Africa  region will witness the largest show in the amusement industry – DEAL 2017 – to provide an effective platform for the stakeholders within the African entertainment and amusement sector, as per International Expo Consults , the organisers of the show. In the wake of growing developments in the African region, it is essential for shows like DEAL to bring key players of the amusement and leisure industry to converge at a focal point to showcase ingenious products which can benefit the market.

“DEAL has been steadily gaining popularity on all fronts as the African amusement sector will benefit immensely from the show. The future looks promising for the African amusement sector which has reported a steady growth on the revenue forefront. Africa has been growing in terms of tourism and infrastructure. We have full faith that we are going in the right path and are confident that the amusement industry in Africa will yield 100 percent results. We are quite pleased to see new faces from Africa at DEAL 2017 and are sure that they will get to meet new contacts to expand their business,” said Mr. Sharif Rahman, CEO, IEC.

According to Forbes magazines, Africa will see new malls in the next two years where more global brands will find more space and better infrastructure. It adds that the continent is home to 45 million households having what it terms as ‘discretionary income’. With the new malls attracting brands that were only known through cable television, Forbes says the African market can no longer be viewed as a secondary one.

Africa’s population is set to grow to 2.3 billion by 2050. In contrast to the rest of the world, however, its booming population is getting younger. African millennials are changing their consumer spending patterns, from markets to malls, where they can eat, socialize and get entertained at Family Entertainment Centers (FEC)s apart from shopping. Also there have been key amusement parks in Egypt, Nigeria, Tunisia and South Africa which have enticed people around the African region.

The tourism industry in Africa shows incredible opportunity for growth and, despite some challenges, many tourism businesses are showing increasing interest in investing in the continent’s tourism offerings. Themeparks and malls are set to be a crowd puller to raise the revenues to contribute to the African countries GDP. African tourism has seen a boost is simultaneous to the economic growth being experienced across many parts of the continent. Reports predict that direct contribution of Travel & Tourism to GDP will increase by 4.8% per annum, to USD121.3bn which is approximately 3.2% of GDP by 2026.

The Dubai Entertainment Amusement and Leisure (DEAL) show has shaped the region’s entertainment industry for the past two decades and it has brought together great minds and their world class innovations all under one umbrella. DEAL has led the amusement and entertainment space during this period and the testimony to this is the fact that exhibitors at DEAL 2016 have signed multi-million dollar contracts in just 3 days. Foraying into the 23rd edition, DEAL 2017 expects to witness an even larger gathering of key players and visitors in the amusement industry from Middle East, US, Mediterranean, Asian, and especially African countries.

DEAL, since its inception in 1995 has developed into an unparalleled platform that gathers exhibitors, buyers, and professionals from the international amusement and entertainment industry. DEAL is the region’s most anticipated and leading attraction for global and local stakeholders in the amusement and entertainment industries. The show is slated to be held from 27th – 29th March 2017 at Halls 1, 2, 3 & 4 at the iconic Dubai World Trade Centre.