QTA to Hold Workshop Series on Attracting, Organizing Events

Doha, February 22 (QNA) - Qatar Tourism Authority (QTA) has invited members of the local meetings, incentives, conferences, and events (MICE) industry to a series of workshops that will enable them to lay a strong foundation for their conference business and win bids for large events. The series is part of efforts to position Qatar as a premium destination for business events, QTA said Monday in a press release. The first workshop, "Building International Conference Business for Your Venue," takes place on Sunday at the Doha Exhibition and Convention Center (DECC) and is open to directors and general managers of hotels and other venues. The sessions will shed light on how venues can develop their capabilities to attract international conferences and deliver practical techniques that will help strengthen a venue's sales marketing and servicing approach. The second workshop, "Successful Bidding," takes place on February 29 at DECC and is open to managers and directors within the events industry in Qatar, including professional conference organizers, destination management companies, MICE venues, hotels, travel agencies and well as event management agencies. The workshop will provide key tips on developing a compelling bid strategy to secure the right to host international conferences and sell Qatar as a leading business events destination. The sessions will be delivered by Gaining Edge, a global consulting firm that specializes in business events, whose work focuses on enhancing the performance and sustainability of the global meetings industry. Qatar has witnessed a substantial increase in activity in the business meetings and exhibitions sector, with over 80 conferences and exhibitions confirmed so far to take place in 2016. QTA's strategy to increase the number of visitors to Qatar by 20 percent over the next five years places strong emphasis on business events as a priority sector in achieving this increase. A key pillar of the strategy is empowering the private sector to attract and host global events, through providing professional training programs and access to the highest quality of expertise in the field. Recent estimates show that exhibitions held in Qatar in 2015 attracted 286,000 visitors, 14 percent of whom were international and featured close to 5,000 exhibiting companies, half of which were international. (QNA)