MEAPPLE event to have dual focus

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MEAPPLE show director Paul Grinnall recently joined CMPi UAE.

The recently appointed show director for CMPi UAE's Middle East Attractions, Amusements, Parks, Leisure and Entertainment (MEAPPLE) international trade show has revealed a unique proposition for the new exhibition.

MEAPPLE show director Paul Grinnall, whose experience in the leisure industry spans closes to 20 years following his role in launching Leisure Industry Week (LIW) in the UK in 1989, said that the intention would be to have developers of leisure resorts and mixed-use projects exhibiting alongside suppliers of the services those developments would require.

Grinnall explained: "The idea is that it's an event where the attractions, retail, resort and leisure industries are able to all converge in the Middle East and get value out of their networking and association.

There are a lot of people in the Middle East who are embarking on these sorts of facilities that they want to attract people to live in as a population or visit as a tourist, but they don't have a lot of experience in doing it.

"What we want to do is to have an event where the people who are creating these urban developments, resorts and mixed-use facilities can showcase their plans and also engage with suppliers of the services that they would want to buy - theme park equipment, designers and architects, turnstile suppliers, audiovisual companies, waterpark equipment, facility management services etc.

The two would be exhibiting at the same time," he continued.

"The delegate would be someone who is an investor either privately or institutionally or operators of these venues," said Grinnall.

"In terms of drawing the key buyers to the event, we've got a hosted buyers programme," he added.

He said that only "a handful" of exhibitors had already signed up but that he expects that there could be between 100 and 150 companies eventually.

"It depends on the scale of each stand and it could go as high as 300 if everybody comes in on smaller spaces," said Grinnall.

Education would also be a key element of the show and CMPi UAE has approached international trade associations with the intention of possibly taking education programmes off the shelf and applying them to the audience in the Middle East, as well as some new thinking, added Grinnall.

When asked if MEAPPLE would be a combination of the elements on offer at the existing Tourism Development Projects and Investment Market (TDIM) and Dubai Entertainment, Amusement and Leisure Show (DEAL), Grinnall said that was a "fair assessment".

"TDIM had great potential but I don't think anybody understood what they were doing or why they were there," said Grinnall.

"DEAL is also a good attractions event but that's all it is," he continued.

"At the moment there is not enough critical mass currently to sustain either of the events but there is fantastic potential over the next three years and we are buying into this on the basis of our market share.

"In other words, we either run shows now which will gain percentage of market share over the period and then we're better placed to be the outright leader or we let everyone else do the work and then buy it at much bigger cost down the line," said Grinnall.

However, he admitted that "what we want may not be what we get".

"We have no guarantee that the developers are going to engage, we can understand them wanting to visit," he said.

MEAPPLE will be held at the Abu Dhabi National Exhibition Centre (ADNEC) from February 2-4 2009.

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