Abu Dhabi National Exhibition Company (ADNEC) has revealed that, during the first operational year of the Abu Dhabi National Exhibition Centre, there was a massive 185% increase in the number of major exhibitions staged in Abu Dhabi.

To celebate its first anniversary, ADNEC took part in three major international events in February: London’s International Confex 2008, Melbourne’s AIME and China’s UFI Congress.

ADNEC was officially opened by His Highness Sheikh Khalifa Bin Zayed Al Nahyan, The President of the UAE on 18 February 2007, and since then the venue has staged more than 40 major events and exhibitions.

“The international model for a new exhibition centre shows us that, in the majority cases, a venue takes time to establish itself in the market; up to five years in some cases,” said ADNEC chief executive Simon Horgan. “We’ve re-written this model. We staged more than 40 major events last year, compared to 14 at the old facilities in 2006. We have 60 events scheduled for this year and are forecasting around 1.5 million visitors – this puts us in right in the top tier of international exhibition centres. Considering that Phase 2 of ADNEC does not open until autumn this year, this is a quite remarkable achievement.”

Abu Dhabi National Exhibition Centre celebrates its first birthday

Meanwhile, Sue Howarth, ADNEC client liaison director, said: “The international organising community has been very quick to embrace Abu Dhabi as a major exhibition destination. ADNEC’s attention to creating world-class facilities and ancillary services has helped to stimulate the market for exhibitions here, and we’re delighted with the success of the first 12 months of operation.”

ADNEC was recently cited as a major contributing factor in the success of the UAE as a global conference destination. Abu Dhabi was also ranked as the second most important destination for MICE (meetings, incentives, conferences and exhibitions) in the Gulf, a rise of nine places in just one year.