The Dubai Department of Tourism and Commerce Marketing's (DTCM) director general HE Helal Saeed Al Marri has announced that the hotel and travel industry can expect a lot more profit to come from the city's convention and exhibition market.
Speaking exclusively at the Hotelier Middle East Great GM Debate 2013, HE Al Marri said that the convention and exhibition sector formed an important part in the department’s 2020 strategy.
“There is a very good opportunity to more than double the number of visitors from the exhibition industry,” His Excellency noted.
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“When we are looking at the MICE visitors, as are all the hoteliers, the profitability of all the visitors is very high, even when compared to the normal independent business traveller,” he added.
One area in which DTCM believes has been an issue in recent years is the emergence of second tier exhibitions which have now become overpriced. As a result, DTCM has held a number of workshops with hoteliers to look at how these 2nd tier events can be increased in both number and size as well as working the industry to make them into first tier events.
The increasing importance of this sector has seen DTCM’s executive director, business tourism, Hamad Mohammed Bin Merjren taking care of the business and non-business elements of The Dubai Convention and Events Bureau, with particular focus on the convention side.
HE Al Marri explained with the right collaboration Dubai could see itself as a prime location for conventions and exhibitions.
“The way I see the business moving forward over the coming years is that Dubai will establish itself much more as an annual hub. When you look at more established markets like Copenhagen or Paris, you will see that the majority of their business is annual events which range between 200 people and 2-4,000 people where they are very regionally focused,” he added.
Recent Dubai Chamber of Commerce changes to regulations for establishing associations in Dubai allows for companies to set up offices and their own business in the emirate without the need for a local sponsor under an independent status.
“As we start to grow stronger and stronger, what we as DTCM is planning to do is to really bring more of those associations. What is happening as a result of that is that we are not just getting their one big event a year, we are getting all their small events as well.
“I see this sector as something that requires the upmost collaboration and will be where a lot of our profits will come from in the future,” HE Al Marri concluded.
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