Cityscape Dubai deal rooms' demand plummets

Demand for hotel meeting rooms used to complete deals at Cityscape Dubai is well down on last year, Arabian Business has learnt.

Only one meeting room at Dubai’s Novotel World Trade Centre, which has long been a popular place for some of Dubai’s biggest developers to seal multi-million dollar deals during the property show, has been booked for this year’s event, which takes place in October.

All eight rooms were booked this time last year, according to Novotel staff.

Nasline Iqbal, banqueting manager at the Novotel said business was down "big time" on last year.

“As far as the exhibition is concerned a lot of people have backed out,” she told Arabian Business.

“Last year was one of the biggest exhibitions because property was booming. This time last year I had eight meeting rooms booked – everything was taken. Even the aerobics room was sold out,” she added.

It comes amid predictions by Cityscape organisers that 2009 participation numbers will be down on previous years as Dubai reels from a property crash, where off-plan prices have tumbled by 50 percent.

Iqbal said some of the largest developers in the emirate, including Emaar, Nakheel and Damac, all booked meeting rooms last year.

Only one of those companies has so far made a reservation this year, although Iqbal declined to say who.

The cost of renting a meeting room at the Novotel during Cityscape ranges from AED2,000 per day to AED8,000 per day.

Iqbal said she was considering slashing rates by up to 25 percent due to lacklustre demand.

Visitor numbers to this year’s Cityscape in Abu Dhabi were down 25 percent compared to 2008, according to official figures provided by the organiser, IIR Exhibitions.

Cityscape is a business-to-business real estate investment event, consisting of a series of exhibitions and conferences in Dubai, Abu Dhabi, Asia, Saudi Arabia, India, Russia and the US.

READERS' COMMENTS

MORE FROM ARABIANBUSINESS.COM