Al Ain Convention Centre (AACC), the wholly-owned subsidiary of the Abu Dhabi National Exhibitions Company (ADNEC), has contributed AED2.604 billion to the economy of Al Ain in direct and indirect impact between 2014 and 2018, ADNEC announced today. The leading exhibition and conference venue in the Garden City also hosted 78 events and exhibitions and welcomed 121,573 people from the UAE and from around the world, leading to a dynamic boost in Al Ain’s business tourism sector.
The company also shared the details of the expansion and development works it carried out at AACC during a media tour of the venue, providing the media with a unique opportunity to experience its latest world-class facilities, including its new outdoor and indoor infrastructure capable of hosting high-profile local and international events.
Humaid Matar Al Dhaheri, Group Chief Executive Officer, ADNEC, said: “As a major contributor to the local economy, AACC continues to play a significant role in the development of Al Ain city. The business tourism sector is one of the key sectors identified by Abu Dhabi Economic Vision 2030 to promote economic diversification and facilitate knowledge transfer to the emirate of Abu Dhabi.”
He added: “In hosting this media tour, we seek to highlight AACC’s crucial role in the development of Al Ain city through supporting its sustainable development. At ADNEC, we place high importance on improving AACC’s ability to accommodate the anticipated growth in high-potential business tourism industry in Al Ain given its significant impact on non-oil GDP growth in the city.
“At ADNEC, we are committed to the continued development of AACC’s state-of-the-art infrastructure to keep up with the past-paced development of Al Ain city across various tourism, trade and economic sectors. This enables the venue to offer the best-in-class services and facilities to the event organisers, while creating new job opportunities for local population.”
For his part, Abdullah Al Hammadi, Director of AACC, said: “Over the past few years, AACC has emerged as one of the leading event venues within the ADNEC group through hosting a wide range of exhibitions, conferences and events annually. ADNEC is keen to strengthen AACC’s infrastructure to support its further growth in line with the company’s role as a catalyst of economic growth and its mission to establish the emirate of Abu Dhabi as a preferred destination for leading international exhibitions and conferences.”
Al Hammadi also revealed that the expansion of AACC was completed in two phases. Phase 1 enhanced the overall readiness of Al Khabisi Hall II, improved the quality of the exhibition and conference centre and extended the exhibition area to 13,000 sq m from 6,700 sq m earlier.
Meanwhile, phase two added conference facilities spanning an area of 1,000 sq m and included five conference and meeting rooms across two floors. Two of the conference rooms – 112 sq m and 78 sq m in area are located on the ground floor, while three meeting rooms with an area of 47 sq m each, are located on the first floor.
Phase two also included the development of a new building to connect Al Khabisi Hall 1 and 2 and ensure a smooth flow of visitors, in addition to renovating the surrounding outdoor service areas.
This phase of expansion increased AACC’s area by 8 per cent, to 14,000 sq m in total, allowing event organisers to host a wide variety of events simultaneously.
The new facilities are developed in compliance with the best-in-class standards of the International Congress and Convention Association (ICCA), and operated by a highly- skilled Emirati team that has been groomed by ADNEC to steer the company to new heights.
AACC also offers world-class hospitality services by Capital Hospitality, a subsidiary of ADNEC, catering to a wide variety of events, conferences, meetings and weddings hosted at the venue. These services are delivered in compliance with the highest food safety standards and best practices.
The AACC upgrade, which has drastically helped attract more exhibitions and events to the country, is part of ADNEC’s ongoing strategy to boost the efficiency of its world-class venues and ensure they remain competitive on a global level, while supporting the national development agenda through contributing to the growth of the UAE economy.
