Dubai Convention strengthens position as a leading business event hub

Dubai Business Events (DBE), the Official Convention Bureau, recently signed a partnership agreement with the Professional Convention Management Association (PCMA) with a view to further raise awareness of Dubai as a destination for business events globally and more specifically with PCMA’s 6,500 plus members made up of meeting industry leaders from across the world. As a leading organization for meeting and event professionals, PCMA strives to deliver superior and innovative education and promote the value of professional convention management to a global audience.

The partnership provides Dubai with access to PCMA’s impressive network of international meeting planners at global business events and trade shows around the world, including their own events, specifically their signature annual meeting ‘Convening Leaders’ which attracts around 4,000 leading delegates from the meeting industry. Headquartered in Chicago, USA, PCMA’s community strives to enhance their members’ professional development as well as their organisation’s face-to-face and online connections.

Steen Jakobsen, Director of DBE, a division of the Dubai Department of Tourism and Commerce Marketing (DTCM), commented: “We are proud to announce our partnership with PCMA, the leading global organisation for meeting and event professionals. Dubai is ready to show the world that it has what it takes to be a global hub for business and tourism, and we are keen to showcase the infrastructure we have in place to PCMA members around the world.”

He continued, “Through this partnership we would like to shine a light on the emirate as not only a business centre, but as a vibrant and innovative knowledge hub by promoting opportunities to collaborate in key fields such as life science and technology. Furthermore, PCMA members have a lot to look forward to when visiting Dubai, it is a business destination, but also a family and a leisure destination. We offer both budget and luxury, skyscraper and beach, desert and mall, as there is something for everyone here.”

As part of the agreement Dubai will host a Dubai-PCMA Meetings Forum in 2015 for around 25 international meeting planners. Sherrif Karamat, Professional Convention Management Association (PCMA) Chief Operating Officer, commented: “The planned meeting forum in Dubai is a great opportunity early on in the partnership for some of our members to experience the emirate first-hand – a place that we at PCMA believe to be a world class destination for meetings, conventions, events and tradeshows.”

In due course, through the partnership, Dubai is expected to receive significant exposure through PCMA’s extensive networks. This will add to the exciting times that are already being witnessed as the emirate does its part to deliver the Tourism Vision for 2020, which is to double tourism numbers from 10 million visitors in 2012 to 20 million in 2020. Dubai’s aim to be the world’s premier destination for business events and increase the number of international meetings held every year has also been bolstered by its winning bid to host the World Expo in 2020.