Explainer: Are physical events making a comeback in the GCC?

Explainer: Are physical events making a comeback in the GCC?

In March 2020, the exhibition industry came to an abrupt halt and every event organiser in the GCC felt the impact. During the last 18 months the events sector has had to work quickly and creatively to adapt their business models to provide value for the markets in which they operate. Many have gone online to provide alternative ways of staying in touch with their markets through webinars and virtual exhibitions, although the results have been mixed. Because of travel restrictions, we decided at a very early stage that we would need to transition our exhibitions from international to local. This strategy for our recent Index and Hotel Show events in Dubai worked extremely well and will form the basis of how we operate going forward. We have used the 15 months break from live events to speak with our customers and understand their (new) needs. This has really paid off in the UAE and we are hopeful to repeat the same for our upcoming events in Saudi Arabia. Index Dubai and Hotel Show Dubai were the first events we organised in 15 months and while they were smaller because of fewer international exhibitors, the number of trade visitors exceeded