IBTM Middle East Meetings Industry Report 2013

IBTM Middle East

Meetings Industry

Report 2013Report 2013

In association with :

Middle East Meetings Industry Research 2013

©GIBTM/The Right Solution Limited 22nd March 2013 1

Introduction and Methodology Welcome to the seventh Middle East Meetings Industry Research report brought to you by Reed

Travel Exhibitions (GIBTM) and Meetme.

The IBTM Global Meetings Industry research project provides exhibitors, visitors and all those

involved in the meetings industry with valuable information on buying trends and the issues affecting

destination choice in particular.

This summary of trends focuses on the Gulf, Middle East and North Africa region where research has

been undertaken every year since 2007, tracking the significant changes in the characteristics of

events including where business is coming from and which regions are most popular for meetings,

conferences and events.

An online survey was launched for buyers and suppliers with invitation to participate emailed to the

GIBTM Hosted Buyer and Trade Visitor databases, Meetme Media partner database, and IBTM

Portfolio Database. The link to the online survey was also promoted via Twitter, Facebook and

LinkedIn. The participation by hosted buyers to GIBTM has changed the average spend information

for this year so no direct comparisons have been made with previous years (hosted buyers tend to be

highest spending buyers). With all results the participating respondents are not identical from year to

year and caution has therefore been applied in drawing conclusions on trends.

209 buyers (those organising meetings and events of all types) and 210 suppliers (those providing

products and services for meetings and events) participated in the survey in February and March

2013.

I hope that the findings of this research give some useful information and provide evidence to support

your business strategy for developing business from the Meetings and Events sector. Further

information on the region can be found at www.gibtm.com.

Sally Greenhill

Managing Director, The Right Solution & Analyst of IBTM Global Meetings industry research

http://www.gibtm.com/



Background and General Market Information

The meetings industry in any region is very much affected by local and worldwide economic growth.

This research was undertaken at a time of fragile global recovery for many parts of the world

economy. However the results of the research reflect a healthy economy and positive growth position

for the Gulf, Middle East and North Africa region with IMF forecasted growth of 3.4% for 2013 rising to

3.8% for 2014.

There are variations in predicted growth within the region, with some countries struggling to maintain

economic stability under difficult conditions, and political unrest in Egypt and Syria continuing to

dominate the headlines. However Egypt saw tourist arrival levels start to bounce back during 2012.

As one of the CIVETS, along with Colombia, Indonesia, Vietnam, Turkey and South Africa, Egypt is

predicted to be one of the next major economic growth areas according to Jim O'Neill of Goldman

Sachs (who coined the phrase BRICS and predicted the tremendous growth in their economies) due

to its young active population and vast untapped natural gas resources.

As populations and business centres grow in the region, the volume of events is growing in tandem.

Healthcare, education and construction, all major issues for rapidly expanding nations, are major

generators of conferences, meetings and exhibitions. In addition to the research results outlined here

which clearly demonstrate the buoyancy of the meetings industry in the region, there are other

indicators of growth. Overall hotel occupancy In the region increased by 6.1% in 2012, average daily

rate decreased slightly to US$161.64 yet revpar increased by 5.6% to US$97.54. Dubai led the way in

high occupancy with 76.6%, average room rate of $232.10 and revpar $177.70.

There are reported to be USD 1 trillion of infrastructure projects underway in the Middle East with 50%

of that in the UAE. The current Middle East/Africa hotel development pipeline comprises 480 hotels

totalling 118,023 rooms (STR Global Construction pipeline January 2013). Oman sees the largest

expected supply growth of 4,613 rooms (+63.9%), supply that will be welcomed to support the new

exhibition and convention centre in Muscat. In addition the UAE, Saudi Arabia, Algeria, Qatar and

Kuwait are also predicted to see large growth. 44,438 rooms are predicted to open during 2013

including 7,868 in Dubai, on top of the 4,024 additional hotel rooms that opened in Dubai in 2012 and

1,522 rooms in Abu Dhabi.

Since the research began in 2007 it has been predicted that the region would see growth in

international association meetings taking place here. Dubai has already seen considerable success in

attracting international association conferences, with 79 in 2011 according to the Union of International

Associations. With the approval of the ‘Free Zone’ for associations in Dubai, the ICC at ADNEC in

Abu Dhabi and the newly launched Abu Dhabi Convention Bureau, and the exhibition and convention

centre being developed in Muscat, the volume of these events looks set to rise. The more traditional

destinations in the region for these events now have serious competition. This can already be seen in



the table below with the number of meetings in Morocco, Egypt and Tunisia reducing from 2010 to

2011 while the number increased in the UAE and Qatar.

UIA International association meetings in Middle East region

Country Number of meetings 2011 Number of meetings 2010

UAE 108 * 89

Morocco 29 39

Egypt 26 41

Qatar 21 11

Lebanon 14 13

Saudi Arabia 13 10

Tunisia 12 23

Jordan 10 11

Iran 10 12

Oman 7 6

*Dubai 79, Abu Dhabi 26, Sharjah, Al Ain and Ajman 1 each

High numbers of participants attend international association meetings in the Middle East region,

which will encourage other associations to hold their meetings here as they are keen to attract high

numbers and new members. The average for 2011 was 569 attendees, the 3rd highest figure after

North America and Africa (source ICCA). The highest generating country in the region in terms of

participants for 2011 was the UAE with 50,886, Morocco had 14,566, Qatar 14,298 and Egypt

12,892.

Key congresses for this year include the Society for Worldwide Interbank Financial

Telecommunication Congress expecting 8,000 delegates in Dubai, the 8th World Chambers

Congress for up to 2000 delegates in Qatar in April and the Excellence in Paediatrics conference for

3000 delegates in Qatar in December. Next year Dubai will host the Congress of the Asian Pacific

Dental Federation together with the Scientific Conference of Asian Pacific Endodontic Confederation

which anticipates 2500 attendees.

In 2012 the UAE moved up to number 23 in the top 25 country brands from 25th in 2011 (Source:

FutureBrand), the only country in the region to appear, due to positive perceptions of the UAE as a

place that is good for tourism, a good place to do business and offers high quality of life with good job

opportunities, all of which is helping to expand the meetings business. FutureBrand lists the UAE as

number one in the 'Future 15' country brands with great potential and Qatar is at number 4. The

developments outlined here combined with iconic construction projects and a strong services sector

suggest the UAE's vision to be 'among the best countries in the world by 2021' could well be realised.

The results that follow support all the evidence that the meetings industry in the region will continue to

grow apace in the future.



Full Research results for Buyers

The 209 buyer respondents to this year's research include 100 buyers based in the Middle East

and the remainder who organise events in the Middle East. Buyer respondents were based in

38 different countries with 32% from the UAE, a further 16% from other Middle Eastern

countries, and 52% from elsewhere in the world including 7% from India, a key generating

country of events and attendees for the Middle East.

They represent all the following target sectors of the market:

Third party organisers 52%

Corporate organisations 13%

Government Owned Enterprises, charities/not for profit organisations etc 10%

Trade and professional associations 7%

Other 17%

Buyers event types

Since the research began in 2007 the variety of events being organised in the region has expanded with

many more respondents now organising conventions and congresses (as seen in the UIA results on

page 3), more product launches and less reliance on incentive travel to make up the greater proportion

of demand.

67.4%

58.5% 56.3% 56.3%

33.9% 34.4% 29.5%

7.1%

Buyers event types



Number of events organised

During 2012 buyer respondents outside the region had organised an average of 5 events each

in the Gulf/Middle East/ North Africa region (and another 15 elsewhere in the world). This is

slightly higher than the 4.8 average in 2011. For those buyers based in the region this figure

increases to an average of 10.5 events per buyer and an additional 3.5 events elsewhere in the

world.

58% of Middle East based buyers had organised more events in the last twelve months

compared to 49% globally.

Volume of events in LAST 12

months More Same Less

Middle East buyers 58.3% 30.6% 11.1%

Global buyers 49.1% 36.7% 14.2%

The forecast for the year ahead is even more positive as can be seen from the 69% of locally based

buyers predicting more events for the next 12 months. 64% of buyers based in other areas of the

world are forecasting more events for the region.

Volume of events in NEXT 12 months

More Same Less


Global buyers 63.5% 28.1% 8.4%

Unlike other regions of the world where budgets are under extreme pressure even when volume is

increasing, 59% of Middle East buyers are forecasting increased budgets for the next twelve months

and 30% say budgets will remain the same as last year. This is slightly down on the last twelve

months when 62% had seen an increase in budgets and 27% said they stayed the same. Some

agency buyers did comment that they would like to see their clients budgets increase further. The

average percentage change in budget for the last 12 months was +8.2%

Budget in NEXT 12 months More Same Less


Global buyers 50.9% 39.1% 9.9%



When asked generally how they thought conference and event business in the region would change

over the next 12 months, 80% said it would increase, 18% said it would stay the same and only 2%

thought it would decrease.

Top countries within region by volume of events The top countries for the region by volume of events over the last twelve months are as follows:

1. UAE

2. Saudi Arabia

3. Egypt

4. Lebanon

5. Jordan

6. Qatar.

In comparison with previous years Saudi Arabia is now attracting much higher volume of events.

Within the UAE, Dubai attracts the largest majority with 49% of buyers active in organising events

there. Twice as many organisers had held events in Dubai as in Abu Dhabi.

Top countries within region by value of events The destinations within the region attracting the highest spend per buyer are as follows:

1. Saudi Arabia $627,500

2. Egypt $468,750

3. Dubai $442,308

4. Algeria $275,000

5. Abu Dhabi $271,053

6. Qatar, Kuwait & Libya $225,000

7. Lebanon $189,286

8. Morocco $181,250

Overall, the UAE typically attracts an annual spend of $525,000

Increase 80%

Decrease 2%

Stay the same 18%

In your view, will conference and events business in the GMENA region for the next 12 months ...



Top countries by satisfaction ratings Buyers were asked to rate their experience of holding events in the region on a scale from excellent,

through very good, satisfactory or poor. The highest rated countries are as follows:

1= Qatar and UAE

2. Jordan

3. Saudi Arabia

4. Egypt

Top countries for outbound business from GMENA

The countries being used by buyers based in the region for outbound events are as follows:

Country Percentage of outbound events

1. Turkey 23.7%

2. Spain 8.8%

3. France 6.7%

4. Malaysia 6.4%

5. India 5.8%

6. UK 4.9%

7. Indonesia 4.9%

8. USA 4.9%

9. Philippines 3.0%

10. South Africa 3.0%

Origin of attendees The chart overleaf shows the origins for delegates at events in the region. Outside the region

itself, the highest generating regions are Europe and Asia, proving the advantage of the

region's locations being mid way between the two continents.



Number of attendees The average number of attendee at events in the Middle East region for the last twelve months is 153.

The chart below shows that 50% of buyers had experienced increased attendees at their events in the

last twelve months.

0%

10%

20%

30%

40%

50%

60%

70%

80%

90%

Global buyers Gulf, Middle East & North Africa buyers

More 50%

Fewer 17%

Same 33%

How has the number of delegates changed for your events ?



Buyers' views on expected change are summarised in the chart below.

43 47 45 40

53

11 4 9 11

3

21 21 20 22 16

0%

20%

40%

60%

80%

100%

120%

Marketing andPromotional

budgets

New technologyshaping event

content

Attendancenumbers at events

Percentage ofattendees fromoutside the host

country

Increased use ofnew destinations

How do you think the following items will change for the meetings and incentives business over the next twelve months?

Increase Decrease Stay the same



Buyers' use of new technology and social media

6.6%

15.3%

15.3%

17.5%

19.0%

21.2%

21.2%

29.9%

31.4%

34.3%

38.0%

41.6%

72.3%

0% 10% 20% 30% 40% 50% 60% 70% 80%

Holograms

Location aware software e.g. Foursquare

Electronic RFP products e.g. Starcite, Cvent

Cloud computing to assist with event management

Virtual meetings instead of face to face meetings

Audience response systems

QR codes (specific matrix barcodes) for meetings management

Apps for providing delegate information

Web based access to conference content AFTER conference /meeting

Virtual meetings in addition to face to face meetings (to extendaudience)

Web based access to conference content DURING conference /meeting

Smartphones / tablets handed out for delegate information &communication during conference

Social media to communicate before/ during/ after the meeting



Trends and issues affecting meetings industry in Middle East

Throughout the world the following trends and issues are affecting the meetings industry:

Rapid technological innovation

Economic situation (particularly Europe)

Quality assurance

More regional meetings

Use of social media for marketing

Increasing impact of legislation, ethics and codes of conduct on individual industry sectors,

particularly pharmaceutical and financial services

Growth in members and ambassadors for association meetings

Risk management and security

Controlling costs.

For the Middle East region the buyer respondents cited the following issues as those which will most

impact their conference and events business in the next 12 months:

New technology and social media

The global financial and economic situation

Providing value for money and competitive rates and pricing, especially for air fares and hotel

rates.

Stability in certain countries - Egypt, Syria, Lebanon.



Research results for Suppliers The 210 supplier respondents represented a broad range of suppliers as shown below:

Supplier type Percentage of

respondents

Airline 13.7%

Attractions and entertainment 8.6%

Conference or events venue 15.7%

Convention & visitor bureau 2.0%

Cruise line/luxury train 5.1%

Destination management 19.8%

Hotel(s) 39.1%

Incentive destination 9.1%

Media 4.6%

National tourist organisation 5.1%

Other event services 29.4%

Technology provider 7.1%

Trade association (meetings industry) 5.6%

75% were based in the Gulf/Middle East/ North Africa region. The highest proportion of

supplier respondents were based in the UAE.

The types of organisation for which suppliers were most often organising or hosting events is

shown in the tables below.

Suppliers' client types Percentage of respondents

Corporations 65%

Agency 37%

Government owned enterprise 32%

Association/Institute/Society 26%

Consultant 24%

NGO (Non Governmental Organisation) 18%

Government/Not for profit sector 18%



Top ten suppliers clients' areas of activity Percentage of respondents

Oil and gas 41.6%

Financial/banking/insurance 41.1%

Pharmaceuticals/healthcare 40.6%

Hotels and catering 35.5%

Government/administration 35.0%

Construction/engineering 32.5%

Electronic/communications 28.4%

Training and education 25.9%

Manufacturing/industrial 23.9%

Retail 23.4%

Key countries

The top countries in the region in terms of volume of events organised by suppliers are as follows:

1. UAE

2. Saudi Arabia

3. Qatar

4. Egypt

5. Kuwait

6. Lebanon

7. Bahrain & Oman

8. Jordan

For the suppliers the top generating countries per region in terms of clients' for events (i.e. top

markets) are as follows:

Region Country

1. Middle East UAE

2. Asia India

3. The Americas Brazil

4. Africa South Africa

5. AusPac Australia

Suppliers' change reported

65% of suppliers experienced an increased number of events in the last twelve months and 70%

forecast an increase for the next twelve months. However this reduces to 40% who saw clients'

budgets increase in the last twelve months and 45% who think they will increase in the next twelve

months, with 21% thinking budgets will decrease. The second chart below shows that two thirds think



there will be increasing use of new destinations. Although the development of destinations has

progressed rapidly since the survey began in 2007, demand has been growing overall such that the

high proportion of business taking place in Dubai has not really changed even though newer

destinations have entered the market. It will be interesting to see if this changes over the next few

years.

65.4% 70.5%

40.1% 44.5%

10.7% 10.3%

32.5% 20.6%

24.5% 19.9% 28.7%

34.8%

0%

20%

40%

60%

80%

100%

120%

Number of events youorganised LAST twelve

months

Number of events youhold NEXT twelve months

BUDGET for the LASTtwelve months

BUDGET for the NEXTtwelve months

Suppliers change forecast


66%

45% 47%

63%

8%

25% 22%

7%

26% 30% 31% 30%

0%

20%

40%

60%

80%

100%

120%

Volume of events Budgets for individualevents

Marketing andpromotional budgets

Increasing use of newdestinations for events

Suppliers views of change for the meetings industry and incentives business over the next 12 months




Suppliers use of technology

The chart below shows that suppliers use of many new technologies is different to that of their clients,

something they will need .to be aware of and keep up with, if they are to stay competitive.

61.2%

43.4%

34.9%

20.9%

16.3%

15.5%

14.7%

7.0%

0% 10% 20% 30% 40% 50% 60% 70%

Social media to communicate with delegates/attendees before/ during the meeting

Apps for providing client/ delegate information

Virtual meetings

Audience response systems

Location aware software

QR codes for meetings management

Cloud computing

Holograms

Suppliers technologies used or provided within business

Documents

IBTM Middle East Meetings Industry Report 2013