Dubai World Trade Centre to launch new real estate exhibition ‘Rise’

Dubai: Dubai will create a new exhibition and trade event specifically for the real estate industry – but one that will focus on more than developers, projects and sales, according to a top official at Dubai World Trade Centre.

The event - Rise - will be a ‘hub for those in city planning, new ways to build infrastructure and real estate spanning decades’, said Mahir Abdulkarim Julfar, Executive Vice-president at DWTC. Apart from being the venue of choice for Dubai biggest exhibitions and conferences, DWTC also is the organizer of industry-leading Gitex and Gulfood.

There had been intense speculation that DWTC was coming up with something on real estate of its own, given the central role the sector plays in the Dubai economy. And more so as the Dubai Exhibition Centre – the Middle East’s biggest single-site for events – is scheduled to open its first phase in 2026.

“The purpose of expanding with Dubai Exhibition Centre (part of Expo City) is not just about transitioning – we’ve maxed out at the original site here (near the World Trade Centre),” said Julfar.

“We did a full study with the exhibition industry players and how they are looking to grow in the next 3-5 years. Based on that, we decided on the need to expansion.

“The plan is for basically for specific events – Arab Health, Gulfood and Gitex – will all be hosted in Dubai Exhibition Centre.”

The exhibitions sector in Dubai generated a staggering Dh22.35 billion in total economic output in 2024 from 100 large-scale events, conventions and conferences. These events pulled in a combined 2 million plus visitors. (Of these, 936,083 had come to Dubai from overseas.)

From the Dh22.35 billion generated, Dh13.04 billion was ‘retained as gross value added (GVA) to Dubai’s GDP’, according to DWTC’s ‘2024 Economic Impact Assessment’.

“Every initiative at DWTC is focused on accelerating the growth of a future-ready economy,” said Helal Saeed Almarri, Director-General of DWTC Authority. “One that attracts global talent, empowers enterprise, and enables meaningful international collaboration.

“The first phase of Dubai Exhibition Centre’s expansion on schedule for completion in 2026. We are not only increasing our ability to host high-impact global events but deepening DWTC’s role as a driver of economic opportunity, innovation, and sustainable growth”.

The events Dubai hosts – there was a 32% rise in their numbers – is reckoned to have created 85,533 jobs across the MICE (meetings, incentives, exhibitions, conferences) and allied sectors.

On whether with Dubai Exhibition Centre going live in 2026, the city can reasonably bring in more events, Julfar said: “To be chosen to host international conferences, the lead time could be anything from 2- to 10 years. What you have is more of a city-wide bidding process because – as everyone knows – Dubai has become the hub to host events.

“What we are trying to do is create opportunities for event spin-offs or co-location possibilities. For instance, Arab Health will be at Dubai Exhibition Centre and Medlab will be at DWTC at the same time. It means more room for Medlab to grow.”