600 firms to exhibit at The Hotel Show
$1.6b worth of orders placed by visitors on-site during 2015 edition
The Hotel Show 2016, an annual hospitality trade event, will bring together more than 600 exhibitors from around the world when it opens at the Dubai World Trade Centre today.
The three-day show, organised by dmg events, will feature hotel technology, security, interiors, design and lighting, as well as cleaning and laundry, which is a new category this year.
“The Hotel Show 2016 [will showcase] everything needed to build, develop or maintain a hotel or restaurant in the region…,” Gary Williams, Event Director, dmg events hospitality portfolio, said by email.
Last year, $1.6 billion (Dh5.9 billion) worth of orders were placed by visitors on-site, he said.
Major brands that will be present at the event include Bang & Olufsen, Stylis, LG Electronics, Karcher, Hartmann Tresore, Simmons and Philips. The show will also have a range of pavilions, workshops, installations and conferences.
“This year, the first day of the Vision Conference is dedicated to a ‘digital marketing masterclass’ — a first for The Hotel Show — in partnership with MODUL University Dubai. We surveyed a selection of UAE hoteliers to discover what topic would be of the most value to them in an external training course and the results were unanimous,” Williams said.
The Vision Conference panel discussions will start tomorrow, covering different topics, including hospitalityrelated investment, theme park tourism, and managing operating costs. Sessions tomorrow will include “The next frontier: a look at the new hotel brands entering the market”, with speakers representing W Dubai — Al Habtoor City and Nikki Beach Resort & Spa Dubai, and “Update on market and consumer Hundreds of new hotels are expected to open next year in the Middle East and Africa. By 2017, 316 new hotels are anticipated to open in the region, featuring 84,337 new rooms, according to a statement on Thursday from dmg events, the organisers of The Hotel Show, citing data from TOPHOTELPROJECTS, an online database for hotel projects.
Nearly 20 per cent of those hotels will open in the UAE, with 59 projects already underway, scheduled to open next year. It is followed by Saudi Arabia, with 51 hotels in the pipeline, and Turkey, Qatar and Morocco.
The new openings include Abraj Kudai Towers in Makkah and Melia Beach Hotel Saidia in Morocco, among others, as per the statement. patterns and trends-get the inside track.” There will also be a presentation by Team Leisure called “UAE theme park tourism: success factor insights from Gold Coast, Singapore, Orlando”.
Technology
At the Tec-Sec Summit, taking place across the three days of the event, industry experts will discuss hotel technology and security trends ranging from 3D printing to digital menus and enhancing the mobile experience.
Meanwhile, the Tec-Innovation Zone, which is a new addition to the event this year, will showcase the latest innovations in hotel technology. LG is expected to reveal the world’s first OLED (organic light-emitting diode) HTV, Williams said. Tech start-ups and major global brands will also launch new products.
The International Village will take up 46 per cent of the show floor, featuring suppliers in 16 country pavilions, with the largest representing Portugal, Italy, Turkey and Germany. Austria will be represented for the first time this year.
The Hotel Show will run alongside The Leisure Show and Piscine Middle East.