The Hotel Show set to grow by 20 per cent

The industry showcase, organised by dmg world media Dubai Ltd one of the region's leading exhibition companies based in Dubai, is due to take place on June 4-6 2006, at the Dubai International Exhibition Centre.

"At this year's event we hosted 597 exhibitors from 46 different countries, which was a 48 per cent increase over the previous year, so we are confident that our projections for 2006 will be realised," commented Bernard Walsh, Managing Director, dmg world media Dubai Ltd.

In just two short years the number of national pavilions has grown to 14 with Belgium, China, Malta, Greece, Brazil and Canada making their debuts at the 2005 event. Further calls for additional space have already been answered and even more country pavilions are expected to debut at the 7th Hotel Show in 2006.

Recorded visitor numbers have also increased exponentially over the last two years. In 2005 the show attracted 8,124 visitors, a 44 per cent increase over the previous year. Indeed, 40 per cent of those registered came from outside of Dubai, clearly indicating the mounting international interest in the event, especially from Kuwait, Iran and Europe.

The enhanced quality of visitors too has contributed towards the success of the show, this year, Managing Directors and General Managers accounted for over a third of the total visitors, giving exhibitors access to key decision makers, boosting their on-site orders and providing quality sales leads.

Visitors also showed a keen interest in a wide variety products and services on show, including furniture and furnishings, bathroom supplies, tableware, entertainment, fitness and leisure, security, cleaning and laundry, signage, reservations and accounting.

Mary Lynn Landgraff of the U.S. Department of Commerce echoed the feedback from many exhibitors when she enthused, "We appreciated the professional edge, the type of visitors and the layout of the event. We will be back next year with a stand twice the size of the one we had for 2005."

"The hospitality and leisure industry throughout the Middle East has experienced remarkable growth over the last five years and this is set to accelerate with internationally recognised landmark projects in the UAE, Oman, Qatar, Bahrain, Kuwait and Egypt. Abu Dhabi and Dubai alone will contribute 30,000 new hotel rooms. This expansion in many ways mirrors the growth trends we have experienced so far and augurs well for the 7th Hotel Show in 2006," said Maggie Moore, Project Manager, dmg world media Dubai Ltd.