This year’s Big 5 trade fair recorded 19 per cent growth in visitor numbers compared to 2003, according to organiser dmg world media Dubai.

Sixty per cent of these came from outside Dubai and 40 per cent from outside the UAE, it adds.
“We are absolutely delighted with the success of the show,” says Bernard Walsh, managing director of dmg world media Dubai.
The show, ended on a highly positive note last month with several of the exhibitors winning mega deals.
 Among the first to make the headlines was Emirates Glass, which secured what is claimed to be the largest single glass supply contract ever(see UAE Focus, page 22).
“During the show, we have secured more than 3,000 tonnes worth of business,” says Jorge Miguel Borja, sales manager, Fapricela, which is considered to be the first company in Portugal to produce low-relaxation seven-wire strand for pre- and post-tension. “The response to our high-resistance products has been truly overwhelming and we are confident that, because of the fantastic exposure we have got at the show, we will be generating much more business in the months to come.”
Another exhibitor was overwhelmed with the level of enquiries at its stand to its products. “If only 10 per cent of my enquiries at the Big 5 were converted into offers, I would have to open three new production lines,” says Ben van Gorp of Belgian Fibers, which manufactures polypropylene and polyethylene fibres used as an additive in concrete to avoid cracks due to shrinking. “I met potential clients, not only from the UAE and the GCC, but also from countries further afield.”
SM Cables, a  manufacturer of low-voltage cables, also won a substantial export order on the first day of the show. SM Cables has managed to increase exports to the Gulf year on year and its presence at the Big 5 has further boosted its current market share, says CEO Edwin Zammit.
“We more than achieved our objectives at the Big 5 and the response of we have received has been very good,” states Ali Ibrahim, managing director of Design International, though he prefers not to disclose figures.
The Australian company, which came to explore the market and the show last year, was so thrilled with the response then that it set up a large, eye-catching stand at this year's event.
First-time exhibitors like Stalatube from Finland were also thrilled with the response. “We’ve had an excellent show,” says Sami Packalen of Stalatube. “We met a lot of customers and have been busy from early in the morning to late at night!
One of the longest-established shows in Dubai, the Big 5 has grown throughout the decades, not only in size but also in scope.
What started out as ‘The Building Show’ in the seventies became The Big 5 as more product sectors were added in the eighties, and although the name is too well established to rename the show to The Big 7, that is the number of product sectors now on display on every available square metre inside and outside the Dubai International Exhibition and Convention Centre, according to the organiser.
For the first time this year, marble, stone and machinery exhibitors were on display at a dedicated hall (Shaikh Rashid Hall). Building and construction products, cleaning and maintenance products and services, and glass and metal were once again represented in large numbers at the Big 5 2004.
The Big 5 attraced more than 1,650 exhibitors representing more than 2,100 companies, and 28 national pavilions.
These statistics reflect the records that were broken this year: 30 per cent more net stand space, 30 per cent more exhibitors.
Apart from the GCC countries and the wider Middle East, increasing numbers of professionals visited the show from much further afield: from the Russian republics, East, North and South Africa, the Far East, and European countries.
An international exhibition and publishing company, dmg world media produces over 300 market leading trade exhibitions, consumer shows and fairs each year and published 65 related magazines, newspapers, directories and market reports.
Next year, the Big 5 show will take place from November 16 to 20. Already the event has attracted such a huge reponse from national pavilions and individual exhibitors, that the demand is expected to exceed the space available within the venue – as it did this year.
“We are looking forward to the planned expansion of the venue, and I am confident we will fill every available square metre!” concludes Bob Hughes, project manager.