Business booms in landscape industry in Dubai, Gulf region

Anjana Samarasinghe

NEW HORIZONS: It is estimated that nearly US$ 100 billion will be invested on leisure, travel and home development in the next five years in the Middle East. In Middle East modern construction projects value the presentation of outdoor spaces.

outdoor landscaping market will gain a fair percentage of the total expenditure on construction projects in Middle East.

Executive Director of Export Development Board EDB Thimira Rajapaksa said Dubai and other Gulf region countries invest heavily on landscaping and outdoor living. These countries import large quantities of flowers, foliage, plants and garden equipment from other countries.

This has created ample opportunity for local landscape designers, professional gardeners and stakeholders in the landscape industry to explore these emerging markets.

"Local industrialists involved in the sector are strongly geared up but they only concentrate on the local market. These industrialists are in a position to cater to the international market," he said.

'In Dubai the horticulture sector is booming and plans have been made to transform Dubai into a specialised and efficient re-distribution hub in the horticulture sector. Local industrialists in horticulture focus on providing flowers to the hotels but they need to concentrate on landscaping industry too, Rajapaksa said.

'Many companies in the Middle-East outsource India to supply horticulture products for landscaping. Sri Lanka too has the same climate as India and we too could bid for these subcontracts,' he added.

The EDB hopes to organise trade fairs in the Gulf region early next year targeting this sector. "We need to introduce major players in the landscaping market for local industrialists and arrange one to one business meetings with them," he said.

According to the EDB 65% of the horticulture exports were to Europe which was recorded as Rs 576 million of total earnings last year.

Exports for Far East recorded Rs 207 million and Middle East markets contribute around Rs 76 million.