Gulf Construction Online - $3bn pools, spa market in limelight

Events

$3bn pools, spa market in limelight

01 August 2016

The MEA (Middle East and Africa) region’s pools and spa market, valued at Dh11 billion this year ($3 billion), will be in the spotlight when Piscine Middle East opens its doors at the Dubai World Trade Centre in Dubai, UAE, next month (September 17 to 19).

According to a Euromonitor International report, the UAE shares over 14 per cent of this market with a value of $435 million. It also forecasts the MEA’s spa market will grow by 21.6 per cent from 2015 until 2019.

Piscine Middle East, which brings the world’s largest pool and spa supply event to the region, draws pool and spa professionals of all types. Co-located for the first time this year along with the show will be The Leisure Show, the only event dedicated to the leisure industry in the Middle East and Africa which is organised by dmg events.

Rabia Yasmeen, research analyst at Euromonitor International, said: “The UAE hotels report 60 per cent of total spa visitors are residents who are not otherwise staying on the property. Hotels are now leasing spaces for more spa-related services as the demand increases.”

The Global Wellness Institute (GWI) has previously identified Sub-Saharan Africa and Middle East and North Africa as the fastest growing spa markets in the world.

On the Piscine Middle East show floor, a ‘Pool Vision’ contest will award “beautiful” residential, tourism and leisure pools, alongside the “most innovative” pools across the region on the first day. The same evening, the Middle East Pool and Spa Awards (Mepsa) will return for its fourth edition with 17 award categories for 2016. In 2014, Piscine Middle-East welcomed 2,800 visitors and more than 100 different brands.