NEWS / REGIONAL
drives business events ambitions Dedicated bureau to champion emirate's bid for meetings
Abu Dhabi Convention Bureau
Abu Dhabi has created its own dedicated Convention Bureau, as it looks to achieve top 50 International Congress and Convention Association (ICCA) association meeting destination rankings by 2018. The new one-stop entity
within Abu Dhabi Tourism & Culture Authority (TCA Abu Dhabi) will support the growth of exhibitions and conferences in the emirate by forging closer links with the industry and providing finan- cial and non-financial support. Its mission is to champion the emirate as a dynamic global business events leader. “We will provide free, non-
biased assistance and support to professional convention, incentive and exhibition plan- ners, corporations and asso- ciations so that they can bid for, win and hold conferences, major business events, busi- ness meetings and congresses in Abu Dhabi,” explained His Excellency Jasem Al Darmaki, Deputy Director General, TCA Abu Dhabi. “The bureau’s formation
also demonstrates our recog- nition of the potential of exhi- bitions, conferences and busi- ness events – the MICE sector – to contribute to Abu Dhabi’s wider tourism aspirations and generate significant eco- nomic impact for the destina- tion through increasing visitor numbers, hotel occupancies, flights and other visitor and exhibitor spend. The bureau, which will
have both expatriate and Emirati expertise, will pro- vide a range of services to the industry including bid presentation support, del- egate generation campaigns, local stakeholder co-ordina- tion and knowledge, on-site
10 /
at bringing international events to the capital, and win- ning regional corporate meet- ings. The upgraded versions are being launched at GIBTM 2013 from March 25-27. “Last year 12 conferences
and exhibitions received sup- port from TCA Abu Dhabi under its Advantage Abu Dhabi incentive,” said Al Nuaimi. “Another five submissions
HE Jasem Al Darmaki, Deputy Director General, TCA Abu Dhabi and HE Ali Saeed Bin Harmel Al Dhaheri, Managing Director, ADNEC launch the Abu Dhabi Convention Bureau
destination advice, govern- ment support co-ordination and marketing assistance. “We are targeting six major
business wins this year, a further eight next year and a total of ten wins during 2015,” explained Al Darmaki. “Our strategy will be to target in- market opportunities that will generate incremental business in the short term while build- ing on international relation- ships for the long term. “Our timing could not be
better. We have our most competitive room rates ever – which can be a deciding factor for major associations and business event organis- ers looking to secure a host destination and our avail- able hotel stock is now well- suited to large events,” added Al Darmaki. “Our distinctive advantages are competitive rates, intelligent pricing, added value and innovative product. ICCA ranked Abu Dhabi
234th in the world for the eight major meetings held in the destination in 2011. “We have more than doubled that last year and realistically expect to be within ICCA’s Top 150 when the rankings are announced in the next few months.”
An economic impact study
commissioned by TCA Abu Dhabi shows 19 percent of international business events visitors coming to the emir- ate were not resident in the UAE. These visitors spent AED10,000 (US$2,723) per event while domestic visi- tors spent AED640 (US$174). In 2010 the total economic impact of business events on Abu Dhabi was AED 2.4 billion (US$653 million). Studies commissioned by
TCA Abu Dhabi and ADNEC suggest the economic impact from business events in Abu Dhabi is expected to increase by approximately 7% per annum on average up until 2020 based on historic performance. "Business event visitors
traditionally spend more than leisure tourists – some- times by up to seven times as much," said Mubarak Al Nuaimi, Director Promotions & Overseas Offices, TCA Abu Dhabi. "They stay longer, eat in more expensive restaurants and often revisit the destina- tion for family vacations." The authority is upgrad-
ing its Abu Dhabi Advantage incentive programmes aimed
under the initiative’s dedi- cated corporate meetings and incentives schemes were sup- ported and staged last year including the Schlumberger Interchange attended by 150 delegates; Toshiba Europe attended by 50 delegates; the Close Asset Group Incentive with 37 delegates; The Owners Group Abu Dhabi attended by 180 delegates and the InterContinental Hotel Groups Asia, Middle East and Africa Leaders Meeting attended by 400 delegates.”
LARGE EVENT SNAPSHOT
• April 2013: World Travel & Tourism Global Summit at Jumeirah at Etihad Towers
• June 2013: The Institute of Travel & Tourism’s annual confer- ence at Fairmont Bab Al Bahr
• November 2013: Interna- tional Conference on Neu- rology & Epidemiology
• March 2015: ADNEC will host the 16th World Con- gress on Tobacco or Health
• 2015: ADNEC hosts the 20th Asia Pacific Congress of Cardiology
• 2015: the 70th Annual Confer- ence of the World Association of Zoos and Aquariums will be held at the Al Ain Wildlife Park & Resort (AWPR) following an AWPR bid supported by TCA Abu Dhabi
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