If the number of female event organizers who attended the recent sectorial meeting of the Jeddah Chamber of Commerce and Industry’s (JCCI) Event Organization Committee is any indication, leaders of the meeting said women will dominate the field in the coming years.
Firas Adel Al Maddah, president of the committee, said during the meeting in Saudi Arabia that two obstacles that have faced event organizers in the past were securing funding from the private sector and government to design unique events as well as finding venues that could attract those events year-round.
With government financial support in the form of more exhibition centers and licenses with nominal rates in the offing, the event planning industry in Saudi Arabia can expect to see an additional 200,000 jobs added in the next few years.
Hussain Al Faraj, the head of the National Exhibitions Committee based in the Saudi Council of Chambers, pointed out, though, that conference organizing and foreign exhibition companies cannot flourish in the Saudi market without legal representations and adequate licenses from the Saudi Arabian General Investment Authority
In the past, without these two conditions being met, foreign companies have had to look elsewhere for event venues, taking approximately $32 million to $40 million with them.
