India luxury show creates strong Dubai footprint

The first-ever consumer-focused India luxury show got underway at the Jumeirah Beach Hotel in Dubai on Saturday with a strong attendance of leading members of the UAE’s society and corporate world interesting in exploring luxury experiences out of the world’s second most populous country and fourth biggest economy.

Royal India-2013 Luxury Show is expected to be visited by over 3000 by-invitation guests - High Net Worth Individuals (HNWIs) and other wealthy Emiratis, Arabs and Indians - over its three-day run.

The show, supported by the Indian Ambassador to the UAE and India’s Ministry of Tourism, is being held with Gitanjali Group as Presenting Sponsor and Century Financial Brokers as the title sponsor.

Sheikh Mohammed bin Juma Al Maktoum, accompanied by the Indian ambassador to the UAE, M K Lokesh, and other dignitaries, formally opened the debut edition of the show by cutting the ceremonial ribbon in the presence of a large number of government officials, businessmen, investors and media representatives.

The show has a significant number of hand-picked exhibitors from India, specializing in luxury products, services and experiences in a travel, shopping, arts, lifestyle and wellness.

The organisers selected Dubai for the launch of the luxury show considering its eminence as the Arab world’s luxury hub, accounting for 30 per cent of the Middle East luxury market and around 60 per cent of the UAE's. 

According to the recently-released Hurun India Rich List, nine percent of India's super rich reside in Dubai. The UAE features sixth on the global ranking for a per capita income of $47,500. At $360 billion in 2012, the GDP of the UAE ranks third in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region.

According to the recent VISA Affluent Study-2013, Emiratis belonging to the affluent socio-economic class give equal priority to dining out, leisure and expenditures on family holidays.

The study revealed that the UAE was ranked fifth among the surveyed countries in terms of individual plans for future discretionary spending on holidays. Concerning family holiday trips over 90 per cent of Emiratis took an overseas holiday in the previous year and plans to travel again in the coming year.

India-UAE relations are growing stronger each passing year with annual bilateral trade exceeding US$75 billion. Last year, an estimated million Indians visited Dubai, adding up easily another five billion dollars to the bilateral trade. Every 20 minutes, an aircraft takes off between India and the UAE.

Ms. Gayathri Elayath Bhardwaj, Chief Event Organiser at Dubai-based Globuzz Events Management – the show organisers, said: “Royal India is a more result-oriented approach in engaging a premium group of wealthy and luxury-seeking members of the UAE society in a people-to-people format, meeting their needs and expectations.

“We knew about the huge potential of the UAE market for the luxury segment, but the response has been overwhelming, enabling the exhibitors reach out targeted audiences effectively.”

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