COVID-19 impact and survival strategy in business tourism market: the example of the UAE MICE industry
COVID-19 impact and survival strategy in business tourism market: the example of the UAE MICE industry
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DOI：
10.1057/s41599-020-00630-8
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发表时间：
2020-11-05
影响因子：
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通讯作者：
Aburumman, Asad A.
中科院分区：
文献类型：
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作者：
Aburumman, Asad A.
如今，会议、奖励旅游、大会和展览业（俗称会奖旅游）有助于经济多元化，并积极促进文化历史和自然娱乐资源的合理利用。截至2019年，旅游业对阿联酋GDP的总贡献率为11.5%。 2019 年，超过 230 万名游客将商务作为前往迪拜旅行的主要目的，与 2018 年相比增加了 2%。因此，在 COVID-19 大流行发生之前，阿联酋的会展业已成为全球领先者之一。由于采取了严格的检疫措施，世界各地大多数目的地都实施了与新冠肺炎 (COVID-19) 相关的旅行限制，有效期至 2020 年 5 月。在阿联酋，与任何其他国家一样，冠状病毒大流行影响了每个行业，尤其是会奖旅游行业。尽管许多阿联酋研究人员已经对 COVID-19 的后果进行了多次分析，但其对会展行业的全球和当地影响以及会展公司的生存策略的描述还不够。本研究旨在调查 COVID-19 对全球和阿联酋 MICE 市场的影响，并以在阿联酋运营的旅游公司为例，确定旅游公司的竞争生存策略。研究显示，在严格的旅行限制和边境关闭的情况下，阿联酋会展业面临着需求的急剧减少。阿联酋航空、酒店和其他旅游相关企业遭受了重大物质损失。其中，定期出发航班下降了82%。研究过程中进行的乘法分析确定了 5P 营销策略和外包方法是 MICE 公司生存和复苏的最佳解决方案。研究结果可供 MICE 企业或研究人员使用特定公司和市场数据来制定旨在克服新冠病毒相关危机并提高 MICE 公司（特别是整个市场）竞争力的战略。
Today the industry of meetings, incentives, conferences and exhibitions, commonly known under the name of MICE, contributes to economic diversification and actively stimulates the rational use of cultural-historical and natural recreational resources. As of 2019, the total contribution of the tourism sector to the GDP of the United Arab Emirates (UAE) equalled 11.5 per cent. More than 2.3 million visitors cited business as their main purpose of travel to Dubai in 2019, marking a two per cent increase compared to 2018. Thus, the UAE MICE industry was among the global leaders before the COVID-19 pandemic occurred. As a result of severe quarantine measures, the majority of destinations all over the world introduced COVID-19-related travel restrictions that were valid until May 2020. In the UAE, like in any other country, the coronavirus pandemic affected every industry, and especially the MICE one. Even though the consequences of COVID-19 have been multiply analysed by many UAE researchers, its global and local impact on the MICE industry, as well as the strategies for MICE companies' survival, are described insufficiently. This study aimed to investigate the COVID-19 impact on both the global and the UAE MICE markets and identify a competitive survival strategy for tourism companies on the example of those operating in the UAE. The research revealed that under the conditions of harsh travel restrictions and closed borders, the UAE MICE industry is faced with a sharp reduction of demand. Emirati Airlines, hotels, and other tourism-related businesses have experienced significant material losses. In particular, the drop in scheduled departure flights comprised 82%. The multiplicative analysis performed in the course of the study identified the 5P marketing strategy and an outsourcing method as an optimal solution for MICE companies' survival and recovery. The study results can be used by MICE businesses or researchers using specific company and market data for developing strategies aimed at overcoming COVID-related crisis and increasing the competitiveness of MICE companies in particular and the market as a whole.