The Middle East is fast becoming a centre for international food and beverage exhibitions and tradeshows. Caterer investigates how these types of events are contributing to the growth of the region's foodservice sector.
The growth of F&B tradeshows in the Middle East is fuelling the boom in the foodservice industry, which is worth an estimated US $31 billion annually according to regional suppliers and distributors.
Events such as the Hotel Show, which showcased products, services and technologies for the hospitality sector, and AGRAme - the region's premier agribusiness trade event - serve the current F&B growth trends by providing suppliers with the best point of access to the Gulf market, explained Dubai World Trade Centre (DWTC) project manager Bilal Al Rais.
"F&B tradeshow events meet a very specific industry need and put all of the right people together on the same page," he said.
In response to the region's burgeoning manufacturing and processing industry, the DWTC held the inaugural edition of Ingredients Middle East last month - a specialist trade event dedicated to ingredients used in the food, beverage and health food industry.
The show was a platform for more than 18 countries represented at the event, which provided an important stepping stone for manufacturers planning to expand in the region.
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"We saw this as an opportunity to meet with Middle East-based food processing companies and extend our reach into key vertical markets," said director of expansion for exhibitor Agus, Grzegorz Maczynski.
Due to the event's success, Dubai World Trade Centre (DWTC) would next year combine Ingredients Middle East with Gulfood 2009 to create the Middle East's largest trade event for any single vertical industry said Helal Almarri, director general, DWTC.
"The region's food, beverage and hospitality industries are diversifying and developing at such an impressive rate that we believe it is essential to create an event of comparable size and comprehensive scope."
Another hospitality industry exhibition that is experiencing consistent year-on-year growth is the Hotel Show, which this year showcased a host of innovations for the foodservice industry, from crockery collections and linen to audio-visual systems and tailored uniform solutions.
Meanwhile, the AGRAme 2008 post-show report confirmed another successful event, with an increase of 80% in the number of companies exhibiting since 2007.
"More than 100 exhibitors from 26 countries were part of AGRAme this year, which received visitors from 55 countries, while the majority represented the Middle East and North Africa markets.
"The increase in the number of both visitors and exhibitors is an indication that AGRAme is a platform to the Middle East's agri-business market," said Almarri.
"The growth of existing F&B-related tradeshows - and the introduction of new industry exhibitions in the future - will continue to boost the region's burgeoning foodservice sector," concluded Al Rais.
F&B tradeshows are not just business platforms for networking, but increasingly an educational forum to discuss industry issues explained Taa'Heel beverage consultant president Sharaf Dabbagh.
"We have established the Arab Beverages Forum, which ran alongside this year's Ingredients Middle East exposition for the first time.
"It's a platform to not only discuss the issues facing the Arab beverages market, but to also share international expertise, so that companies can learn and interact."
This year's Seven Star Conference, which was co-located with the Hotel Show, was bigger than ever and featured more presentations from leading industry professionals that ever before said exhibition director of the Hotel Show Maggie Moore.
"This year's conference focused on sustainability and ran for three full days covering all aspects of sustainable issues facing the hospitality sector," she said.
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