Dubai wins travel industry award

Recognised for its world class event infrastructure, Dubai bagged the prestigious Crystal Award, the highest award in the incentive travel industry, at the SITE Global Conference held in Rotterdam, The Netherlands.

The prestigious award for best Distinctive Destination – Best Destination Based Experiential Incentive Travel Programme, was awarded for Dubai’s excellence in hosting the UAE’s largest ever incentive group on Monday, the final day of the three-day conference.

In April, Dubai hosted 14,500 attendees who had travelled from China, Hong Kong and Taiwan as guests of Nu Skin, a skincare company celebrating its 30th anniversary.

Dubai and neighbouring emirates collaborated to make the trip a successful and memorable one for all involved. The extensive and complicated logistics for the event included 77 flights which included 2 full Emirates A380 Charters, 40,000 room nights in 40 hotels, and over 370 coaches escorting the guests on a full City Tour of Dubai, a Dhow Cruise, and a visit to the Dubai Mall, Burj Khalifa and Palm Jumeirah.

In addition, the group enjoyed full-fledged gala dinners in groups of 7,500 at the Bab Al Shams Desert Arena, and held educational seminars at the Dubai World Trade Centre (DWTC), the Middle East’s largest event and exhibition centre.

Steen Jakobsen, Director of Dubai Business Events, a division of the Dubai Department of Tourism and Commerce Marketing, said: “Being awarded the SITE Crystal Award validates the commitment and professionalism from everybody involved in delivering this event and proves that Dubai’s offering as a business events destination is more than comparable with anywhere in the World”.