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DUBAI / WAM
His Highness Sheikh Ahmed bin Saeed Al Maktoum, Chairman of the Board of Dubai World Trade Centre Authority (DWTCA) announced the 2016 annual performance of Dubai World Trade Centre (DWTC) as the business surpassed a significant milestone in visitation traffic hosting 3.03 million delegates and attendees to events.
The results represent an impressive 11% year-on-year footfall increase attracting attendance from 185 countries with 51,711 exhibiting companies, of which nearly 70% were foreign exhibitors. DWTC’s continued growth in international participation reaffirms the strength of its diversified calendar of Meetings, Incentives, Conferences and Exhibitions (MICE), and is an endorsement of the company’s global reputation and contribution to Dubai’s positioning as a pivotal business hub.
Chairing the Dubai World Trade Centre Authority’s Annual Board Meeting, Sheikh Ahmed reviewed the company’s 2016 results, and its strategic plans for future growth and expansion.
Sheikh Ahmed said in his board address, “Since inception, DWTC has consistently built international repute as a strategic driver of growth for the region’s MICE sector and 2016 has continued this trajectory, delivering strong double digit performance across the business. Our strategic agenda to build a highly diversified events calendar for Dubai has been instrumental in allowing DWTC to retain undisputed regional leadership in the global MICE industry. Today, we continue to leverage our unique geographic positioning and the strength of the entire portfolio of DWTC businesses to collectively raise Dubai’s profile as a critical node on the new global Silk Road, by building the profile of the DWTC events programme, increasing the variety and number of events, improving the venue occupancy and accelerating regional and international visitation.”
Through 2016, DWTC’s Dubai International Convention and Exhibition Centre (DICEC), venue hosted 298 MICE and business events, including over 100 ‘mega-events’, delivering a record 3.03 million attendees, delegates and visitors to these events reflecting double digit year-on-year
increase over 2015 traffic.
With international participants growing 4% each across the number of visitors and the number of exhibiting companies, DWTC’s venue welcomed over 1.05 million foreign business travellers to Dubai last year, representing a strong 45% of its overall mega-event participant volumes.
“DWTC is recognised as a world-class entity in the global exhibitions industry with the ability to sustainably deliver an international platform for businesses from the East and West to connect, access and service emerging markets in the Middle East, Africa and South Asia regions.
The foundations it has built, and the continued momentum of its delivery will allow DWTC to become an even more dynamic facilitator of international trade within a diversified local economy that supports sustainable growth, employment and prosperity,” Sheikh Ahmed concluded.