Abu Dhabi has been named as the ‘Leading Overseas Luxury MICE Destination’ at the prestigious China Travel and Meeting Industry Awards held in Beijing, China. The emirate was nominated alongside over 40 destinations, including Las Vegas and France, and the award was presented to Abu Dhabi Tourism and Culture Authority, TCA Abu Dhabi, representatives at a gala dinner in the presence of more than 200 elite members of China’s travel and tourism industry.

The award reflects TCA Abu Dhabi’s recent focus on the Chinese market for incentive travel, meetings and events (MICE) with the aim of achieving 5-7 percent growth in the sector by 2021. Abu Dhabi Convention Bureau, a division of TCA Abu Dhabi, made significant strides in attracting business to the emirate last year by leading and supporting bids to host a number of key conferences in the coming years.

Commenting on the award, Sultan Al Dhaheri, Acting Executive Director of Tourism at TCA Abu Dhabi, said, "Business tourism is a primary segment of TCA Abu Dhabi’s holistic strategy for the tourism sector. 2016 was a record-breaking year for Abu Dhabi in terms of visitor numbers, with an estimated 2.2 million visits made for business travel purposes. This award reflects the efforts being made by TCA Abu Dhabi to establish the capital as a leading MICE destination and supports our ambitious mission to grow our business visitor numbers to three million by 2021."

In total, the bureau successfully submitted applications along with partners and stakeholders, to host 14 conferences which are expected to attract more than 35,000 delegates. Among the key events earmarked for the emirate this year are World Skills, the world’s largest vocational skills competition, which is set to take place in October in Abu Dhabi with 10,000 international participants, and the International Diabetes Federation 2017 Congress in December, expected to attract 15,000 delegates.

Established in 2002, the China Travel and Meetings Industry Awards is organised by Travel Weekly China, the country’s leading trade publication.

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