Gulf leads demand for luxury porcelain

    Dumped value of 'ID':
'64272';

Dumped value of 'images_loop':
[
    {
        'caption' => 'Robert Somogyi of Herend shows off some of the Hungarian company’s hand-made luxury porcelain, which is in big demand from hotels in the Gulf region looking to serve guests in style.',
        'col' => 'picture',
        'name' => 'somo.jpg',
        'url' => '/4/16304-somo.jpg'
    }
];

One customer at a recent trade exhibition in Dubai was so impressed with the products being displayed by Hungarian manufacturer Herend Porcelain that they bought the entire contents of their stand, furniture and all.

Herend was among the exhibitors at The Hotel Show, the Middle East's leading hotel supplies event. The company was established in 1826 and is one of Hungary's oldest porcelain manufacturers.

'One new customer bought everything on our stand, even the furniture which was all black and very impressive and daring,' said Robert Somogyi, Vice President of Sales and Marketing for Herend.

'The exhibition was very important for us because we don't currently market our products directly in the region. Despite this, we found that there is a lot of awareness in the Gulf region of the value and quality of Herend Porcelain.'

Added Mr Somogyi: 'We came into contact with managers of many leading hotels, particularly in Dubai, who want luxury porcelain to serve their guests. People there know that we already supply almost all of the Royal courts of the world. Our biggest orders are now coming from the Gulf states.'

Each item of Herend porcelain is hand painted by craftsmen over a period of many days, and the company expects its appearance at The Hotel Show to lead to many more orders over the next few months. 'Customers there are very keen to have patterns created from their own ideas and they appreciate quality,' said Mr Somogyi.

Middle East interest in Herend porcelain was highlighted earlier this month when the ambassadors of nine Arab countries, Algeria, Egypt, Yemen, Jordan, Lebanon, Libya, Qatar, Syria and Tunisia, visited the company's premises and had discussions with management.

Herend was one of the first of the record 597 companies from 46 countries exhibiting at the The Hotel Show last month to book its place at next year's event, which takes place from 2-4 June.

Bernard Walsh, Managing Director of dmg world media Dubai Ltd, the event organisers, said: 'The Hotel Show continues to go from strength to strength. In addition to the rise in the number of companies exhibiting this year, which was up from 306 last year, we attracted a record 8,078 visitors, an increase of 43% on 2004.

'But the success of any exhibition hinges on the quality of the visitors, and the amount of business they deliver to the exhibitors, so we're very happy to witness so many companies like Herend reporting healthy order books.'