Association Insight International & European | Page 25

Dubai has excellent infrastructure that makes doing
business in and from the city is easy. The busiest
airport in the world for passenger traffic, Dubai
International Airport, welcomed over 70 million
passengers in 2014. There are currently more than 630
hotels in the Emirate, constituting over 92,000 hotel
rooms. By 2016, according to current plans, 15,00020,000 more rooms will be added to the market. While
more five-star properties are in the pipeline, Dubai will
also see an increase in the number of four and threestar properties as the city looks to enhance its midmarket appeal.
For business travellers, Dubai’s hotels offer a plethora
of flexible business facilities – whether that’s simply a
meeting room for 10 people or a convention for tens
of thousands. And of course, this is all supported with
the expansive facilities offered at the Dubai World
Trade Centre – the host for over 50% of all exhibitions
in the Middle East region.
Backed up by a professional service and a ‘can do’
attitude, business travellers appreciate the business
opportunities on offer in this city, which goes some
way to explaining why Dubai has been named among
the top three most vibrant cities in the world in the
City Momentum Index released by the realtor, Jones
Lang LaSalle in January 2014. Dubai stands tall with
its speed of innovation and creation of cutting-edge
businesses.

Dubai retained its top ranking in the Middle East
region for International Association Meetings, and
climbed 19 places globally to the 44th position in the
2014 International Congress & Convention Association
(ICCA) World Rankings - up from 63rd place in 2013.
The ICCA rankings are considered a dependable
and consistent benchmark on how individual
destinations which host international business events
are performing. Corporations and international
associations regularly use ICCA rankings to gauge the
event hosting capacity of a city they may wish to host
events in.
In terms of international meetings, the Union of
International Association (UIA) announced that Dubai
made huge leaps forward in the global rankings for
various meeting categories. The city jumped from
21st position to 14th globally for hosting top-tier
international meetings in 2014.
The city boasts high levels of service excellence,
strong government support and partnership, and a
knowledgeable industry of MICE experts, planners and
organisers all of which continue to propel Dubai as a
business events destination of choice.
Dubai is a city that makes the remarkable happen.