Large-scale exhibitions, trade events, conventions and conferences hosted at Dubai World Trade Centre (DWTC) in 2015 contributed Dh12 billion in retained value towards Dubai’s economy, equivalent to 3.1 per cent of the emirate’s GDP, according to a new report.
The latest Economic Impact Assessment report released by DWTC on 27 June focused on the cross-sector impact of MICE events driving incremental value across tourism, travel, hospitality and entertainment industries, collectively supporting more than 80,400 jobs as an immediate effect of hosting these events at DWTC.
Estimating the total economic output at over Dh20.9 billion for the 2015 period, the study said nearly 57 per cent of all the layers of spend generated by these events has been retained within the domestic economy, reflecting the strength of the MICE sector value-chain in Dubai.
DWTC, led the region’s MICE sector activity in 2015, hosting 104 large-scale events that attracted a total of 2.6 million delegates through the year, of which 1.19 million were from overseas resulting in nearly 46 per cent international participation at these events. The data represents a significant growth across both parameters when compared to the first economic impact report published by DWTC in 2011, which reported just over 30 per cent international participation of a total of 1.3 million visitors to events at the venue that year.
Defined as events hosting more than 2,000 attendees, large-scale events that form the focus of the study emphasise the importance of both, scale growth and the ability to attract a global audience, as being critical pillars to driving economic value. Another key takeaway is the ancillary benefit of each unit of MICE sector linked spending to sectors within the broader value chain that ultimately drive a significant fivefold multiplier effect. In other words, every Dh1 spent at a DWTC event created Dh5 in value for the wider Dubai economy in 2015.
“DWTC is committed to Dubai’s economic diversification strategy firmly aligned to the Dubai Plan 2021, and is working towards contributing business visitors to the tourism target of 20 million visitors by 2020. The value being created by attracting and hosting business events in Dubai is unmistakably impactful for our domestic economy,” said Saeed Almarri, Director-General, Dubai World Trade Centre Authority and Dubai Department of Tourism and Commerce Marketing.
"As evidenced by the high growth across all key MICE sector metrics from the number of mega-events, to the overseas participation and the larger spend per attendee that we are able to drive across related sectors within Dubai, DWTC has delivered a very strong CAGR on contribution to GDP over the past 3-4 years. With our ongoing capacity investments, we expect to continue to keep the momentum going on driving both, optimal scale and quality of content across our show calendar to ultimately allow business tourism to become an even greater economic engine for Dubai."
The 2015 study estimated that DWTC events generated Dh20.9 billion in total sales from event participation related spends, not including any commercial deals closed at, or resulting from the events, or the value of business partnerships established during the events. About Dh14.9 billion of this value was directly driven by event participants with the MICE and adjacent sectors relating to travel, tourism, hospitality and entertainment.
In fact, for every dirham spent within the MICE sector, nearly Dh2-5 were consumed across related sectors, reflecting the high interdependence and value co-creation opportunity at an aggregate level. An incremental 41 per cent sales output was generated as a ripple effect of these direct spends, and referenced as indirect (production linked) and induced (consumption linked) economic impacts.
During 2015, the report said that international attendees to business events at DWTC stayed on average six days and spent nearly Dh8,268 during their visit, which is nine times the average spend of UAE based attendees.
