JUMEIRAH Group is now relying on MICE to hasten business growth out of China, a sharp departure from its strategy of qualifying leisure business leads over the last two years.
Reflecting this new commitment to China is the group’s move to provide Mandarin versions of its website and collaterals, the appointment of a MICE specialist and two additional personnel to its original two-man team in Shanghai, and expansion of coverage to include secondary cities such as Chongqing and Kunming.
Although Jumeirah only started focusing on MICE in China in the last quarter of last year, Jumeirah’s vice president, sales and marketing, Asia-Pacific, David Loiseau, said the “response had been immediate”, with a Chinese corporate group taking up 350 rooms for seven nights at the Jumeirah Beach Hotel in Dubai this week.
Loiseau told TTG Asia e-Daily that Chinese visitors contributed 22.5 per cent of business at the group’s iconic Burj Al Arab in Dubai last year, a figure expected to grow to 25 per cent this year. Three years ago, China accounted for just four per cent of the Burj Al Arab’s business.
