Monday, May 18, 2015
Dubai: International interior fit out companies are keen on expanding into the UAE as the number of hotels and residential projects in the country grow.
Ilhan Yilmaz, foreign trade consultant at Turkey-based Bykepi, said that the company, which targets home owners, looks to open stores in the UAE. It already operates seven showrooms in Turkey and outlets in Riyadh and Baku, Azerbaijan.
“There is a lot of demand here,” said Yilmaz at the International Design Exhibition (INDEX), a trade event for the architecture and design industries which opened at the Dubai World Trade Centre (DWTC) on Monday.
Another company, Italy-based Riflessi, which sells tables, chairs and mirrors to hotels and home owners, is looking for distributors in the UAE.
“We want to supply our products to distributors in the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) countries. We want to have one distributor in each country,” said Cinzia Pedicone, Middle East marketing development at Riflessi.
On why the company is keen on expanding into the UAE, she said that there is strong demand for luxury items and an increasing number of luxury hotels in the market.
Dubai is expected to see the addition of 20,000 hotel rooms by 2016, according to the Dubai Corporation for Tourism and Commerce Marketing (DCTCM). A number of hotels are set to open in the emirate, such as a luxury Bulgari-branded property on Jumeirah Bay Island and a four-star Venu hotel on Bluewaters Island in 2017, as well as a midscale Aloft hotel at Dubai World Central in 2018.
New residential projects are also set to be completed in the emirate. Bulgari and Dubai-based developer Meraas Holding, for instance, will deliver 165 apartments, eight penthouses and 15 mansions in 2017.
The size of the UAE home furnishings market is forecast to grow from $1.58 billion (Dh5.8 billion) in 2014 to $1.63 billion in 2015, according to data from Euromonitor International, a research firm.
Dubai-based Brasslight International, meanwhile, which supplies lanterns, torches and chandeliers to hotels mainly, anticipates a sales growth of 20 per cent this year compared with 2014, said Reema Al Khatib, chief operating officer and owner representative at the company.
The growth is expected to be driven by the growth in the UAE interior fit out market, additional sales employees in the company and the development of new products, according to Al Khatib.
“The interior design market is growing because of the new projects and hotels that are coming up,” she said.
She expects the company to have four hotel projects in the UAE this year, from five last year. Brasslight had supplied products to hotels like Four Seasons Resort Dubai, Jumeirah Zabeel Saray in Dubai and Qasr Al Sarab in Abu Dhabi.
By Sarah Algethami Staff Reporter
Gulf News 2015. All rights reserved.
