More visitors at Dubai World Trade Centre

Foot traffic at the Dubai World Trade Centre was up last year even though the number of shows it hosted was down. Victor Besa for The National

Dubai World Trade Centre said yesterday it received more than 3 million visitors last year, an 11 per cent increase on 2015, despite fewer events taking place at the exhibition centre.

Sheikh Ahmed bin Saeed Al Maktoum, deputy chairman of DWTC Authority, said that the long-term agenda of DWTC is to act as a key economic contributor to the emirate’s GDP.

Last year, there was a total of 298 meetings, incentives, conferences and exhibitions (Mice) and more than 100 mega-events, a 20 per cent drop from the 500 trade and mega-events held in 2015.

The added foot traffic was the result of an increase in events such as Gulfood, which had a 10 per cent rise in visitors with more than 93,000 attendees, while the region’s largest construction show, The Big 5, grew 22 per cent.

Positioning Dubai as a hub for business events also increases revenues from travel spending, which globally totalled US$1.15 trillion last year, according to the World Travel & Tourism Council. And that sector is expected to grow nearly 50 per cent to $1.72tn in the next decade.

“Across our business portfolio, we seek to deliver the future ‘integrated Mice destination’ at the very heart of Dubai, powered by the logistical and regulatory efficiencies of a dual license free zone ecosystem,” said Helal Almarri, director general of DWTC Authority.

DWTC is expanding to house more offerings such as One Central, a development that includes commercial assets, hotels, residences and a multi-purpose theatre. Mr Almarri said that all of these offerings helped to deliver strong returns for DWTC clients while strengthening Dubai’s attractiveness to international and regional businesses.

“We are confident in the resilience of the DWTC portfolio today, to catapult greater growth acceleration over the next three years, sustainably driving GDP contribution from the Mice sector as a key economic driver for Dubai,” said Mr Almarri.

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