Middle East
Qatar Qurated
atar National Tourism Council
(QNTC) led 10 industry stand
partners on a 127sqm pavilion
at IMEX in May, showcasing
the country’s increasing venue capacity
for hosting business events.
Qatar has a National Tourism Sector
Strategy and a new, ‘Qatar Business Events
Corporation (QBEC)’, effectively QNTC’s
executive arm for managing events and
venues in the state.
The main knowledge sectors in the
country are Education, Health, Oil &
Gas, Sport and Urban Development and
the QBEC, says Rashed AlQurese, Chief
Marketing Officer QNTC, the main agency
for connecting these sectors to the private
sector and acting as a point of contact for
international organisers.
“Last year, we hosted over 150
exhibitions and conferences in various
fields and won the rights to host eight
major business events to be held between
2019 and 2022 with 2,400 prospective
participants,” says AlQurese.
‘Qatar. Qurated for you’ is the country’s
first global destination campaign launched
in November 2018 and offers tailored
visitor experiences that celebrate heritage.
It is being rolled out in eight languages
across 15 priority markets.
Over the five-year period between 2012-
2017, QNTC reports a 36% average growth
rate in exhibitions and the tourism sector,
which now contributes 6.6% of GDP.
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Issue 3 2019
The Qatar National Vision 2030 is fast
taking shape and promoting the smart and
sustainable cities of Lusail and Msheireb
as part of the Education City initiatives.
Qatar’s Financial Centre is also
promoted as a one-stop-shop for firms
considering opening local offices.
And, in Doha, work on infrastructure
for the 2022 FIFA World Cup is proceeding
apace, including stadiums and the Metro,
with a station at Doha Exhibition and
Convention Centre (DECC). The centre
reported a record year in 2018 and
2019 on track for even better figures.
Highlights include the Doha Jewellery
& Watches exhibition earlier this year
which attracted 30,000 visitors over six
days, up 28% on 2018. While the 8th Qatar
International Agricultural Exhibition grew
33% in terms of space, and both exhibitor
and visitor numbers were up over 200%.
Construction exhibition Project Qatar 2019
attracted 14,500 visits and 510 exhibitors
from 34 countries (an increase of 21% vs.
2018).
A DECC spokesperson tells EW: “The
growing exhibition industry in Qatar is
powered by the State’s 2030 Vision which
aims at diversifying the economy and
investing heavily into non hydro-carbon
sectors, including healthcare, education,
transportation, tourism, renewable
energy, and financial services. We are in
discussion with some organisers to launch
new exhibitions in those profiles.”
Word of mouth:
The Middle East is leading the way in
social referral marketing
Gleanin, the event tech company behind
the referral marketing platform, Gleanin
Connect, has been helping to support
organisers globally to deliver attendees to
their exhibitions for more than four years.
With 700+ events now under their
belt, Gleanin Connect boasts it is used by
large organisers in the Middle East region
including Informa Markets, DMG Events,
Reed Exhibitions, Tarsus and Clarion.
The company says it now has meaningful
data providing insights, including how
organisers can better harness their
attendees for word of mouth marketing.
While the more traditional marketing
channels are perhaps weakening in their
ROI for event marketers, word of mouth
marketing is fast becoming one of the most
effective; generating brand awareness and
delivering new visitors at, sometimes, a
fraction of the cost - and nowhere is this
truer than for events in the Middle East,
according to Gleanin.
Global statistics produced by the
company show that an event using its
platform can usually expect to see around
15% of registrants advocating, however in
the Middle East those rates are averaging
22% of all registrants advocating. Arguably,
more important than this is that word of
mouth marketing is delivering on average
5.5% of the total pre-registrations for the
company’s Middle East clients.
w w w.exhibitionworld.co.uk