Iraqi designer uses the Hotel Show to launch multi-million dollar fresco business in Middle East

Manar Al Ani, who left his native Baghdad for Italy as a 19-year-old in 1979 and now runs his thriving Babilonia Arte business in Desenzano del Garda, produced one of the most colourful of the many success stories behind the three-day event, organised by Streamline Marketing, which drew to its close at Airport Expo Dubai tonight.

Striking fresco paintings will soon be adorning the walls of hotels and private homes in the UAE, Saudi Arabia, Qatar and other Middle East countries, with initial business set up in Dubai this week worth up to $2 million, and many more sales expected to follow. "I believe that we can do amazing business in this region," said Al Ani, who feels the Middle East has the potential to overtake Germany, the US and France as his company's leading export market.

Frescos are decorative pictures painted upon layers of fresh plaster. Babilonia Arte creates big surface works as large as the 800 sqm example done for a castle in southern Italy, although they are usually more in the range of the 70 sqm work inside the President's Palace in the Ukraine.

Just as The Hotel Show provided a perfect launch for a 500-year-old painting technique, the exhibition will also drive big business for an Indian supplier of the latest in-room TV equipment. New Delhi-based Catvision used the show to spotlight nStreams - a full bundled integrated interactive television solutions, with which the company expects to gain a 20 per cent Middle East market share worth around Dhs10 million over the next three years.

The company recently opened an office in the Jebel Ali Free Zone to drive its regional business. Arvind Singal, General Manager, Projects, said: "We have a 90 per cent market share in India for interactive TVs, and this exhibition gives us a great introduction to what is a very important new market for us."

Expectations are also high among the 22 Spanish manufacturers of furniture, decorative lighting, textiles and uniforms, attending the event under the umbrella of the Spanish Foreign Trade Institute (ICEX). "While electrical equipment and machinery, vehicles and auto accessories, ceramics and electronics currently account for the bulk of Spanish exports to the UAE, there is also huge potential for hotel suppliers here" said Lola Sebastian de Erice, an ICEX representative.

"We hope to see more growth in furniture exports and we are coming back to the region in November on a commercial mission, bringing 15 leading Spanish furniture companies," said Graciela Soler, a representative of the Spanish National Association of Furniture Manufacturers and Exporters (ANIEME), at this year's Hotel Show.

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 Dubai Department of Tourism and Commerce Marketing, The Hotel Show was a showcase for 325 hotel suppliers from 33 countries.

"The visitors to the show from the Middle East, Europe and the sub-Continent included hotel owners, developers and operators, and exhibitors have been telling us that the overall quality of visitors was very high", said Laith Kubba director of Streamline Marketing.

The exhibition was a profitable event for Appointments, a year-old Dubai-based recruitment company for the hospitality industry. They snapped up three contracts, and anticipate more will follow. The new business came from a UK restaurant chain set to open five new outlets in Dubai, a new hotel residence property also in Dubai, and a firm of consultants working in the hotel business. "As a new company, we weren't sure about taking a stand to begin with, but it was such a good event for us that we'll be having a much bigger one next year," said director, Ashwin Dabholkar.