SIAL Middle East will continue growing at a staggering pace to be recognised as the fastest growing food, beverage and hospitality event in the MENA region. We had an interview to know more details about this successful trade show. Keep reading to know more about this popular food exhibition!
SIAL Middle East attracted 952 exhibitors, 30+ national pavilions and 16, 562 trade attendees, what’s the secret of its success?
SIAL Middle East has been running for 7 years. Since its launch in 2010, the event has witnessed an average of 20% growth each year in terms of exhibitors and visitors. The real success of the event is around the quality of visitors as 73% of the exhibitors highly appreciated the quality of the visitors they were able to meet.
The event has the support of our strategic partner, how does this collaboration contribute to the event?
Abu Dhabi Food Control Authority has been SIAL Middle East’s strategic partner since its launch in 2010. As the premier authority for food and beverage industry in Abu Dhabi, they are involved in ensuring food safety, guaranteeing the quality of food for human consumption and conducting the necessary research and studies on safe food. With regards to SIAL Middle East, Abu Dhabi Food Control Authority has been supporting the event with the Hosted Buyer Programme, which has been one of key features within the show. As part of the programme, Abu Dhabi Food Control Authority fully funds the attendance of 500 buyers from the GCC, Middle East and Indian Sub-Continent. Each hosted buyer coming to SIAL Middle East needs to have a US$ 500,000 purchasing power and receives a return flight ticket, accommodation for 2 nights, airport transfers and access to evening events.
SIAL Middle East also offers a perfect opportunity for date palm fruit producers and suppliers to meet with thousands of foods, can you give us some tips to have success in this event?
Abu Dhabi Date Palm Exhibition, which is co-located with SIAL Middle East features up to 80 suppliers and products of Date Palm Fruit. This year the event will feature 8 country pavilions including Egypt, Oman, Sudan, Morocco, Palestine, Jordan, Tunisia and Saudi Arabia. Visitors will be able to sample and source across hundreds of varieties of dates from these countries.
The event has become one of the most important trade shows in UAE for food & beverage. What do you think that makes it different from other similar shows?
Most importantly it is the focus of the event for sectors including foodservice/HoReCa and airline catering. Unlike other events, it also gives exhibitors and visitors an opportunity to sit down and have a proper conversation rather than just exchange business cards. Other elements like the Hosted Buyer Programme and various other features also ensure that visitors attend the event for additional networking and knowledge transfer opportunities while meeting suppliers and exhibitors.
During 3 days, Abu Dhabi host the latest trends of the food industry. What benefits (economic and social) brings the show to the city?
SIAL Middle East is organised alongside the Abu Dhabi Food Festival which adds to the opportunities exhibitors and visitors have when they attend the event. As thousands of attendees come to the event, economically it benefits Abu Dhabi as hotel rooms are booked, flights are taken and meals are consumed.
What news can we find this year at SIAL Middle East?
There are number of new elements coming to SIAL Middle East this year. For starters, there are new pavilions from European Commission, Brazil and Kuwait. For the interest of foodservice and HoReCa visitors, we are introducing a new feature where the visitors representing hotels, restaurant and cafes can meet a social media agency, have their social media health check done and get feedback on how this can be improved. Also from knowledge transfer and content perspective, we will be bring quite a significant amount of content as part of the event, which included the running of 2nd edition of the Middle East Food Forum. For more information, keep referring back to the event website www.sialme.com
Lastly, can you give us some participation results from the last edition?
