The Office Exhibition, first held earlier this year at the Airport Expo in Dubai, will likely double in size for next year's edition, say organisers dmg Index Exhibitions Limited.
The company said this year's event, which focused on the Middle East's rapidly expanding office interiors and facilities management sector, attracted 5,652 trade visitors from throughout the Arab world, India, Europe and North America.
Post-show commitments and exhibitor feed-back made it optimistic that next year's showing would be considerably larger than this year's, it said.
The show was launched against a background of office real estate growth throughout the Arabian Gulf. dmg Index believes the Gulf's office interiors sector now accounts for between 10-15 per cent of the region's $45 billion total construction spend.
The event was held from May 20 to 22 alongside another dmg Index product, The Hotel Show.
"Visitor attendance did benefit from the synergy between the two exhibitions," said Bernard Walsh, managing director, dmg Index Exhibitions. "Particularly satisfying was that 8 per cent of the visitor total came from the booming Saudi Arabian market."
In 2003 The Office Exhibition will again be held alongside The Hotel Show at the Airport Expo Dubai from May 19-21.
"With early commitments we are confident we can double the size for next May," said Kim Willis, project director, dmg Index Exhibitions.
The Office Show exhibitors came from 23 countries and represented 96 companies. Global industry players taking part included the British Contract Furnishing Association, Boss Design of the UK, Armstrong DLW of Germany, Barausse of Italy, Beaulieu of Belgium and Dietiker of Switzerland.
The show was a platform for major product launches and industry development announcements. Boss Design, which manufactures soft seating and executive chairs, clinched show orders for several prestigious Dubai projects, including the new Grand Hyatt conference hall and City Resort and the IMF 2003 offices in the National Bank of Dubai headquarters, dmg Index said.
"The demand for project orders is certainly on the increase in the UAE," said Karen Brennan, Boss Design sales director Middle East. "We envisage this will continue due to the current spate of office construction."
Russian office furniture manufacturer Felix, which used the show as a gateway to the Middle East, had a successful visit. "We took about 15 confirmed orders and expect to double that over the coming weeks from the enquiries we received," said Maxim A. Kurzantsev, Felix export manager. "The orders came from all over the GCC. It's been a great breakthrough for us and we hope to be back next year with a much bigger product range."
Also celebrating breakthrough orders was UAEofficesupplies.com, the specialised B2B portal.
"We sold 22 interactive kiosks for which we are the regional agents to a Saudi company," said Ehsan Khan, marketing executive.
Haya Kartal, managing director of Verda Foreign Trade of Turkey, praised the show for being very industry-specific. He expected it to grow significantly considering that the region was becoming more conscious about office ergonomics and design.
One of Kuwait's prominent trading families, Al Rakhis, distributed among exhibitors the floor plan of a new headquarters it is planning. The company was seeking a turnkey design and fittings service, said chairman of the company Mohammed E Al Rakhis.
Adel Saad Al-Moammer, owner of Saudi Arabia's SAMIC real estate development company, said his sourcing mission for a new 12-storey office block in Dammam was successful.
"I was looking for fittings and furnishings and because the show was exclusively focused I didn't have to waste time and met the right suppliers immediately," he said.
