features: latest magazine features: Meeting at Jumeirah (2)
Meeting at Jumeirah (2)
New partner
Another exciting development for Jumeirah is the recent global partnership with MPI. “MPI is probably the most important global network of meetings and events planners in the world with over 23,000 members in more than 80 countries, and we think this partnership will put us in the forefront of competitors,” says Palmlund.
“We have taken three initiatives with MPI. Firstly we are going to contribute to MPI’s leading foundation of research and development predicting the future of the meetings industry. Our second initiative is to educate all our Jumeirah colleagues in operations and sales for events and meetings through an MPI programme called CMP (Certified Meetings Planners). From this education, our colleagues will be able to offer the most industry savvy knowledge and advice to clients, which will put us ahead of our competitors.
“As well as staying ahead of research and development, and having the best competitive knowledge, this partnership offers us a fantastic trading opportunity due to the global buying power of MPI, which is close to US$16.4 billion. So this is important for our global sales offices and we hope to make the most of this global partnership with benefits on an international and local level.”
Emerging markets
While Jumeirah is a Dubai-born company and one of the largest providers of meeting and event facilities and accommodation in the UAE, the brand has ambitions to grow globally opening another 10 properties globally in the next 18 months.
“We feel it is very important for us to have presence in the emerging markets. To support the extensive growth that we have had here in Dubai, we are working very closely with our global sales offices from China and Russia to Europe and North America. We are continuing expansive growth through our global sales network and it is very important that we are present in these markets. We have seen tremendous growth in the North American market over the last 12-18 months. We have penetrated this market and stayed close to the meetings, events and incentive buyers there,” he says, citing a business growth of 30 percent from this market.
“I think it’s important that we are taking a leading role in continuing to develop the destination, and we are doing this with partners, such as being a member the Dubai Bid Alliance committee. We are tapping into new market segments by looking at what associations are doing today – we are trying to create a global meeting place for large associations meetings. Dubai as a destination and Jumeirah as a company has been winning many important bids – with some significant global congresses and meetings coming to Dubai next year.
“We are continuing to look into strategic markets. For example Asia, especially China, is becoming an important market for Jumeirah. The incentive travel in China has grown over 200 percent in recent years, many of these travellers are staying within China and South East Asia, but we are looking at the numbers and tapping into this segment as we see tremendous growth in Chinese travellers in groups and also meetings and events that are coming from China today.”
Europeis another important market to Jumeirah. “We can really see positive winds blowing in the European market and I’m very positive about what is happening over the coming months – we expect to see a lot of good business on the books coming from Europe in the next 18-24 months. This is good for Jumeirah, good for Dubai and good for our industry,” says Palmlund.
