DUBAI, United Arab Emirates: Cvent, an industry-leading meetings, events, and hospitality technology provider, today released its lists of the Top Meeting Destinations and Top Meeting Hotels for Middle East and Africa. These lists – which also include regional rankings for North America, Europe, and Asia Pacific– were compiled based on sourcing activity through the Cvent Supplier Network (CSN), one of the world’s largest venue-sourcing platforms. This is the first time Cvent has published the annual lists since the COVID pandemic upended the meetings and events industry in early 2020.
"Digital transformation has revolutionised the way hospitality professionals embrace technology to engage planners and enhance their sales and marketing efforts to attract meetings and events to their properties or locales. The pandemic proved how critically important meetings and events are for bolstering local economies and our Cvent Top Lists highlight the hotels, venues and destinations that are enabling a dramatic comeback by capitalising on the swift return to in-person events. After four long years, we’re excited to share these insights once again and provide a resource that is used by event organisers to find great hotels and destinations and by hospitality professionals looking to set themselves apart to increase their MICE revenue," said Graham Pope, Cvent Vice President of International Sales.
Cvent Top Meeting Destinations
As the top performing region in the world for post-pandemic tourism recovery, the destinations in the Middle East and Africa have attracted events to their cities by quickly adapting and innovating to changing circumstances. Tourism boards continue to invest heavily in projects with global appeal, including restoring historical sites and opening new tourist attractions to further elevate the appeal of these meeting destinations. While Dubai retained its #1 ranking from 2019, newcomers to the list include Turkey, with two cities in the Top 10 – Istanbul (#2) and Antalya (#7), Muscat, Oman (#8) and Tel Aviv, Israel (#10).
Top 10 Meeting Destinations in Middle East and Africa
1. Dubai, United Arab Emirates
2. Istanbul, Turkey
3. Marrakesh, Morocco
4. Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates
5. Cape Town, South Africa
6. Cairo, Egypt
7. Antalya, Turkey
8. Muscat, Oman
9. Johannesburg, South Africa
10. Tel Aviv, Israel
Cvent Top Meeting Hotels
Many hoteliers leveraged the downtime in 2020 and 2021 to invest in upgrades and renovations to prepare their properties for the post-pandemic travel boom and better appeal to rising traveller expectations. Newcomers to the Top 10 – including InterContinental Istanbul and Hyatt Regency Dubai Creek Heights – unveiled significant renovations in the last few years. Hotels that prioritised state-of-the-art meeting facilities are also featured highly in the Top 10, proving the long-term value of these investments to attract MICE business.
Top 10 Meeting Hotels in Middle East and Africa
1. Conrad Istanbul Bosphorus
2. Grand Hyatt Dubai
3. Conrad Dubai
4. InterContinental Dubai Festival City
5. InterContinental Istanbul
6. Hilton Istanbul Bomonti Hotel & Conference Center
7. JW Marriott Marquis Hotel Dubai
8. Hilton Dubai Al Habtoor City
9. Hyatt Regency Dubai Creek Heights
10. Sofitel Dubai The Palm
Methodology
For Cvent Top Meeting Hotels, Cvent evaluated hotel properties that generated business through the Cvent Supplier Network between January 2022 and December 2022. The properties were ranked according to various criteria, including total requests for proposals (RFPs), awarded RFPs, total room nights, awarded room nights, major metropolitan area market share, conversion rate, and response rate. The criteria are designed to provide the most accurate reflection of the top meeting hotels in North America, Europe, the Middle East and Africa, and Asia Pacific regions.
For Cvent Top Meeting Destinations, Cvent evaluated 12,500+ cities worldwide listed on the Cvent Supplier Network. Activity was tracked between January 2022 and December 2022. Rankings were determined by a set of qualifying criteria, including: the number of total room nights booked through the Cvent Supplier Network; the number of unique electronic request-for-proposals (RFPs) sent through the marketplace to venues within the city; the total value of the RFPs submitted; and the actual awarded value for meetings booked.
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