Dubai: Gitex Shopper, the largest technology exhibition for consumers in the Middle East, is moving house and will likely be relocated to the Dubai International Convention and Exhibition Centre for the 2012 season, Gulf News has learnt.
Sources say the fate of the Dubai Airport Expo facility is unknown, prompting Gitex organisers to move the tech consumer showcase to a new home.
Trixee Loh, Senior Vice-President Exhibitions and Events Management with Dubai World Trade Centre, confirmed that negotiations are under way to house both elements of Gitex under one roof, albeit both events next year will be staggered on different dates to accommodate the crowd.
Statistics
Official attendance numbers have not been released for both of last week's Gitex events, but the Gitex Shopper 2010 drew 166,521 visitors who spent Dh175 million to purchase electronic items, a 40 per cent jump over 2009, official statistics show.
Organisers were expecting higher numbers this year at both the Shopper and Technology Week to place the combined attendance well over 300,000 visitors overall for Gitex in 2011.
"Plans are underway to relocate Gitex Shopper from Airport Expo Dubai to Dubai International Convention and Exhibition Centre (DICEC) next year," Loh told Gulf News yesterday. "Due to a busy exhibitions and conference schedule at DICEC, Dubai World Trade Centre, organiser of Gitex Shopper, is currently evaluating the events calendar to ensure the most optimum show dates for Gitex Shopper 2012."
Loh said that "Gitex Technology Week is expected to reach full occupancy at DICEC, accentuated by its significantly different B2B trade show positioning from Gitex Shopper which is a public consumer event. As a result, Gitex Shopper will not run alongside Gitex Technology Week and is likely to be scheduled a week before or after the trade show."
No dates for the back-to-back scheduling of next year's events have been announced pending further negotiations.
