International events company dmg events is expanding its suite of hospitality brands and global reach by launching HI Design Americas in the U.S. and The F&B Summit in Oman. Both are niche hospitality sector events focused on connecting buyers and suppliers with personalized business meetings. HI Design Americas will debut Sept. 9-11 at Omni Amelia Island Plantation in Fernandina Beach, Florida, while The F&B Summit will take place Sept. 23-25 at the Shangri-La Barr Al Jissah Resort & Spa in Muscat. The new shows complement the company’s existing exhibitions model, anchored by the Hotel Show series and its design event INDEX.
“HI Design is focused specifically on the interior design of luxury hotels,” said Andy Stuart, senior vice president of design and hospitality for dmg events. “The event curates specialist business meetings between key buyers from currently active hotel projects and a carefully vetted selection of suppliers.” The Hotel Show will be celebrating its 20th year in Dubai this September, with the geographically adapted editions growing rapidly in Saudi Arabia and South Africa, while HI Design will fill the gap between the hospitality and design sectors, Stuart said.
Both launches also demonstrate how dmg events uses industry investment as an indicator to shape its strategy, he added. Case in point: HI Design Americas is entering a marketplace where 1,484 hotels are planned or in development, with more than 500 on the East Coast alone; while The F&B Summit launches in a region where annual food and beverage sales topped $145 billion in 2018 and are expected to rise by another $35 billion by 2023, according to dmg officials. Since 90 percent of all F&B products consumed in the Middle East are imported, the region represents a golden opportunity for suppliers to expand their customer base. The F&B Summit will provide matchmaking opportunities to help forge valuable relationships between suppliers and high-volume buyers in the region with a collective annual spend estimated at more than $1 billion, according to dmg officials.
