Senior Vice President Peter Payet. “We have seen growth from 2011 to 2012 and large group movements for between 100 and 500 participants for Meetings, Incentives and Events (MIE) at Arabian Adventures, while 2011 to 2012 was CSI’s biggest year yet in terms of numbers,” he says. “For the latter, delegate numbers grew


by 37 percent and we are expecting a similar percentage growth for 2012 to 2013 as far as conference business is concerned, followed by a 15 percent growth in numbers for 2014.” For MIE, growth of around 15 percent


is forecast and a key sector with potential will be that of incentives as they return to the region after the downturn, he adds. Payet notes that the sustained develop- ment of hotels would be a key element in the continued health of the meetings and events industry, although he says there is still a requirement for more budget hotels to cater for visitors attending events. “Room rates and flexibility of the hotels


for MIE business is the best it has been in the past four years, with additional rooms opening this year that will increase inventory to more than 80,000 – although we should continue to encourage investors to gradually increase capacity to sustain future growth and avoid a repetition of the 2005 to 2007 challenges due to shortage of rooms.” With business generated from IT, oil and


gas, legal, food and beverage and healthcare sectors, Payet stresses that Dubai is back in the big league in terms of competing for both congress and incentive events. “For MIE, we are competing with the likes of China, New York, Las Vegas and South Africa and the hotel capacity, air access, great venues and high quality of service at competitive prices contribute to the demand for the destination. “In terms of CSI and the association sector, we see that the city is now


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