The countdown to Bahrain’s biggest jewellery show, Jewellery Arabia, begins! Under the patronage of His Royal Highness Prince Khalifa bin Salman Al Khalifa the Prime Minister of the Kingdom of Bahrain, the Middle East’s premier jewellery and watch exhibition, Jewellery Arabia, is set to celebrate its 25th edition from 22 – 26 November 2016 at the Bahrain International Exhibition and Convention Centre.
The spectacular event brings together over 600 exhibitors from 30 countries for a dazzling 5-day gala of glitz and glamour. Spanning 21,000 square metres of exhibition space, a huge range of finished jewellery, luxury timepieces, precious stones, objets d’art, clocks, fine writing instruments and more from around the globe will be on sale.
World famous watch and jewellery houses will be making a return appearance at Jewellery Arabia 2016, including major brand names. Many of these high profile international exhibitors will use the event as a platform to introduce exclusive collections and limited edition pieces to the Middle East collectors’ market.
Complementing these iconic brands are 8 national groups from leading jewellery export countries. They include returning delegations of the finest retailers, designers and manufacturers from Hong Kong, India, Italy, Singapore, Thailand, Turkey, United Kingdom and the United States of America. Collectively, these groups reflect the very best manufacturing capabilities, design expertise and gemological resources that their respective countries have to offer.
On the eve of this great exhibition, BTW speaks to Mr Fawzi Al Shehabi, Arabian Exhibition Management’s Director of Sales and Marketing to know more about the exhibition.
Please tell us about yourself and your association with Jewellery Arabia.
My name is Fawzi Al Shehabi, Director of Sales & Marketing of Arabian Exhibition Management. I started working 28 years back and Jewellery Arabia was established with an idea that came up in 1991 along with my CEO, Stephen Key and our Chairman Shaikh Mohammed after realising that Bahrain’s market consisted of a younger population which would be interested in a jewellery show. With this in mind we visited the biggest jewellery show in Basel and after seeing its success we decided to create a jewellery show in Bahrain while implementing the same high quality standards.
Please give us a brief history of Jewellery Arabia since its inception.
Jewellery Arabia started in 1992 and today it’s the 25th anniversary – 25 years of this prestigious show. It started very small; we didn’t have a second hall then. We used to manage in one hall which was not even full. Gradually the show has become bigger and popular, thanks to God, for the last 7 to 8 years we have a waiting list of exhibitors. This is a good sign of success for this exhibition. With the show being held under the patronage of His Royal Highness Prince Khalifa bin Salman Al Khalifa and with the Government’s support, the exhibition has grown into the 3rd biggest jewellery exhibition after Baselworld in Switzerland and JCK in Las Vegas. Jewellery Arabia has become one of the top 5 leading jewellery exhibitions in the world.
Would you say that Jewellery Arabia boosts Bahrain’s economy?
Yes, well of course! You see, out of these exhibitors who participate in this exhibition, over 600 exhibitors need accommodation, hotels, taxis, rental cars, restaurants etc. and I would not be exaggerating if I say 4 and 5 star hotels are on full occupancy during this time. So in a nutshell, if 1 dollar is spent in the exhibition it makes 10 dollars in the market and boosts the economy hence putting Bahrain on the map of world exhibitions.
What have been the challenges so far and how have you overcome them?
The challenge is how to maintain your services at the end of the day. We are a service organisation after all and after an exhibition is over, nothing is left except for photographs. We keep up our quality of services by planning on our publicity and marketing campaigns ahead of time, ensuring the travel itineraries of exhibitors are met and inviting companies to visit the exhibition with their visitors, as much as we fill the halls by selling space. The quality of our participants is what attracts visitors to come and buy at this exhibition and that’s why you see our visitors increase at each Jewellery Arabia show. Bahrain is not a small market but a small country and I would say Saudi Arabia being across the bridge, the majority of attendees that visit the exhibition come from Saudi and the rest from other GCC countries. Jewellery Arabia exhibitors attract VVIPS to buy jewellery and watches for personal collections and Saudi Arabia constitutes for a majority of these buyers and that’s why visitors eagerly mark the dates of the next Jewellery Arabia to buy the latest and trendiest designs in the jewellery industry.
Any plans in the pipeline to host Jewellery Arabia in any other country other than Bahrain?
The Jewellery Arabia series has also been hosted in Kuwait in April 2016 and we will have it again in 2017. We are also planning to host one in Malaysia with our network offices in Kuala Lumpur. Though our shows are expanding outside of Bahrain we still maintain the Jewellery Arabia name and standards.
What is your message to all lovers of Jewellery Arabia.
We want them to come and visit the exhibition from 22nd to 26th of November. Timings will be from 4pm to 10pm and on the 26th of November, the exhibition will be open from 12 noon to 10 pm. Lovers of Jewellery Arabia, come, visit the show and do your purchases.
www.jewelleryarabia.com