GIBTM concludes , Middle East fastest growing market
Abu Dhabi – The Gulf Incentive, Business Travel & Meetings show welcomed over 74 first-time participants, over 250 key targeted hosted buyers, over 2,000 trade visitors, expanded its line-up to include a fresh business travel focus and added exclusive access to new industry research.
GIBTM 2014 is the eighth edition of the industry showcase and delivered its most content-rich programme to date, boosted by the region’s flourishing meetings calendar and vibrant business travel sector.
This year’s event, which took place at the Abu Dhabi National Exhibition Centre, saw local, regional and international suppliers and buyers meet face-to-face with over 8,000 appointments in an expanded line-up of interactive seminars and panel sessions.
Abu Dhabi National Exhibition Centre is considered the Middle East’s Leading Exhibition & Convention Centre by the prestigious World Travel Awards.
The Middle East is the fastest growing international association meeting market in the world according to an International Congress and Convention Association (ICCA) study which was revealed recently, coinciding with the eighth edition of Gulf Incentive, Business Travel and Meetings (GIBTM) opened on 24 March.
Highlighting Abu Dhabi’s support for the meetings and incentive industry HH Nahyan bin Mubarak Al Nahyan, Minister of Culture, Youth and Community Development and Board Member of the National Council of Tourism and Antiquities, attended the show after Sultan Al Daheri, Acting Executive Director of Tourism Sector, at the Abu Dhabi Tourism & Culture Authority (TCA Abu Dhabi), had led the official opening tour at GIBTM.
After the official tour, the International Congress and Convention Association (ICCA) which celebrated its 50th anniversary in 2012, issued a statistics report revealing that the total number of regularly-occurring, internationally-rotating association meetings is increasing by 100% each decade and has been consistently doing so for the last 50 years, with no signs of a slowdown.
Commenting on the findings, Martin Sirk, CEO of ICCA, which is the most global meetings industry association comprising almost 1,000 member companies and organisations in over 90 countries, said:
The report highlighted that between 1998 and 2002, there were 532 association meetings in the Middle East. That figure had grown to 905 between 2003 and 2007 and then expanded once again between 2008 and 2012 to 1,776 association meetings.
“The number of meetings in the Middle East has even grown even quicker than in other regions, it has more than tripled over the last decade,” said GIBTM Exhibition Manager Lois Hall.
Middle East MICE Buyers Report surveyed planners from across the region to gain direct insight into their purchasing habits and the decision-making process. A preview revealed that the UAE is the leading destination 66% of meeting planners reporting having held meetings there in the last two years, with Dubai the most popular location.
For more information:gibtm.com
March 26 , 2014
