Key Dubai tourism chief to speak at Hotel Show

The CEO of Dubai Corporation for Tourism and Commerce Marketing will present a keynote address at The Hotel Show next week, highlighting the next stage of Dubai Tourism’s vision for the future.

With travel and tourism currently contributing approximately 20% of Dubai’s GDP and reports that the emirate’s hotel industry has expanded threefold in the last 15 years, Issam AbdulRahim Kazim will deliver his speech on the first day of the Vision Conference, which is running throughout the event.

The Hotel Show will take place at Dubai World Trade Centre from September 28-30. Hotelier Middle East and Caterer Middle East are the event's Exclusive Official Publications.

“It is a pleasure to once again be part of The Hotel Show, especially on its 15th anniversary, and we look forward to welcoming the Industry to what will undoubtedly be a successful event,” said Issam AbdulRahim Kazim.

“The Show plays a key role for Dubai and the hospitality sector, helping to attract new investment, showcase Dubai and contribute to ultimately make the emirate one of the world’s most visited cities. As we work towards Dubai’s Tourism Vision including attracting 20 million annual visitors by 2020, a key focus is ensuring a consistent growth of the emirate’s hotel inventory to ensure we cater for current and future demand.

“The Hotel Show is an important step towards achieving our ambitious targets.”

The Hotel Show Dubai is the largest dedicated exhibition for hotel and hospitality professionals in the region: over 17,000 decision makers from across the industry supply chain are expected to attend this year’s event. Last year’s event resulted in almost US $4 billion worth of contracts exchanged between visitors and exhibitors, according to organisers.

This year marks the event’s 15th anniversary; back in 1999 there were just 378 hotels and hotel apartments, while this year the figure is expected to reach 634, with a combined 88,888 keys. By 2020, the city is targeting 160,000 rooms.

Christine Davidson, event director of The Hotel Show Dubai, said: “There is a reason why visitors and exhibitors travel from all corners of the globe to attend The Hotel Show in Dubai: it is a world-class destination, travel and trade hub.

“The city has seen exponential growth and is the perfect platform for event to continue to attract decision making hotel, hospitality and leisure professionals. In addition, future Mega Events to be held in the region such as Dubai’s Expo 2020 is creating a wealth of new opportunities in hospitality for the city.”

In the first half of 2014, Dubai welcomed more than 5.8 million tourists, the highest number of visitors ever achieved in the first six months of the year. As it aims to become one of the top 10 sustainable cities in the world, The Hotel Show Dubai will be a platform for those influencing the evolution of the global hospitality and leisure industry; design and architecture trends and green legislation are just two of the event’s areas of focus.

Expert speakers will be profiled and dedicated features revealed to inspire and educate its visitors in these and other key areas of focus for the region’s hospitality industry.

To find out more about The Hotel Show and the Vision Conference, visit www.thehotelshow.com.