Friday 03 / May / 2024
Muscat: The Big Show, Oman’s biggest exhibition for building, construction and interior design, is an enormous success, organisers have confirmed.
“The current edition of Oman’s biggest exhibition in the construction sector is a huge success,” Ahmed Sayed, exhibition manager of OmanExpo told the Times of Oman (TOO).
“We are getting a good response from the exhibitors, as well as the visitors,” he added.
According to the organisers, they had received a record-breaking 15,000 visitors during the 2015 edition and expect this number to be surpassed this year.
“The exhibition has maintained a 15 per cent growth in terms of exhibitor participation and sold exhibition space,” Sayed said.
“We have around 250 local and international companies representing many countries and we have international pavilions from Germany, Turkey, Italy, India, Iran, Egypt and Kuwait,” he added.
New and innovative products and technology from the ceramic and marble, doors and windows, kitchen and bathroom, interior design, HVAC, water technologies, pools and spa, construction tools and equipment, steel, concrete and cement, and wood and woodworking machinery segment, are the features of the exhibition.
“We have added a couple of good features to this year’s exhibition, such as outdoor displays and we have tried to bring new products and technologies in the sector to the Omani market,” Sayed continued.
He also pointed out that the organisers plan to add more features to the exhibition when they move to the new convention centre.
“When we move to the other convention centre in the coming editions, we would like to develop some more fields, such as interior decoration and some other area as well,” Sayed said.
According to him, the exhibition is currently attracting two types of visitors.
“We have two groups of visitors coming to the exhibition, such as B2B people, who are coming to do business here and the other is the common man, who just wants to see the new products and new trends in the sector,” Sayed noted.
“I think this is a good platform for B2B because they can communicate with the international brands and get direct deals,” he asserted.
Sayed also pointed out that the exhibitors are happy with the facilities that OmanExpo has provided.
“Facilities, which the OmanExpo has provided are excellent, basically it will help us to promote our brand and our name in this exhibition,” Harroon Rasheed of Reema Building Materials LLC told TOO.
“We have a good exhibition because not only is it equipped well, but the quality of the companies here is also excellent,” another exhibitor said.
OmanExpo is planning to organise 10 to 12 major exhibitions in 2016.
“Every year, we organise 10 to 12 major exhibitions and this year too, we are planning to do the same by covering most of the economic aspects,” Sayed said.
According to him, they are all set organise the Oman Energy and Water Exhibition Conference this May.
“In September, we are planning to organise the Oman Health Exhibition and Conference and later one for Food and Hospitality,” he added.
Speaking about the participation of international delegations in each exhibition, Sayed stated, “We are trying our best to bring international organisations to our exhibitions and we can assure that each exhibition will have international delegates, based on the nature of the exhibition.”
Exhibitors said they are also receiving a good response from the visitors.
“We are getting good feedback from the visitors; people are very keen to know about the products and new trends in the market,” Ravikumar Thekkat of Panasonic said.
“Some of them (visitors) are ready to talk business and even sign deals,” another attendee asserted.
The four-day exhibition will end today, with and the exhibition hours being 4 pm to 10 pm.
