A celebration is in the air at the
Qatar National Convention Centre (QNCC). The Centre took home the much-coveted award for the
Best Events Venue at the
Middle East Event Awards 2013 – a major achievement for a venue that is only in its second year in operation. The annual ceremony, which took place in Dubai recently, recognized the region’s top event and exhibition companies. Winners were selected based on votes from a panel of events’ industry experts.
The Centre, which is a member of
Qatar Foundation, has attracted a number of high profile events in the 18 months since opening.
Adam Mather-Brown, general manager of QNCC, said, “We are incredibly proud of the recognition bestowed by our peers within the region’s events industry. This award is a testament to our teamwork approach with our clients. Delivering international best practices requires a special relationship between clients, event planners, staff and local partners and this formula allows us to align ourselves to compete globally.”
“We applaud Qatar Foundation’s visionary leadership in developing QNCC to be one of the world’s most sophisticated convention and exhibition centers. It is a phenomenal product and the award exemplifies the nation’s vision towards becoming a world class meetings’ destination.”
In the award submission, the Centre showcased its versatility by highlighting the various types of events that took place in QNCC as well as the range of services available to support an event. As part of the entry, QNCC also demonstrated the ability to work successfully with the organizers in meeting their objectives, how to overcome challenges and to ensure that events operated smoothly. An example cited was the cooperation with the Qatar team during the United Nations Climate Change Conference (COP18/CMP8), which saw 17,000 delegates in attendance. The event is touted as one of the most logistically complex events in the world.
This award followed closely the announcement a week ago when the International Congress and Convention Association (ICCA) announced that Doha has strengthened its ranking amongst the world’s most popular convention destinations. The city moved up by 49 positions to share the 111th position with Florence, Riga and San Juan, in a list of over 360 named cities in the recently released by ICCA’s 2012 Rankings.