A bona fide veteran of the MICE industry with over 25 years of experience building and managing some of the world’s biggest event, conference, and tourism organizations, Sumaira’s reputation precedes her.
She has worked both as a destination practitioner (DMC, PCO) as well as an advisor consultant to Tourist Boards, Associations and Local Governments in Asia, Africa, Middle East, and North America. She specializes in tourism to MICE development, to destination strategy development and action planning.
She is also one of the foremost thought leaders in the tourism industry, having recently led the Global Tourism Forum and World Tourism Forum Institute, which she transformed from being just a conference-based entity into the world’s leading tourism think tank.
Currently, Sumaira has returned to the DMC industry as she heads one the Middle East’s most reputable MICE companies, Gulf Dunes, while still serving as an advisory board member for World Tourism Forum Institute. In the short time she has been Gulf Dunes, she has already made ground-breaking changes, that effectively see the company turning into one of the largest full-fledged MICE DMCs in the region.
To say she lives and breathes tourism is an understatement, as she dreams of one day alleviating poverty in poorer nations by developing the tourism industry. She believes each destination has a unique story to tell and in the right hands, each one can create a remarkable experience for visitors around the world.
