Dubai to adopt new regulatory standards to relaunch exhibitions, conferences

Dubai: New regulatory standards will be deployed as part of the “roadmap” for Dubai to re-launch its MICE (meetings, incentives, conferences, exhibitions) activities.

All stakeholders will also work on “effective adoption” of the latest international safety and hygiene protocols, as well as “preventative and precautionary measures with stringent deployment across all upcoming events and exhibitions”. These will be aligned with the guidelines issued by the Dubai Government.

This was confirmed at a meeting organised by Dubai World Trade Centre Authority (DWTCA) with key partners and organisers of some of the biggest events Dubai hosts annually.

“We are working aggressively towards restarting and accelerating the return to normalcy of business events – a critical goalpost,” said Helal Saeed Almarri, Director-General, DWTCA and Dubai’s Department of Tourism and Commerce Marketing.

“Yet, safety of our visitors and assuring a well-rounded experience for every domestic and international participant supersedes all other priorities.”

As we look ahead, we’re learning to adapt by facing various economic dynamics and realties head on

Helal Saeed Almarri of DWTC Authority and Dubai’s Department of Tourism and Commerce Marketing

Adjust and evolve

Several of the high-profile events scheduled for the latter part of this year have been pushed to the next year. Others have set new dates for this year itself.

According to industry sources, it gives everyone ample time to work with the new realities post-pandemic. Especially one as dependent as the MICE sector on attracting sizeable visitor numbers to be deemed a success.

“By elevating our sustainable value propositions, we look forward to hosting and organising the upcoming events scheduled to take place in Q4-2020,” the DWTC chief said. 

“Every industry will undeniably go through an evolution to readjust to the changing realities, including the events and exhibitions sector. We see this as a tremendous opportunity and DWTC, backed by the continued commitment of our long-standing industry partners is ideally poised to not only surmount these near-term disruptions, but also pioneer new models of value creation for the global MICE sector.

“I am extremely heartened by the shared endorsement by my colleagues across Dubai’s MICE sector, and their collective confidence in Dubai’s and DWTC’s ability to enable a strong resurgence of the industry, so that together we emerge stronger – delivering sustainable RoI for the industry, and enhanced GDP for the economy.”

A huge influence on GDP

The Dubai World Trade Centre hosted events created 3.57 million attendees last year.

According to Simon Mellor, Managing Director – Middle East at Messe Frankfurt, “The trade fair industry has felt the impact of the pandemic, particularly in Dubai, which has a thriving exhibition sector at the Dubai World Trade Centre.

“Messe Frankfurt Middle East postponed two of our largest shows, Automechanika Dubai, and Beautyworld Middle East, which will now take place in the fourth quarter of 2020. Events of this scale are difficult to postpone, and we appreciate the flexible and supportive approach, underlining the importance of collaboration with all stakeholders during these unprecedented times.”