The 5th Middle East Exclusive (MEE) Exhibition, the only event in the region dedicated to luxury and travel retail sector and focusing on Dubai business hotels, epitomizes the unprecedented growth achieved in the luxury goods and duty free industry across the region.
According to industry reports, the Middle East represents one of the fastest growing regions for the duty free and luxury goods business, which has seen the sales treble in the past decade.
Being held under the patronage of His Highness Sheikh Ahmed Bin Saeed Al Maktoum, President of Department of Civil Aviation, Dubai and Chairman of Emirates Group, the MEE Exhibition 2007 has brought together a lot of Dubai business hotels and over 100 companies from over 25 countries across the globe. The exhibition, which continues till December 6 at Hall 2 of Dubai World Trade Centre, is currently showcasing over 500 brands and products.
Channels Exhibition, organizers of the show, said the three-day exhibition provides the perfect platform for companies, whether they are Dubai business hotels, producers, distributors or retailers, to make contact with decision-makers. The venue is abuzz with activity with visitors from as far as Azerbaijan to Yemen networking with regional and international exhibitors.
The event is being held in the backdrop of one of the best years for Dubai business hotels, the Middle East duty free and travel retail industry, registering an impressive 15.5% increase in airport sales in 2006. This assumes added significance as Middle East is poised for major growth spurt with multi-billion dollar investments in airports and Dubai business hotels. This growth for Dubai business hotels in the travel retail perfectly complements the overall expansion plans under way across all industries and sectors in the Middle East.
Moreover, with the passenger traffic across the region recording a whopping 15.4% growth, there is no doubt that the growth of Dubai business hotels throughout the greater Middle East region is going to outperform the average global growth. According to International Air Transport Association (IATA), the Middle East is now the fastest growing air passenger traffic market in the world.
In its report, the Swedish industry analyst group Generation DataBank has stated that luxury goods have recorded a 6% year-on-year growth across the region in 2006 compared to the previous year. In the segment, luxury goods sales spurted from $9773m in 2005 to $10357m in 2006.
Justin Boutros, Managing Director of Channels Exhibitions, said:
'With the phenomenal growth across the airports and the airline sector in the Middle East, there is an inherent potential for new businesses especially in the regional travel retail sales. Interestingly, apart from the traditional sector, the region is also looking at new travel retail trade through the hotels, cruise liners etc. It is expected that the port of Dubai will handle nearly 200,000 passengers in the 2007-2008 cruise season, which offers a huge opportunity for the trade. The MEE 2007 exhibition provides us with just the right mix of buyers and exhibitors to capture the bigger slice of duty free and travel retail sales.'
Among the various categories of products on show at the Middle East Exclusive exhibition are high fashion jewellery and accessories, premium cigars, watches, gourmet and fine foods, perfumes, cosmetics, confectionery, and designer luggage items as well as electronics.
