Dubai World Trade Centre sees 2.2 million visitors in 2013

Dubai World Trade Centre posted a record breaking year for 2013 with 2.2 million trade delegates and attendees visiting the growing calendar of events, exhibitions and congresses held at the MENASA region’s largest venue operator and event organiser – marking the first time the figure has crossed the 2 million milestone.

Dubai World Trade Centre hosted 373 MICE and business events throughout 2013, up from 302 in the previous year, attracting visitors from 153 countries, and exhibiting companies from over 130 nations. This growth in the calendar showcases the result of the last three years of strategic focus on investing in higher quality and stronger trade events across a range of industries including Healthcare, ICT, Energy, Finance and Economics, Food, Logistics and Retail.

Among the high-profile additions to the 2013 calendar, which played a contributing role, were GISEC (Gulf Information Security Expo & Conference), The Big Entertainment Show, Middle East Rail, International Cardiology Symposium and Sibos. Show content and visitor quality measured equally favourably with the 80 top tier exhibitions recording an average traffic of nearly 25,000 attendees per event with some mega-consumer shows attracting upwards of 100,000 people, such as GITEX Shopper which debuted a new Spring event.

"The strong 2013 performance is a reflection of a more stable global economy, domestic market recovery in construction and real estate, and growing consumer confidence.

“Our focus on developing stronger events within key sectors for Dubai’s economy, and growing the international attendance at events hosted in our venue, has allowed Dubai World Trade Centre to sustainably increase the value created for all stakeholders within the MICE sector - ultimately driving even greater GDP contribution," said Helal Saeed Almarri, Director General of the Dubai Department of Tourism and Commerce Marketing and CEO of Dubai World Trade Centre.

Across trade events hosted in 2013, DWTC registered nearly 40% international participation, highlighting the growing collaboration between the city, the venue and event organisers to maximise outreach efforts and deliver a holistic visitor experience. 

Additionally, Dubai World Trade Centre attracted several association and congresses in 2013 led by high-profile events such as Sibos, the premier forum for the international financial services sector; the International Joint Replacement Congress; International Cardiology Symposium; and ITU Telecoms World.

The increasing number, stature and international scope of congresses and conventions hosted at the venue during 2013 underscored the deepening cooperation between Dubai World Trade Centre and the public sector to pitch for and win these events.

"We operate in an extremely competitive global and regional MICE environment. To retain Dubai’s positioning as a global hub for regional networking, government entities, public sector stakeholders and all our international industry partners must continue to work collaboratively.

Over the last decade, Dubai World Trade Centre has seen a trebling of its visitor numbers and we expect to continue strategically attracting more international business travellers, and incentivising higher spend with a more diversified event calendar, in line with His Highness Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, UAE Vice President, Prime Minister and Ruler of Dubai’s Tourism Vision for 2020," he added.

In addition to business events that brought in the 2.2 million participants, Dubai World Trade Centre saw a 59% growth across its calendar of entertainment and live events. An increased portfolio of 54 consumer facing events in 2013, drew more than 631,000 guests, and included the popular Dubai Sports World and the inaugural Dubai Music Week, both due to return in 2014, as well as a broad range of concerts with local, regional and international acts.

To accommodate and support the increase in number and diversity of events, Dubai World Trade Centre also expanded its facilities in 2013 adding semi-permanent and niche venue capacity to the existing 98,000 sqm. covered space. Meeting events increased by 116%, notably due to doubling of meeting room numbers to facilitate one-to-one networking, corporate launches and smaller conferences supplementing the larger exhibitions and for stand-alone events away from the show floor.

Our events and visitor numbers in 2013 clearly demonstrates that Dubai is a strong preference for top tier decision makers to network and do business and the Dubai World Trade Centre expects to continually build the strength and global competitiveness of our city’s MICE proposition as every event presents businesses and professionals the opportunity to see the long term potential of Dubai as a business hub and a gateway to the growing MENASA region," added Al Marri. 
 

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