Dubai has won a bid to host the International Association of Professional Congress Organisers (IAPCO) annual meeting and general assembly in 2017.
The annual event brings together approximately 100 of the world’s most influential conference organisers from 40 countries, who collectively manage approximately 7,000 meetings per year with a combined annual economic impact of over $5 billion.Steen Jakobsen, director of Dubai Business Events, said: "Part of our strategy to increase the number of visitors and business events hosted in Dubai every year centres on engaging with meeting planners and industry bodies from around the world to raise awareness about Dubai as a leading destination for international business events. By hosting the members of IAPCO, we are excited to be able to show what the city has to offer to a group of people who are highly influential in determining where major international meetings and association congresses take place every year."Dubai’s hosting of the key meetings industry event was announced at the IAPCO Annual Meeting in Lisbon, Portugal. The winning bid was spearheaded by Dubai Business Events (DBE), a division of Dubai Tourism which serves as the city’s official convention bureau, in close partnership with local IAPCO members Meeting Minds and MCI Dubai. Key tourism industry stakeholders Emirates and Madinat Jumeirah also played a key role in securing the event.By welcoming IAPCO members to Dubai in 2017, local tourism industry stakeholders will also have the opportunity to build relationships with key meetings decision-makers, and showcase their products and services first hand.Commenting on Dubai’s bid, Michel Neijmann, current president of IAPCO, said: "The quality of Dubai’s bid was outstanding and truly reflected the local co-operation of all stakeholders. The bid showed a great understanding and support of IAPCO’s quest for quality in the meetings industry, and there is no doubt that the spirit of Dubai will inspire the members of IAPCO to keep learning and developing their businesses."Figures gathered by the International Congress and Convention Association (ICCA) also show a shift towards ‘new’ markets. In the most recent ICCA Statistics Report, released in 2014 showing results for 2013, the US and Europe dominate the market for international congresses. However, while long-standing destinations stay at the top of the rankings, their share of the market has fallen. Europe, for example, has consistently attracted the highest number of meetings of any continent, but its market share has shrunk from 72.3 per cent in 1963-1967 to 54.0 per cent in 2008-2012. On the other hand, the market share of meetings in Asia/Middle East, by contrast, has grown from 8.2 per cent in 1963-1967 to 18.2 per cent in the same period.