(MENAFN- Khaleej Times) Dubai World Trade Centre Authority (DWTCA) on Monday said the number of visitors and delegates in 2017 increased nine per cent to Dh3.3 million, exceeding three million mark for the second consecutive year.
The region's largest trade venue hosted 353 meetings, incentives, conferences and exhibitions ((MICE) and business events, an increase of 18 per cent over 2016.
Visitors, delegates and attendees from 185 countries attended the events while 56,360 exhibitors from 154 countries exhibited last year.
With 39,202 exhibitors from overseas markets, DWTC registered 10 per cent growth over 2016 on the back of good return on investments for foreign firms.
International participation also posted a steady increase, as over 1.1 million foreign business visited the events in 2017, representing 42 per cent of overall participant volumes and six per cent annual growth. China, Germany and Turkey made their debut in the top 10 source markets, while dominant mainstays Saudi Arabia, India, Oman, United Kingdom, Kuwait, Iran and Egypt, completed the list of top 10 business visitor markets.
"The strong increase in the number of key MICE and business events reflect sectors that are strategically aligned with Dubai Plan 2021 and the goals of building an innovation-led economy that contributes to the development of the UAE and Dubai. Our strategic innovation agenda is to transform Dubai into a global platform for industries based on knowledge, innovation and sustainability, and is inspired by the success of the UAE's competitiveness as it achieved top rankings in 50 global indices including the IMF's Ease of Doing Business Report and Insead's Global Innovation Index, as well as the 10X growth vision for Dubai to be 10 years ahead of other competitive cities," said Helal Saeed Almarri, director-general, DWTCA and Dubai Department of Tourism and Commerce Marketing.
The DWTC added 29 new entrants including five exhibitions, nine associations and 15 conferences. Its 103 mega-events attracted 2.6 million participants and 91 of the top-tier exhibitions recorded an average traffic of 28,132 attendees per event.
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