A diverse range of Middle East and overseas suppliers to the hospitality industry will cash in on their appearance at The Hotel Show in Dubai this week with millions of dollars worth of new business.
As the Middle East’s leading hotel supplies exhibition moved towards its climax at Airport Expo Dubai today (Wednesday), with attendance figures climbing towards a best-ever total of more than 3,500 hotel trade visitors, many of the 180 exhibitors were counting benefits in real terms.
The British husband and wife business partnership of Alan Mitchell and Carol Conci could win $4million worth of business as a result of their joint efforts at The Hotel Show. His company, Lighting Design Partnership International, is expecting to firm-up orders worth $1.25 million to design lighting for at least ten Middle East hotels, and that could mean her company, ConciLuce, supplying the lighting equipment at around $300,000 per hotel.
“Our business is currently spread between Europe and the Far East, but at least 50% of it should come from the Middle East in the next two years,” said Mitchell.
Dubai-based Amusement Whitewater expects contacts made to boost its current Dh40 million turnover as theming contractors, theme park and artificial rock work specialists, and makers of African thatched chalets and stunning African furniture carved from railway sleepers.
"We’ve had a very good response from visitors, and the show is helping to open up a huge market for us in the Middle East,” said general manager John A.Cussen. The company has just completed a Dhs10 million contract to supply thatched chalets for a private island development in Abu Dhabi, and is now supplying another 45 chalets to a UAE hotel.
Bose Corporation Middle East, which reported major interest in the award-winning Auditioner sound system given its Middle East launch at The Hotel Show, also secured a Dhs400,000 contract to supply music systems for executive suites at a Middle East hotel.
“There are many success stories, and more to come as exhibitors follow up on the discussions they’ve had with the senior trade visitors we’ve attracted,” said Joanne Evans, Director of Streamline Marketing, organisers of The Hotel Show, which was 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.
UAE-based interior contracting and decoration specialists J.C. Maclean International used the exhibition to launch a new division for stylised arabesque painting and application, and to introduce designers, contractors and hoteliers to the brand new, Dhs18 million 17,000 sq metre state-of-the-art factory it will open at Jebel Ali Free Zone in September. “We’ve had a fantastic number of quality visitors, and I’m confident this is going to lead to a lot of new business,” said managing director Talal Saeed. The company hopes to sign contracts for an international chain hotel in Kuwait and a private hotel in Saudi Arabia, and also established contacts at the exhibition which could lead to major business gains in Europe.
Warisan, one of Indonesia’s leading manufacturers of upmarket hotel and resort furnishings, followed up the recent opening of a UAE office by making its show debut in Dubai, and managing Director Vanessa Robinson said: “We’re very excited by the response we’ve had from visitors, and we’ll definitely be back next year. There’s a lot of room for the show to grow and become more design focused.”
UAE-based Bond Communications expects immediate sales success after using the show to launch the world’s first General Package Radio Service (GPRS) laptop computer, the Waynmakan – meaning “anywhere” in Arabic – a mobile wireless office package offering built-in phone, fax, internet and SMS facilities.
It allows hotels to offer guests an express check-in facility on arrival at the airport, and can also be hired out for in-room use, avoiding the need for fixed internet facilities which are expensive and disruptive to install.
“There’s been a great deal of interest in the product, and as a result of being here we’re now in discussion with several hotels,” said the company’s business development manager, Jason
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