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.

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The present study investigates the role of international tourist arrivals, structural change, consumption of energy, international trade and economic growth on CO2 emissions in Pakistan over a period of 1980-2017. The study employed ARDL model which revealed that there is a strong positive long-run association between CO2 emission and its determinants except for structural changes and trade which have no significant impact on CO2 emissions. Results reveal that tourism activities in Pakistan are environment friendly and it can add to preserve the scenic areas and major visitors spots in the country to attract more visitors to increase the revenue of the country. The study further applied Granger causality test and ratifies unidirectional causality from structural change, international tourist arrivals and consumption of energy towards CO2 except from international trade. Moreover, this study employed DOLS technique to get long-run robust estimates.