The Emirati Hospitality

MICE and destination weddings in Abu Dhabi and Dubai

- KHURSHEED MISTRY

MICE exemplify an area of tourism which comprise business events and activities such as client meetings, brand and product promotions, business expansions, employee training and incentives. With innovative agendas, important players and a viable, strategic location, the last two decades have made Abu Dhabi and Dubai popular destinations for tourism, destination weddings and international businesses. In 2019, the UAE experienced crushing revenue losses caused by stringent travel limitations which steered the cessation of their main economy like airlines, hotels and tourism. Even though in 2022, they have made significant developments in reviving the economy by opening borders once again to world travellers, it will take some time before the country operates at full strength as before.

To further fortify economic advancement strategies, the Abu Dhabi government is pulling out all stops and has started making heavy MICE infrastructural investments in the city, with the aim of optimistically targetting three million visitors by the end of 2022. Dubai's ground-breaking, smart technological advancements have increased connectivity and bridged the travel gap, by offering first-time business travellers and repeat visitors, one-of-a-kind travel experiences. A 'digital, mobile and social first', aggressive tourism strategy for 2022 -2025 is expected to empower the harnessing of data, redefining a consumer's travel experience and creating cutting-edge digitised, customised and democratised travel eco-systems.

The Expo 2020 Dubai, brought a lot of positivity, buoyancy and confidence to the MICE industry, which is estimated to grow exponentially in 2022, with various interesting events added to the calendar.

Adding to the versatility of these well-known Emirates is their popularity as leading, global luxury hubs for destination weddings.