In November next year, Abu Dhabi will host the International Conference on Neurology & Epidemiology (ICNE), bringing 600-800 of the most eminent medical practitioners in these specialised fields to the UAE capital for the third congress in the annual series.

The destination was selceted following competition from Paris, Milan, Macau and Boston to win the hosting of the event’s first showing outside of Europe.

Abu Dhabi’s meeting industry credentials took a major leap forward this year when Abu Dhabi hosted the World Ophthalmology Congress at Abu Dhabi National Exhibition Centre (ADNEC). The congress attracted upwards of 10,000 delegates and was the largest convention ever staged in the destination to date.

This September/October, ADNEC will host the 18th World Routes Development Forum which is expected to attract over 3,000 leading aviation executives and in April next year, Abu Dhabi will also host the 13th World Travel & Tourism Council’s Global Summit with some 1,000 tourism leaders due in the UAE capital while November will see it host the 2012 UFI Congress- the international meeting for the global association of the exhibition industry.

The destination has set keen targets for its Meetings Incentive Conventions and Exhibitions business for the coming eight years. By 2015 it hopes to see the emirate viewed as the region’s leading meetings destination and ranked among the world’s Top 100 meeting destinations with a four-fold increase in the number of MICE events currently held and double the number of MICE visitor arrivals and yield. Five years later it anticipates the emirate being viewed as a leading regional meetings destination with 10 times the number of MICE events as now with the number of MICE visitors and yield quadrupling.