Business | Tourism

Abu Dhabi to tap business travellers

Shaikh Sultan Bin Tahnoun Al Nahyan, chairman of the Abu Dhabi Tourism Authority (ADTA), yesterday opened the second Gulf Incentives, Business, Travel and Meetings Exhibition (GIBTM) in Abu Dhabi.

  • Staff Report
  • Published: 23:38 April 8, 2008
  • Gulf News

  • Shaikh Sultan Bin Tahnoun Al Nahyan. Chairman of the Abu Dhabi Tourism Authority (ADTA),
  • Image Credit: Supplied picture

Dubai: Shaikh Sultan Bin Tahnoun Al Nahyan, chairman of the Abu Dhabi Tourism Authority (ADTA), yesterday opened the second Gulf Incentives, Business, Travel and Meetings Exhibition (GIBTM) in Abu Dhabi.

The event has already generated great interest in the Gulf and international tourism sectors, said Shaikh Sultan, adding that this is underpinned by growth in exhibitors, hosted buyers and overall attendance numbers for the 2008 event compared to the inaugural edition last year.

Moreover, he considers GIBTM to have a major catalytic impact on the development of the emirate and the region's meetings, incentives, conferences and exhibitions (MICE) tourism sector in 2008. He pointed out that business and MICE tourism is one of the most lucrative and high-growth segments in the global tourism industry, as well as having spin-off benefits in terms of international destination branding and facilitating overall trade and commercial linkages.

Milestone

Shaikh Sultan added that the wide interest in the GIBTM exhibition demonstrates a positive milestone in the implementation of the strategic plans of the Government of Abu Dhabi and in particular its focus on the development of tourism infrastructure that centres on luxury leisure facilities and services to showcase the emirate as a high-end and sustainable tourism destination.

All indicators, he said, show that the future of business and MICE tour-ism has a chance of real success and it is due to play a major role in the overall transformation of the Emirate into a leading tourism destination. He pointed out that the GIBTM Exhibition acts as an important showcase for Abu Dhabi's MICE infrastructure and services for meeting planners from all over the world. This in turn serves to strengthen international recognition for, and confidence in, Abu Dhabi's MICE capabilities, thereby enhancing the emirate's credibility to attract more international exhibitions.

Abu Dhabi hosted more than 197 international companies that attended the last year's event.

He said there has been a substantial increase this year in the number of participating companies which stands at 215 from 50 countries.

Shaikh Sultan said that tourism started gaining a paramount importance in the last few years in the light of the current trends to diversify the sources of income in the emirate.

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