The Government of Dubai’s Department of Tourism & Commerce Marketing (DTCM) showcased the city’s world class business events facilities at the Asia-Pacific Incentives & Meetings Expo (AIME) in Melbourne for
the 16th consecutive year. The participation comes at a time when the sector is thriving in Dubai and when the Emirate’s tourism industry has seen record growth from the Australia and New Zealand market.
Accompanied by Mohamed Almuhairi, DTCM Head of Region for Australia and New Zealand, this year’s delegation from Dubai will comprise 27 representatives from hotels and ground operators, as well as the Dubai Convention and Events Bureau (DCEB), a division of DTCM. Together the Dubai delegation will exhibit some of the best examples of what the city has to offer the Australia & New Zealand business events market.
“The business events sector remains an important segment of Dubai’s tourism industry,” says Julie King,Director of the DTCM Australia and New Zealand Representative Office. “The emirate is a globally recognised centre of commerce and trade which offers world class facilities, an impeccable reputation for high quality service, and excellent value for money.”
“In November 2013, Dubai successfully won the bid to host the 2020 World Expo. A World Expo in Dubai in 2020 will be the first to be held in the Middle East, North Africa and South Asia region and will be a platform that would help pioneer new partnerships for growth and sustainability. The Expo 2020 theme for the UAE is: Connecting Minds, Creating the Future, and during its six month run it is expected to attract more than 25 million visitors, with 70% of them coming from outside the United Arab Emirates.”
“The World Expo 2020 winning bid may be the ultimate achievement for 2013, with the city winning no fewer than ten further bids to host international conferences over the next three years, bringing the number of conferences coming to Dubai up until the end of 2016 to 21 with an expected delegate attendance of more than 46,000”.
“Dubai is a dynamic destination where it is easy to conduct business. Presently, with a hotel room inventory of 84,000 and an objective to increasing this to between 140,000 and 160,000 by 2020, the Emirate has state-of-the-art conference and exhibition facilities, a fast and efficient rail public transport system, along with a large host of exciting attractions,” added King.
2013 also saw the beginning of the partnership between Emirates and Qantas, which no doubt contributed to a significant swell in visitor numbers from Australia and New Zealand to Dubai.
Commenting on the 36.4% year-on-year increase in visitor numbers from Australia and New Zealand to Dubai in 2013, His Excellency Helal Saeed Almarri, Director General of Dubai’s Department of Tourism and Commerce Marketing (DTCM), said: “Australia and New Zealand continues to be a key market for Dubai’s tourism industry, across both leisure and business tourism. In recent years we have seen consistent growth in visitor numbers from this market and the 2013 numbers show a significant increase in tourists from Australia and New Zealand visiting our Emirate. Coming a few weeks before we announce the total 2013 visitor numbers from all of our source markets, this demonstrates a very encouraging first step on our journey towards delivering our target of doubling the 10 million visitors we welcomed in 2012 to achieve 20 million per year by 2020.
“2013 was a momentous year for Dubai, with the winning of the bid to host World Expo 2020 a landmark time in our history. While we look forward to the future, it’s important to note the extremely healthy state of our tourism industry in the present day. In addition to very encouraging visitor numbers, 2013 was a year in which we saw 19 hotel establishments added to our offer and a number of announcements regarding new hotels which will come online in the next three years; billion dollar orders at the recent Dubai Airshow; and a range of new events, attractions and restaurants. Further, Dubai was named as a ‘Travellers Choice’ destination by Trip Advisor, an accolade that demonstrates our strong position amongst opinion formers in the travel industry.”
Steen Jakobsen, Director, Convention and Business Tourism, Dubai Convention and Events Bureaucommented: “Business events are one of the key areas of focus to achieving the Dubai Tourism 2020 vision, with the strategy setting out plans for enhancing Dubai’s status as a global business and knowledge hub. Today, the Emirate makes up around half of the Middle East’s entire business events market. DTCM will work with the industry and other government agencies in improving the business tourism offer to make sure that Dubai is among the easiest and most effective places to organize business events.”
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