WITH Dubai now hosting many international meetings, the Dubai Convention Bureau (DCB), Dubai Tourism and Commerce Marketing (DTCM) and the UK-based Janet Sealy Partnership (JSP) are marketing Dubai in Europe as a leading associations destination and continuing to bid for global conferences and conventions until 2020.

Hosting these events creates awareness of what Dubai has to offer and demonstrates the emirate’s capabilities. Dubai will host over 2,500 international visitors for the 53rd World Association of Cooks Societies (WACS) World Congress from May 6 to 9 2008 at DICC. It will also host the Annual World Dental Congress of the Federation of Dentist International (FDI) from October 24 to 27 for at least 15,000 delegates.
Says Khalid bin Sulayem, director general of the DTCM, “The appointment of JSP will go a long way to marketing Dubai as an associations destination of choice. Europe has been a major source market for Dubai's fast-§1234growing tourism industry and we consider it still holds immense potential for growth, especially in the associations meetings industry.”
Adds Awadh Seghayer Al Ketbi, director of the DCB, “We have succeeded in promoting Dubai as an events destination and in the incentives market. We are bidding for events until the year 2020 bearing in mind the infrastructure and facilities that the emirate will gain during this period.'
Set up in 2003, the DCB supports Dubai's convention businesses by marketing their facilities internationally and bids on behalf of Dubai for international events. The bureau is targeting 750,000 additional guest nights from the international rotating meetings market by 2008, generating cumulative revenues for Dubai's hotels in excess of $200 million.