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Middle East Office Furniture And Hospitality Industries Have Much TO Offer
suppliers of office systems, conference and meeting room furniture, partitions, filing systems, telecommunications and audio-visual equipment, flooring and lighting as well as turnkey and management consultants. A total of 99 companies from 23 countries exhibited at this year's show. Local companies formed the largest group with 27 companies followed by companies from the UK (12), USA (10), Germany (8) and Italy (7). A manufacturer of upholstered office chairs, Ergo-Max System Sdn. Bhd. was the sole participant from Malaysia. The company exhibited a wide range of office chairs either in wood or upholstered with fabric, leather or PVC. Being a dedicated event for the office interiors and facilities management sector, Malaysian office furniture suppliers and turnkey contractors for office furnishing would have found 'Office Exhibition 2003'a useful avenue to explore new business opportunities in the Middle East's office furniture sector. This is in view of the fact that mega commercial building projects, which are part of multi-billion dollar investments, are currently underway throughout the Gulf region. In the UAE, major projects now on track include the construction of 13 tower buildings, commercial buildings and Burj Dubai, a mammoth project with combined residential, commercial, hotel and entertainment facilities, which when completed would house the tallest tower building in the world. Additionally, Abu Dhabi is planning 37 new building projects at an estimated cost of US$112 million. In Saudi Arabia, projects worth US$504 million are being developed while a US$1 billion 'Financial City' is under construction in Bahrain. These mega projects would spur continued demand for office furniture and interior decor products in the region. MTC also visited the 'Hotel Show 2003' which was being held concurrently at the Dubai Airport Expo. 'Hotel Show 2003' was dedicated to the hospitality industry. Many of the visitors comprising architects, designers and specifiers working on projects in the hospitality sector and who are also involved in projects for interior designing or furnishing of office premises found it beneficial to visit both shows, which together recorded a total of 5,820 visitors. Exhibitors at the 'Hotel Show 2003' included manufacturers and suppliers of timber mouldings, indoor and outdoor furniture, wooden flooring as well as interior decor accessories including carpets, lighting and other products and services related to the hospitality industry. This year's show attracted 210 companies from 24 countries. Local companies formed the largest group of exhibitors with a total of 62 companies followed by companies from the UK (32), Germany (20) and Italy (18). Exhibitors from the UAE included those involved in turnkey interior fit-out works, manufacturing customised furniture as well as agents for overseas manufacturers of furniture and interior decor products. With major expansion seen in the Middle East hospitality industry, an estimated US$15 billion is expected to be invested in up to 220 new hotel projects. Hotel development is set to continue across the Middle East as regional governments have long-term plans to promote their respective countries as major tourist destinations. UAE's construction spending alone is expected to increase as a result of major ongoing projects to develop infrastructure required for expansion of the tourism industry. Projects expected to have the biggest impact on the local tourism industry is Dubai's US$4 billion "Palm Jumeirah & Palm Jebel Ali" which would eventually support 98 hotels. Other major projects which include construction of hotels are Dubai Festival City with an investment of US$4 billion, Dubai Marina (US$4 billion), the Burj Dubai and Conference Palace Hotel by Kempinski in Abu Dhabi. As such, it would be beneficial for Malaysian turnkey interior decor and furnishing contractors, manufacturers and suppliers of customised or contract furniture for the hotel industry to participate in this exhibition to showcase their latest range of interior decor products and services. |
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MTC
visited the second edition of 'Office Exhibition 2003', an offshoot of the
successful Middle East International Furniture, Interior Design &
Shop-fitting Exhibition (INDEX). Held at the Airport Expo in Dubai, UAE from 19
- 21 May 2003, 'Office Exhibition 2003' is an annual event dedicated to office
furniture, office interior decor and facilities management sector. Exhibitors
were manufacturers and
MTC’s
