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With the Middle East hospitality sector seeking strategies to overcome the challenges of the global financial slowdown, attention turns to The Hotel Show, the region’s premier trade show for the industry.

“There is little doubt that the regional hospitality industry has moved into uncharted territory. Being no strangers to periodic downturns the region’s hospitality professionals will be looking for the opportunities that these challenging times may well present,” said Maggie Moore, Exhibition Director of The Hotel Show. “Therefore at this juncture, the show provides a unique opportunity to take the pulse of the regional industry,” she added.

“We are, quite naturally perhaps, already seeing a greater emphasis being placed throughout the industry on finding ways to improve margins and maximise revenue opportunity – particularly with an eye to eventual recovery. Hoteliers will no doubt be on the look out for products and services which offer greater efficiency at lower cost.”

Dubai's Department of Tourism and Commerce Marketing says it does not plan to revise its target to attract 15 million tourists a year by 2015, and regionally the Qatar Tourism and Exhibition Authority recently said the country's hotel capacity needs to increase from the current 4,300 rooms to some 29,000 rooms by 2012.
In 2008 The Hotel Show featured 1,050 exhibitors from 46 countries and attracted 13,056 key industry decision makers from 95 countries. Historically, 25% of visitors have come from outside the UAE.

"We made some important changes for this year's event based on feedback from our visitor and exhibitor surveys," said Moore. These include, the Resort Experience; the launch of the first Middle East Spa Summit; the Seven Star Conference, an established event running alongside The Hotel Show emphasises design trends, sustainability, future technologies and marketing for profitability.

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