Abu Dhabi Tourism Authority (ADTA) has entered into an associate partnership agreement with the MPI Foundation (MPIF) – the organisation dedicated to investing in people and programmes aligned with Meetings Professionals International (MPI) – which will see the association undertake pioneering research of the emirate’s meetings industry training needs.

Under the three-year deal, MPIF will conduct a ‘Needs Analysis Survey’ on Abu Dhabi’s expanding meetings industry to  determine the most essential training requirements;  training gaps that need to be addressed and a future strategy to benefit all the destination’s meetings industry stakeholders.

The accord was announced at the Gulf Incentive, Business Travel and Meetings exhibition (GIBTM), which began a three-day run at Abu Dhabi National Exhibition Centre today and where ADTA has mounted a pavilion with 45 of its key stakeholders.

“The analysis results will be packaged by MPI into a stellar training module aimed at delivering destination and industry ‘stars’ of the future. MPI will then roll out the module on our behalf in Abu Dhabi by the end of the year,” explained Dayne Lim, ADTA’s Product Development Director.

“The meetings industry is vital to any sustainable tourism strategy delivering, as it does, a number of financial and socio-economic below-the-line benefits, including in-market and in-business product development, knowledge-transfer and often leading to inward investment. We are looking to foster a vibrant and professional local meetings community through the provision of innovative training for the high performance, meeting professional.”

ADTA says the accord will also reinforce and strengthen the destination’s awareness across MPI’s varied business platforms.

“It gives us access to MPI’s vast global membership resources which will assist us in attracting new meeting planners to the destination, in catalysing new business events and to mine for vital meetings leads,” added Lim.

MPI has hailed the move as a method of evaluating the emerging market’s strengths and opportunities to deliver what is most needed for meeting and events professionals.
 “Through this research, Abu Dhabi planners and suppliers will have access to innovative training at a core level with demonstrable application into the higher levels of training and planning, leading to increasing global success,” said Didier Scaillet, Corporate Development Officer, MPI.

Initial research and interviews from among meeting professionals and suppliers will focus heavily on the Europe, Middle East and Africa region and international organisations.  “In this way, regional concerns and local customs that impact the nature of the training as well as the implementation of initiatives will be kept as a central element in the development of the training module,” added Scaillet.

The deal also gives ADTA significant brand exposure at numerous MPI education events worldwide including its research and ‘smart meeting’s programme.

“Being the advocate of a never-before-seen training programme will show the meeting professional community that ADTA is dedicated to both breaking new ground in its training programmes and understands the direction of the global meeting and events community,” added Lim.