DWTC draws another 85,000 visitors to Dubai's mega events

These shows will be held across DWTC's key venues, the Dubai International Convention and Exhibition Centre (DICEC) and the Dubai Airport Expo.

Taking up an impressive combined 370,000 total square meters of outdoor/indoor event space, these three industry leading international events highlight Dubai's position as the regional gateway to business, and global powerhouse in the events industry.

Set to take place from 15-19 November, the biennial Dubai Airshow 2009 is the foremost aerospace exhibition in the Middle East and will welcome 890 exhibitors from 47 countries - an overall 10% increase over the previous event in 2007, with over 7,000sqm growth in exhibition space.

The event, hosted at Dubai Airport Expo, emphasizes DWTC's continued commitment to facilitate Dubai's strategic investments in core sectors like aviation infrastructure, by providing an ideal networking platform for the industry.

With an anticipated 50,000 trade visitors, the 11th edition of the Dubai Airshow will attract top global industry leaders from the aviation sector.

The world's largest aircraft manufacturers, Airbus and Boeing will be joined by nearly 150 first-to-market exhibitors from 20 countries including key first-time regional participants - Abu Dhabi Airports Company (ADAC), and the Bin Salem Group.

The event will showcase the exciting development plans for the Aerion supersonic business jet, designed to fly executives at twice the speed of today's conventional business jets, with a full-scale model on display at the Aerion stand.

Commenting on the region's burgeoning aerospace market, Alison Weller, Event Director F&E Aerospace said,

"We have seen a substantial increase in the number of exhibitors, and aircraft on display since the last airshow in 2007. As the fastest growing airshow in the world, we are appreciative of the world class facilities and infrastructure in place at Airport Expo to accommodate the anticipated increase in visitors."

To build off the high profile attendance at this mega event, the timing of ITCA Dubai 2009, the niche travel catering services event for the Middle East, Africa and Indian Subcontinent, has been moved to coincide with the Dubai Airshow.

The fourth edition of ITCA will be held at DWTC's new Sheikh Saeed Hall 3 from 16-18 November and will attract thousands of global visitors from the aviation and hospitality sectors.

From 14-17 November, DWTC's DICEC venue will host over 1,000 exhibitors from 47 countries showcasing some of the industry's leading interior and spatial design products and emerging trends from around the world at INDEX 2009.

Now in its 19th year, this global interior design exhibition serving the commercial hospitality and retail sectors, will showcase the works of high profile internationally acclaimed companies including Villeroy & Boch, Longhi, Winoldi and Cacharel to name a few.

Lu Buchanan, INDEX Show Director said, "Recent research commissioned by INDEX estimates that the value of interior design contracting and fit-outs within the GCC will grow by almost 90% between 2009 and 2010, and two thirds of this spend will be within the UAE.

INDEX remains highly relevant and useful as a business platform for the design community in the region. The state-of-the-art exhibition halls at DICEC allow us the ideal location to host such a must-attend international design event."

Despite global market pressures, DWTC continues to draw attendance of quality visitors and international exhibitors to business events in Dubai with the volume of in-show transactions showing sustained growth, a key enabler in delivering their long-term strategy to make Dubai the world's leading destination for exhibitions, conferences and events.

Helal Saeed Almarri, CEO of DWTC said, "Dubai is the gateway for regional business and DWTC remains committed to providing the platform by hosting a world class truly global calendar of events - demonstrated by this week's shows, Dubai Airshow and Index. Our recent infrastructure expansion provides a total of 1m square feet of covered exhibition space at our DICEC venue to cater for the increasing demand and positive growth in our events sector. This growth reinforces rising levels of global business and investor confidence in Dubai as a global business powerhouse."

According to AMR 2008, Dubai is acknowledged as the international exhibition hub for the Middle Eastern and African region for a global industry estimated at over $29bn.

DWTC will continue to work towards sustaining and increasing its target of 1-1.5% contribution to Dubai's GDP, in line with the strategic plan of His Highness Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Vice President and Prime Minister of the UAE and Ruler of Dubai.