Abu Dhabi’s flagship convention centre operator ADNEC is reporting a total of 302,000 visitors to 12 exhibitions, and 108 conferences and events held at its venues in Abu Dhabi and Al Ain in Q1 2017.
Venue operator Abu Dhabi National Exhibitions Company says the direct and indirect contribution to the emirate’s economy from these events reached AED1.12 billion (US$300m) in Q1 2017, a figure, it says, that represents an 8% growth.
Existing events, including the IDEX and NAVDEX editions (bigger than ever this year), contributed heavily to the Q1 results.
During the quarter, ADNEC also supported of 6,922 jobs and 240,396 guest nights for the hospitality sector in the emirate.
ADNEC’s ‘emiratisation’ of its workforce continued apace, with 60.8% of the total staff now UAE nationals. The figure for senior management positions is even higher, reaching 82% towards the end of Q1, 2017.
Her Excellency Noura Al Kaabi, minister of state for federal national council affairs and chairwoman of Abu Dhabi National Exhibitions Company, said the company was “delighted” with the Q1 results. “ADNEC is implementing the collective vision of our leadership that recognises the crucial role of non-oil sector in achieving sustainable economic growth,” Al Kaabi added.
“Together with our partners, ADNEC takes pride in playing a major role in Abu Dhabi’s economic transformation through the development of business tourism sector and enhancing Abu Dhabi’s reputation as a destination of choice for key event organisers and professional associations. At ADNEC, we act on our core mandate to create new opportunities for Abu Dhabi economy through attracting more high profile international events to our venues.”
Humaid Matar Al Dhaheri (pictured), group CEO at ADNEC, said: “ADNEC has continued to deliver impressive growth and strong performance across all our business segments in the first quarter of 2017. This is achieved thanks to our continued focus on the diversifications of our event portfolio, meeting the evolving requirements of our customers, as well as developing the skills of our world class workforce especially the UAE national talents.”
Al Dhaheri added: “As we continue into the second quarter of 2017, we are committed to maintaining the momentum and achieving new milestones despite increased competition from other key venues. We are confident that our top-notch facilities and ability to cater to the dynamic customer requirements will give us an edge over our competitors.”
On 7 March, 2017, H.H. Sheikh Abdullah Bin Zayed Al Nahyan, minister of foreign affairs and international co-operation, officially inaugurated the Innovation Lab at ADNEC as part of its efforts to instill a workplace culture based on creativity and innovation. Dedicated and accessible to all employees and departments across ADNEC, the Innovation Lab aims to shape a platform for brainstorming and effective decision-making at ADNEC. As well as hosting the 2nd International Motor Show Abu Dhabi (IMSAD) last month, ADNEC has won two major international conference bids during the first three months of 2017, which includes FIP Pharmaceutical Sciences World Congress in September 2019. The annual FIP conference is expected to attract more than 3,000 participants from across the world.
In Q1 2017, ADNEC says it continued to deliver on its sustainability commitments, reducing 160 tons of CO2 emissions through recycling 364 tons of materials. It also achieved significant cost savings through promoting energy efficiency and rationalised use of resources.
The venue attracted 1.5m people across 480 events in 2016.
