Events for event planners kick off Abu Dhabi’s conference season

Abu Dhabi is gearing up for the start of conference season as it prepares to host two events that will help to support its ambition to claim a place among the world's top 50 meetings destinations.
This month the emirate will host the C&IT Middle East Forum, which will bring 40 United Kingdom-based event buyers, as well as the council meeting of the International Association of Professional Congress Organisers.
Abu Dhabi National Exhibition Centre (Adnec) and Al Ain Centre are projected to host 389 events this year, up from 360 last year.
The emirate hopes to rise through the ranks of the world's busiest meetings destinations after it entered the top 100 for the first time this year.
It climbed 134 places to reach 100 in the International Congress and Convention Association's 2012 global city rankings, and it now aims to crack the top 50 in five years.
To support that, Abu Dhabi Tourism and Culture Authority (TCA), has launched Abu Dhabi Convention Bureau, a one-stop resource shop for meetings planners, and it has upgraded its incentives to attract more buyers.
Events such as the forum and congress being held later this month are also key.
The first event, the C&IT Middle East Forum, organised by the UK's Conference and Incentive Travel magazine, will run from September 29 to 30 at Yas Marina Circuit, bringing together 40 senior buyers who each have a minimum budget of £150,000 (Dh870,000) to spend in the Middle East and 20 suppliers.
The event will help the capital to penetrate the UK corporate events market, said Mubarak Al Nuaimi, the director of promotions and overseas offices for TCA.
"This magazine's monthly readership spans 18,500 UK corporate events planners and buyers, including the event heads of some of Britain's largest blue chip organisations, who uses it as an informed guide to help them decide where to hold their next conference, incentive or meeting," he said.
"The readership has a combined annual spend of over €8.5 billion [Dh41.4bn] and is responsible for organising corporate meetings all over the world, with over 4,000 currently organising meetings in the Middle East and Africa."
The second event, the council meeting of the prestigious International Association of Professional Congress Organisers, which runs from September 29 to October 2, will include a free education event for Abu Dhabi stakeholders.
The event season kicked off this month in Abu Dhabi, which this year will host events including Adipec, the largest oil and gas event in the region, and Formula One, which both take place in November.
"When we talk about events we are talking about the main categories here. Business events, which are the meetings and incentives conferences and exhibitions and the leisure events," said Mohammed Al Dhaheri, TCA's strategy and policy director. "Both events enhance the tourism experience. They provide an economic contribution. They also attract visitors to us and increase our profile."
gduncan@thenational.ae