A group of 55 business event planners and buyers from across Europe have concluded an experiential and knowledge-building tour of Dubai, exploring the city’s robust and ever-growing offering for meetings, conferences and incentive travel programs.
Hosted by Dubai Business Events, the city’s official convention bureau, the three-day “Discover Dubai 2020” study mission was curated to showcase some of Dubai’s most diverse destination offerings including world class hotels, venues, attractions and entertainment, and to provide a comprehensive preview of Expo 2020 Dubai.
Highlights on the group’s itinerary included premier hotels Armani Hotel, Sofitel Dubai Downtown, Madinat Jumeirah, Hilton Al Habtoor City, Burj Al Arab and the Caesars Palace Bluewaters Dubai. The itinerary also involved experiencing a number of the city’s leading attractions such as the exhilarating La Perle show, with stakeholders on hand to showcase the opportunities for meeting planners and the support available to them.
“Building on the strong links we have established with the business events community across Europe, our first study mission of the year has provided us with an opportunity to further elevate Dubai as a destination of choice for meeting planners” says Steen Jakobsen, assistant vice president of Dubai Business Events. “This has been made possible by the strong support we have received from stakeholders across the city, enabling us to demonstrate to our visitors the diverse, robust offerings they can take advantage of, as well as the strong connectivity and infrastructure that has made this one of the most visited cities in the world and the number one destination for business events in the region.”
Demonstrating a strong focus on transforming the city into a global knowledge hub, delegates participated in a Leadership Forum, hosted at the Expo 2020 Dubai site. The group was also given a comprehensive preview of Expo 2020, including a site tour and details of the new Dubai Exhibition Centre, which is co-located at Expo 2020 and is already seeing strong interest from meeting planners.
“It was a pleasure to welcome this important delegation to the Expo 2020 Dubai site to see our exciting plans taking real shape as construction is completed,” comments Shaun Vorster, vice president for programming at Expo 2020. “For six months during Expo 2020 (20 October to 10 April 2021), there will be no place on the planet that provides a better opportunity to network with governments, educational institutions, thought leaders, business leaders, start-ups, innovators and industry associations than at the Dubai Exhibition Centre.”
Paul Lake, creative solutions specialist at BCD Meetings & Events, adds: “I’ve been coming to Dubai for 20 years and its ability to reinvent itself just astounds me. The reason I came on this trip was the unique backstage access to Expo 2020 Dubai Business Events offered. I can see a massive demand from corporations and we have a seen interest in Dubai specifically because of it. It’s simply another reason to visit Dubai.”
Dubai Business Events is set to host a further five study missions from around the world throughout 2020, and also participate in sales missions in Europe and other markets, road shows and trade shows including IMEX in Frankfurt and IBTM World in Barcelona, as it continues to prioritize engaging with meeting planners and other business events professionals.
Dubai Business Events (DBE) aims to further develop and increase Dubai’s share of the international business events market in order to grow economic development, jobs and knowledge creation in the emirate. DBE’s main goal, as a division of Dubai Tourism, is to establish the Emirate as a premier business event destination by helping organizers of international meetings, incentives, congresses and exhibitions plan and manage every aspect of their event. For more info, visit https://www.visitdubai.com/
