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Show Review
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The obligatory
John Davies photo
DEAL 2007
Quiet confidence in the UAE
The major exhibition of its kind for the Middle a very buoyant exhibition indeed. Yet as anyone who’s
East, Dubai Entertainment, Amusement & Leisure ever visited or exhibited before will tell you, it’s
– DEAL – took place from April 22 to 24. Owen sometimes hard to pick that feeling up straight away
Ralph reports from exhibition halls 1 and 2 of the from the show floor.
Dubai World Trade Centre. “Unlike other shows there are not a lot of people,
John Davies, who runs the
but generally they are good,” noted Alexandre Ramos
UK office of OmniTicket
Network, loves getting his
photo in print, so we were
A
total of 4,840 visitors, 3,428 of them from of Play Mart from Italy.
GCC (Gulf Cooperation Council) countries “The market here is in the hands of a few big
attended this year’s show and, according to groups, so you just need a few contacts,” highlighted
only too happy to oblige
once again at DEAL in
organiser International Expo Consults (IEC), 60% were Elena Munari of IE Park. “It seems this year we also
Dubai. Here we see John
senior management or top decision makers. got an opening to Syria and Iran, which were
(left) with OmniTicket
They came to see 182 international exhibitors traditionally hard to break. Before they bought locally-
president Paolo Moro from representing 32 countries, including several first-timers. made rides, now they are looking for improvements.”
Milan. ‘Til next time, eh
After the United Arab Emirates (UAE), there were more “The Middle East is moving again after two to three
John?
participants this year from the UK (23) than anywhere years of us holding our breath, we all hope it will last,”
else, followed by Italy (18). said Giancarlo Belotti of bumper car specialist C&S.
Opening hours were revised this time too, from “We were definitely busier than before,” agreed Lino
11am to 7pm each day. In previous years the show Ferretti of Preston & Barbieri. “There are many projects
featured a break in the middle and a later finish. Some coming over the next two to three years. I think the
found this stretched the day out beyond belief, others Splash Battle is very interesting for this area and we’ve
welcomed the chance to pop back to the hotel for an had huge interest in it.”
hour or two by the pool! As IEC will know only too For Rainbow Productions from London, “2007 was
well, you can never please everyone, but maybe this our first year at DEAL and from what we’ve seen so far
show would actually work better as a two-day event. we’ve been impressed with the number of serious
Even on the last day, there is still no early finish. enquiries generated from our exhibition stand,” said
One improvement that looks likely to made for next the costume character company’s Helen Ede. “We are
year is the addition of some sort of conference now quoting on a number of exciting potential
programme. After all there’s plenty to talk about in this projects.”
part of the world, with Dubai alone aiming to attract Another first-timer was Bombay Amusement Rides.
15 million tourists by 2010, and likely to succeed if the “There are more people than I was expecting,” said
present level of growth is sustained. With many major Pradeep Sharma. “Business is good, we’ve had a few
A general view of the show projects planned or already underway across the UAE serious clients.”
floor on the second day and the rest of the Middle East, this should have been Yet while everyone agreed they had to be there –
and most of the big names were – few were taking any
chances over the amount of resources they committed
to the show. A small booth accompanied by just one
or two staff was common.
As one of the few companies with working rides on
its stand, Moser Rides/Entertainment was feeling the
benefit. “When you have material here you attract a
lot of attention,” smiled Alfeo Moser, presenting both
an Extraordinary Bike and a Spring Ride.
One of the larger stands came from the SBF/Visa
Group, which like several Italian manufacturers does
decent business supplying family rides and attractions
to the region’s many malls and shopping centres.
“Personally I am not enthusiastic about any show,” said
Beat J Frei, “but it is up to standard this year. You have
to offer the total solution – big rides, small rides,
design, theming, installation and operation. We are
working on several projects at the moment.”
The mother of all UAE projects, surely, is Dubailand,
where Attractions & Experience World alone,
comprising multiple theme parks, accounts for US$3
billion. Yet some suppliers expressed their continuing
frustration with the pace at which the overall project is
moving.
18 JUNE 2007
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