UAE Among Most Popular Global MICE Destinations In 2014 – Study

The UAE, specifically Dubai, emerged as one of the most popular destinations for MICE (meetings, incentives, conferences, and exhibitions) in Europe, Asia and the Middle East in 2014, according to a new study released by global events organiser Pacific World.

The research found that India, USA, Eastern Europe, Scandinavia and Benelux were the key source markets for the UAE, with the majority of clients coming from the pharmaceutical, IT and automotive industries.

Harsha Krishnan, Strategic Development director at Pacific World, attributed the recent rise in interest for the UAE to two key factors.

“Primarily, the exemption of Eastern European countries from UAE tourist visas has enabled meeting planners from countries including Poland, Slovenia, Slovakia, the Czech Republic, Lithuania, Hungary, Latvia, Estonia, Malta, Cyprus, Croatia, Romania and Bulgaria to consider Dubai as a more realistic and less complicated destination for their events in terms of logistics,” he said.

“Secondly, the announcement that Emirates would open several new routes, including Chicago, Boston, Oslo, Brussels, Kiev, Taipei, Kano, Abuja has also placed Dubai as a much more accessible incentive destination.

“The airline has also increased its number of flights to destinations including San Francisco, Houston, Doha, Frankfurt, Karachi, Mumbai, Delhi, and the Seychelles,” he added.

Dubai was also able to position itself as a high-end luxury incentive destination because of new infrastructure projects such as the Dubai Tram and the opening of a number of new hotels, the report said.

“Dubai is an ever-changing city which attracts a lot of repeaters due to the fact that there is something new all the time,” stated Jestine Alfred, Destination manager at Pacific World.

“The city and the key MICE players have been able to create and keep the interest for the destination investing in new hotels and attractions, developing new products for incentives and meetings.

“By 2020 Dubai is targeting 20 million tourists so the city development won’t stop,” he added.

Dubai along with Abu Dhabi, are tapping into the potential of the incentive tourism market and hosted the largest ever-corporate holiday to the country by Chinese beauty product manufacturer Nu Skin last year.

Around 14,500 employees of the Chinese corporate flew to the UAE, fuelling the country’s tourism revenues.

With the two emirates already hosting a series of events and exhibitions, in sectors ranging from energy to real estate to fashion, officials have said that MICE is a key component of the UAE’s tourism strategy.