Manufacturers from as far apart as Brazil and Italy are aiming use the
Middle East’s top hotel supplies exhibition next week to cash in on major
growth planned as the region’s hospitality industry stages a recovery after
months of lost business.
More than 180 exhibitors from around the world will be chasing lucrative
contracts when they meet up with leading hotel owners, developers and operators at The Hotel Show, taking place at Airport Expo Dubai from May
19 – 21.
“The hotel industry here suffered a great deal as a result of the war in Iraq,
but the mood since it ended has been one of optimism,” said Joanne Evans, director of event management and marketing specialists, Streamline
Marketing, organisers of The Hotel Show. “There has been a big pick-up in
business travel and tourism, while the events of the last few months have
not affected the plans for major new hotel development right across the Middle East. The result is that the hotel industry as a whole has a lot to look
forward to, and there’s a tremendous amount of business out there for suppliers.”
Among the foreign companies which believe The Hotel Show can boost
their Middle East market share is Brazilian manufacturer of kitchenware and tableware, Tramontina, a first-time exhibitor in Dubai. The company
has been represented for more than 15 years by Dubai-based Sheikh Mohamed Sharif & Sons and is now considering opening its own office in
the region. Middle East sales last year amounted to $3.5 million, representing 7.4% of total exports, while 30% growth is expected for
2003-2004.
Italian hotel contract furniture manufacturers Campus and SASA Export
extend their partnership by sharing an exhibition stand. “Potentially, the
Middle East market is a very important one for our products because of the
amount of investment that is being made in the hotel industry, and we will
be launching new prototypes for indoor and outdoor use,” said area export
manager Claudio Bravo Claudio.
Exhibitors at The Hotel Show will have access to business centre facilities
sponsored and supplied by Alpha Data, one of UAE’s largest and most diverse information technology companies.
Indonesian designer and manufacturer of lighting, furniture and
accessories, deLighting, recently begun winning important hospitality contracts in the Middle East, and sees the region as one of its most
important future markets alongside the US and South East Asia.
CEO Carlo Forzinetti said the company initially expected business from the
region worth $2 million over the next two years, but believes contacts made
at The Hotel Show, and the opening of a Middle East representative office,
can raise the stakes.
Joining the international line-up of exhibitors is a newly-established Dubai
company which is using the exhibition to introduce the hotel industry to a
revolutionary full body massage machine currently providing free treatment to more than 200 UAE nationals and expatriates daily.
Ceragem World Co is the newly appointed distributor for the
Korean-invented Ceragem Master, which is designed to relieve stress, improve physical, emotional and mental health and increase the quality of
life. The company is using the Ceragem Master at a recently opened 30-bed
free massaging centre in Dubai, and its president, Kim Biho, hopes hotels
will see the benefits for under pressure business travellers.
Held under the patronage of H.H. General Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al
Maktoum, Crown Prince of Dubai, UAE Minister of Defence, and Chairman of the Department of Tourism and Commerce Marketing, The Hotel Show is
owned by dmg World Media, a subsidiary of FTSE100 company The Daily Mail & General Trust
plc.
For a second year it is being staged in
conjunction with another dmg World Media event, The Office Exhibition, the
two events being run simultaneously in adjacent exhibition halls. Fully supported by the Department of Tourism and Commerce Marketing and the
Dubai Chamber of Commerce and Industry, The Hotel Show also has the support of the UK’s Department of Trade and Industry.
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