Officials in Abu Dhabi have launched a new force to drive their business-events ambitions forward as they look for the emirate to be ranked among the world’s top 50 association meetings destinations by the International Congress and Convention Association (ICCA) within five years.
The Abu Dhabi Convention Bureau, a newly dedicated, one-stop entity within the Abu
Dhabi Tourism & Culture Authority (TCA Abu Dhabi), will support the growth of exhibitions and conferences within the emirate by forging closer links with the industry and providing financial and non-financial support.
“We will provide free and non-biased assistance and support to professional convention, incentive and exhibition planners, corporations and associations so they can bid for, win and hold conferences, major business events, business meetings and congresses in Abu Dhabi,” said Jasem Al Darmaki, deputy director general, TCA Abu Dhabi. “This is a clear signal to the maturing local and regional business events industry and its international counterpart that Abu Dhabi is prioritizing its sector as never before and is a move totally aligned to Abu Dhabi’s 2030 economic vision.
“The bureau’s formation also demonstrates our recognition of the potential of exhibitions, conferences and business events to contribute to Abu Dhabi’s wider tourism aspirations and generate significant economic impact for the destination through increasing visitor numbers, hotel occupancies, flights and other visitor and exhibitor spend.”
The bureau, which will have both expatriate and Emirati expertise, will provide a range of services to the industry, including bid-presentation support, delegate-generation campaigns, local stakeholder coordination and knowledge, on-site destination advice, government support coordination and marketing assistance.
“We are targeting six major business wins this year, a further eight next year and a total of 10 wins during 2015,” said Al Darmaki. “Our strategy will be to target in-market opportunities that will generate incremental business in the short term while building on international relationships for the long term.
“In 2011, ICCA ranked Abu Dhabi 234 in the world for the eight major meetings held in the destination. 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.”
The launch of the new entity follows a detailed economic impact study commissioned by TCA Abu Dhabi, which indicates some 19 percent of business-events visitors to the UAE were international and not residents of the UAE. In 2010 the total economic impact of business events on Abu Dhabi was $653 million.
In addition, studies commissioned by TCA Abu Dhabi and the Abu Dhabi National Exhibition Centre (ADNEC) suggest the economic impact from business events in Abu Dhabi is expected to increase by approximately 7 percent per year until 2020 based on historic performance. Local officials anticipate the new convention bureau will help surpass that mark.
“The study findings make good reading all-round,” said Ali Saeed Bin Harmel Al Dhaheri, managing director, ADNEC. “Given the newly-formed Abu Dhabi Convention Bureau, this can potentially increase at a much higher rate – by up to 10 percent compounded average growth rate per annum over the next 10 years.”
The emergence of the new bureau follows a growing appetite for Abu Dhabi as a major convention destination over the past year and a huge surge in its major business events credentials following last year’s successful staging of the World Ophthalmology Congress at ADNEC and a number of subsequent competitive congress wins.
The authority is also working to upgrade its Abu Dhabi Advantage incentive programs aimed at bringing international events to the emirate and winning regional corporate meetings for the destination. The upgraded versions are to be launched at the Gulf Incentive, Business Tourism & Meetings exhibition (GIBTM), which will run at ADNEC from March 25-27.
To strengthen Abu Dhabi’s standing as a leading business-events destination, the convention bureau has partnered with several leading global organizations, including The Energy Cities Alliance, the Future Convention Cities Initiative, the ICCA, Meeting Professionals International, the Society of Incentive Travel Executives and UFI – the Global Association of the Exhibition Industry.
