There will be no change in the venue of Gitex Shopper as Airport Expo continues to attract the target audience from across Dubai and Sharjah.
Hemesh Chandavarkar, Industry Group Manager, Consumer Cluster and Exhibition and Events Management at the Dubai World Trade Centre, told Emirates 24|7 that facilities have been expanded to the third hall of the venue this year due to excess demand.
About 160 exhibitors are participating in the consumer technology exhibition this year.
“The participation has improved. This time around we have more direct participation from companies such as Panasonic, Canon and Research in Motion (RIM), the maker of BlackBerry. It is a clear indication of the strategic importance of the show in the industry,” said Chandavarkar.
The rents have also marginally increased this year compared to 2009.
“We have increased the rents by three to four per cent. The rent per square foot is Dh1,395,” he said.
The show has moved on since it started 20 years ago.
“Earlier Gitex only meant laptops and cameras. Now we have introduced white goods that are aimed at the female audience,” said Chandavarkar.
Commenting on the bottleneck caused due to limited parking, he said all efforts are being made in co-ordination with the Roads and Transport Authority to ease the situation.
“We have arranged parking spots across the road. A shuttle bus connects the venue to the parking spot. We also have a shuttle bus connecting the venue to the Rashidiya Metro Station,” said Chandavarkar.
“The place is ideally located to cater to visitors from Sharjah, the Northern Emirates and Dubai. There are no immediate plans to change the venue to any other location. This year too we are expecting the number of participants to increase to more than 150,000,” he added.