The expo industry is one of the most important tools for marketing and promoting products and increasing sales with revenue generated from expos surpassing that of other marketing programs. This explains why most businessmen prefer to showcase their products at exhibitions where they can get an instant reaction from potential customers. Moreover studies show that exhibitions cost less than traditional advertisements, with American companies spending 20 percent of their budgets on expos and European businesses spending 25 percent on them. However, expos not only have advantages to businessmen who want to exhibit and sell their products. They also give a significant boost to the local economy, provide a platform for the introduction of indigenous products, and help to develop the local tourism sector. The thousands of people attracted by exhibitions create business for other sectors, such as, hotels, restaurants and travel agencies. Dr. Abdullah Merai Bin Mahfouz, Chairman of Jeddah's Board of Directors for Forums Centers who is also Deputy Chairman of Jeddah's Chamber of Commerce and Industry (JCCI), said that the investment in the exhibitions should be seen as an important investment in the Kingdom with specialist expos especially providing a boost to the national economy. Regarding obstacles hampering the progress of this new industry in the Kingdom, he said, “The biggest problem facing the industry is obtaining visitors' visas for those coming from outside the Kingdom. We have found that each expo requires 250-300 exhibitors coming from abroad, and we are now working on solving this problem.” Bin Mahfouz said the JCCI would suggest to the concerned authorities that the chamber be permitted to grant licenses for local exhibitions instead of the present mechanism under which exhibitors apply to the Ministry of Commerce. Those applications must be lodged with the ministry one year prior to the launch of the exhibition, which greatly reduces the chances of the success of the show and in turn affects the Kingdom's overall exhibition industry. Exhibition industry Bin Mahfouz added, “We are very keen to upgrade this industry by attracting international exhibitions and reputable international specialist companies. The global real estate exhibition “City Scape” is an example of the type of expo that we would like to have more of in the future. “City Scape”, in which 150 exhibitors will take part, will be hosted by the Kingdom for the first time in Jeddah from June 14-16, and it is expected to lead to new developments in the marketing of real estate.” He said that he expected the exhibition industry to make great progress as it is a promising economic activity supported by the current investment atmosphere in the Kingdom. Worth a billion riyals The Kingdom's exhibition industry is estimated to be worth SR1 billion with the Kingdom ranking second after Dubai in terms of the number of expos held each year. Jeddah, because it has all the industry infrastructure in place, hosts most of the exhibitions held in the Kingdom, and in fact the city has recently witnessed the establishment of the nation's first joint stock exhibition company with capital of SR20 million. Bin Mahfouz said that the company has invested part of this capital in constructing expo and conference centers, pointing out that work is also underway on the development of the JCCI expo center by increasing the exhibiting area from 10,000 sq. m to 15,000 sq. m. 50% of world trade Eilly Rezk, executive president of an exhibition company in Jeddah, said, “The exhibition industry is relatively new in the Arab World, with the first expo taking place about 20 years ago. However, it is becoming increasingly important. You have to realize that 50 percent of world trade is conducted through promotions and meetings between companies and businessmen during exhibitions.” He said that the establishment of the National Committee for Saudi Exhibition Companies in itself reflects the great importance given to the industry in the Kingdom, pointing out that the exhibition industry has grown rapidly with 289 exhibitions held in the Kingdom in 2006 which represented an increase of 40 percent compared to 2002. Tourism boost Rezk said the exhibition industry plays a significant role in promoting tourism and enhancing the national economy by stimulating auxiliary services, such as, aviation, shopping centers and hotels. He said that although the global financial crisis has left no one unhurt, this has not stopped the Kingdom from organizing exhibitions, adding, “In fact this stems from our confidence that the Kingdom's economy is strong and that it has not been greatly affected by this crisis.” Citing an example, he said that his company has organized the first Saudi Labor Market Exhibition which has attracted hundreds of companies from within and outside the Kingdom, pointing out that its objective is to acquaint young Saudi job seekers with the available job opportunities and put them in direct touch with business owners and recruitment managers. “We are now working on organizing the International Real Estate Exhibition in Riyadh which will be launched in two months' time,” Rezk said. A healthy sign Abdullah Saeed Al-Ahmari, Deputy Chairman of the Real Estate Committee in JCCI, said that many real estate expos have been organized in the past few months, pointing out that this indicates that the real estate market in the Kingdom is picking up and flourishing. “It also signifies,” he said, “that the expo industry is thriving in the Kingdom due to the lower investment risk in the field as compared to other projects.” He said the large number of real estate expos in the Kingdom indicates that the real estate business has not been affected by the global financial crisis bearing in mind that it is one of the largest and safest investment sectors in the country. “Moreover, crowds of businessmen and visitors at every real estate expo is strong evidence of the strength of the Saudi economy and its ability to absorb economic shocks,” Al-Ahmari added. He stressed that Saudi real estate and financing companies in the Kingdom and Gulf are keen to participate in expos because they offer them the best chance to address the business community in the country. Al-Ahmari said that in order to promote this industry we need to work out a more flexible mechanism because most of the managers and representatives of companies in the Kingdom complain about the long complicated procedures and bureaucracy in some government agencies foremost of which is the difficulty in getting visitors visas for the exhibitors and visitors, which is not the case in some neighboring countries. “We need to consider these matters seriously if we want to establish a strong exhibition industry in the Kingdom because this industry has proved to be a very important element in the country's development process and in the diversification of the sources of revenue,” Al
