Dubai to host Destination Marketing Sales programmes through DMAI

Destination Marketing Association International (DMAI), the world's largest association of official destination marketing organisations (also called convention and tourism bureaus), has been holding Destination Sales Training programmes in Europe and North America for over a decade, producing hundreds of qualified sales and marketing professionals.

To address the growing meetings and convention markets in Middle East and Asia-Pacific, DMAI is bringing Destination Sales Training I & II to these emerging destinations by launching the first programme in Dubai, UAE on 5 - 8 Oct 2009, in partnership with Dubai Convention Bureau (DCB).

These training programmes in Dubai will be DMAI's first ever venture in the region, targeting representatives of official destination marketing organisations in the Middle East, North Africa and Asia Pacific.

The training programmes will focus primarily on the fundamentals of how to find group prospects, qualify prospective leads, sell and follow up with customers considering bringing events to the destination.

"As a global association, we recognize the significance of Dubai to the meetings industry, and the need for highly trained destination representatives. We hope this will be the first of a continuing series of training courses offered by DMAI in the region,"

said Sandi Talley, DMAI Senior Vice President of Business Development & Membership.

The programmes are structured in two modules with each module running over 2 days. The faculty for this program includes Rob Davidson from University of Westminster and Mady Keup from MK International.

The Dubai Convention Bureau is the main sponsor for these programmes and a key partner with DMAI in bringing these programmes to the region.

"The Dubai Convention Bureau is proud to be a supporter of the upcoming DMAI Destination Sales Training courses. These courses will help us train our sales staff, increase our competitiveness, and expand our opportunities. DMAI is the only organisation that offers destination marketing organizations industry training from an industry perspective," said Jerad Bachar, Director, Dubai Convention Bureau.

MCI Middle East is the event management agency and will be driving the marketing & promotion of these programmes.