The Good: According to Dubai World Trade Centre (DWTC), the organizers of Gitex, the number of trade visitors to the show was up by 9.77 percent to 127,724 visitors. They came to see any or all of the 2,724 companies from 61 countries represented at the exhibition. Sales at Gitex Shopper were up by 36 percent, to a total in excess of 76 million dirhams. All of these numbers indicate a growing regional interest in information technology and a desire by vendors, internationally, to cater to that demand. With many more companies represented at Gitex there was more information available on a wide variety of technologies and specialty areas within IT. Unfortunately, every vendor claimed that his technology was the best. So instead of signing deals, visitors collected information at the show and established relationships, but most stated that they’d do some research online and meet with trusted advisers before putting down any cash.
The Bad: With thousands of companies exhibiting at Gitex it was hard to attract attention. Many vendors spent piles of dirhams on weird marketing ideas. Some leading hardware vendors encased local newspapers in logo imprinted plastic wrappers. Those plastic wrappers were torn off by readers in seconds and now will become an unwelcome long term addition to Dubai’s garbage dumps. Such ignorant marketing was displayed side by side with efforts by other companies including Fujitsu Siemens Computers to showcase “Green” technology. Some companies definitely need to revisit the concept of responsible corporate behavior in a community.
And speaking of corporate behavior, DWTC’s attempt to make available more space for exhibitors was admirable. However, those temporary exhibition halls lacked adequate cooling. Consequently, the exhibitors in those halls were miserable and visitor traffic there was minimal. Hall 1A was a particularly hellish place to be an exhibitor. Sweating all over one’s products is not the way to impress an audience. The monies paid to DWTC by exhibitors in Hall 1A should be refunded.
It was great to see certain services such as a pharmacy made available to visitors to the venue, but improvement is still needed. Inspectors must ensure that the food on offer at restaurants is fresh, especially the vegetables included in the salads and sandwiches. There are only two automatic teller machines (ATMs) to serve the entire exhibition complex. On Thursday, the final day of Gitex, with people leaving for home, there was a huge demand on the machines. Only one ATM was working. Just imagine the line!
Another inconvenience that awaited those departing the show was the need to have their luggage searched before it was put into storage rooms in hotels at the venue. Hotel guests on late departing flights, who needed to store their belongings, had to unlock their suitcases and allow security guards to dig through their dirty clothes in public at the entrances to the hotels’ storage areas. There was no prior warning concerning this procedure. It was described to outraged guests as “security.” These hotels earn huge amounts annually. Why haven’t they invested in X-ray devices to scan baggage in a non-invasive manner?
The Ugly: The noise level at Gitex would certainly have been illegal in many countries. The noise harmed the hearing of everyone at the exhibition and was both stressful and exhausting. Noise pollution at the show has been rising annually. Many exhibitors crank up the volume on their stands to compete with loud presentations from exhibitors nearby. The end result is an unbearable cacophony that benefits no one. Maximum decibel level emitted by a stand should be a part of the exhibitor’s contract. Violators should be fined a 50 percent premium if they choose to exhibit in the next show.
Fifty to 100 percent premiums are actually the norm now for many services offered during Gitex. One gentleman exhibiting with a company in the UK Pavilion stated that he paid 170 pounds for a “very nice” return flight London Heathrow/Dubai on Qatar Airways. The best rate he could get for a room during Gitex was 178 pounds per night with a requirement for a five-night booking. That man was actually lucky. Some last-minute visitors were charged 1,500 dirhams per night — breakfast included. Visitors and exhibitors traveling daily from Abu Dhabi were not unusual.
Of course, that statement is made casually but it must be explained that traveling anywhere in or around Dubai during Gitex entailed an acceptance of serious unpleasantness. Traffic was a nightmare and taxis were in extremely short supply from 7 a.m. until 10 p.m. every day of the show. To take a taxi from Gitex required the boarding of a shuttle bus outside the venue. The transportation victims were then hauled off to a dirt filled lot a five-minute drive from the exhibition halls. There, they had the hideous experience of standing in full business attire — suit, tie and dress shoes — for minutes to hours in 40 degree plus heat in a taxi queue with no water, shade or seating. As the taxis entered the lot to pick up passengers, the vehicles stirred up dust, which then settled on everyone trapped in the queue. That filthy, miserable queue will be the final enduring memory of Dubai for many Gitex visitors. Solutions to this problem abound. Responsible authorities should implement them immediately or else be condemned to stand in that dirt lot and direct traffic for the entirety of the next Gitex.
Last but not least, the worst, ugliest part of Gitex for a Saudi journalist to bear is that this show should be the Kingdom’s. Yes, yes, there is that sorry exhibition called Gitex Saudi Arabia. For most of that event women are excluded from participation as exhibitors or visitors. The space is quite limited at Gitex Saudi Arabia and many potential exhibitors are simply too nervous, for a multitude of reasons, to come to that show in Riyadh. So they exhibit in Dubai and try to use Gitex there as a platform to sell their IT products, solutions and services to the Saudi market — the largest one in the GCC and one of the largest in the Middle East. The sad thing is that too often this strategy works.
* * *
–(Comments to: [email protected].)