DUBAI’s 232 bid wins in 2022 is almost double that of the previous year an includes the securing of 57 association conferences – the most won by the Gulf emirate in a calendar year.
The events are expected to bring an additional 135,000 visitors including scientists, thought leaders and business executives to Dubai and will boost the city’s growth as a knowledge economy hub, according to Dubai Business Events (DBE), which is part of the Department of Economy and Tourism.
DBE collaborated with a range of stakeholders for the successful event bids including Al Safeer Congress Ambassadors and the public and private sector entities they represent, industry partners including Dubai World Trade Centre and Emirates, and hotels and professional congress organisers across the city.
Starting from this year, the corporate and association events are expected to raise Dubai’s international profile among global conference organisers.
Dubai’s strong performance in 2022 represented a 95 per cent growth in the number of successful bids from 2021 and a 92 per cent increase in the number of delegates added to the pipeline, DBE said.
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“The remarkable growth in successful event bids contributes to the goal of the Dubai Economic Agenda D33 to make the city one of the top three global destinations for tourism and business,” said Ahmed al Khaja, CEO of Dubai Festivals and Retail Establishment, referring to the emirate’s D33 economic vision.
“As we work to further advance the objectives of the D33 agenda for the next decade, the collaborative approach taken with public and private sector entities across the city will be more important than ever before.
“Combined with Dubai’s own homegrown trade shows and conferences, as well as other meetings being brought to the city, the business events sector continues to form an important pillar of Dubai’s destination offering and tourism growth,” al Khaja said.
The remarkable growth in successful event bids contributes to the goal of the Dubai Economic Agenda D33 to make the city one of the top three global destinations for tourism and business
– Ahmed al Khaja, CEO of Dubai Festivals and Retail Establishment
Association events secured in 2022 include the International Federation of Clinical Chemistry and Laboratory Medicine WorldLab Congress 2024, International Congress of Endocrinology 2024, World Sports Medicine Congress 2024, World Congress of the International Society of Radiographers and Radiological Technologies 2026, and International Symposium on Dental Hygiene 2028.
Corporate meetings and incentives bid wins include IBM India and Europe Incentives 2023, Terpel Convention 2023, Envista EMEA Summit 2023 and Mary Kay Mexico Incentive 2024.
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Steen Jakobsen, associate vice president, Dubai Business Events said: “Engaging with meeting planners globally throughout 2022, we consistently heard that they were impressed with the way in which Dubai’s business events sector rapidly rebounded in the wake of the pandemic and appreciative of the platform the city provided them to safely resume their events.
“This has built on many years of efforts to consistently develop Dubai’s offerings, across not only the business events sector but also the knowledge economy – and drive awareness of it among meeting planners and association executives,” Jakobsen said.
