Tourism & Hospitality | Friday 6 March, 2015 11:03 am |

One of the world’s largest industry events in the entertainment industry – ‘Dubai Entertainment Amusement and Leisure show’ (DEAL 2015) will be showcasing the potential of the multimillion dollar ‘Animatronics’ industry. Animatronics is used primarily in the entertainment, theme park and advertising industries, mainly through computer generated imagery (CGI) and ‘stop motion’ to simulate creatures and their movements. Movies such and Transformers, Iron Man and Jurassic Park were one of the first ones to explore the potential of this industry.

The amusement and leisure industry is set to touch AED118 billion by 2017 as per the Global Industry Analyst report. Several upcoming projects in the UAE, Saudi Arabia, Qatar, Oman and the region will trigger a remarkable growth within this sector.

Rainbow Productions returns to DEAL in 2015 to display custom-made walkabout mascots created at the company’s studio in London; Each character costume being a unique embodiment for the client’s brand or campaign. On the opening day at DEAL, Rainbow Productions will unveil a brand new mascot creation, which will make personal appearances on the show floor. The show will be held from April 14th to 16th, 2015 at the Dubai World Trade Centre.

“DEAL Expo 2015 will be the company’s 9th consecutive year of investing in an exhibition stand.  In order to make contact with a broad range of retail and leisure destinations based across EMEA, we take this decision because, to date, the show has provided us with a beneficial platform. Importantly for us, a show floor presence at DEAL also enables us to reconnect with existing clients in the region and discuss future mascot and event opportunities.  We’re looking forward to the show in April, particularly given the huge amount of large-scale leisure attraction developments in Dubai and beyond” said Simon Foulkes - Sales & Marketing Director at UK Mascot Manufacturer and Licensed Character Events Company, Rainbow Productions.

“There is a huge untapped potential for the Animatronics industry in the UAE as we are witnessing the exponential growth of several multi-billion dollar theme parks and malls in UAE and across the region. People want something that is new and would attract the audience and animatronics is one such crowd-puller. Now animatronics is becoming more lifelike and realistic than ever before. There are electronic sensors, light movable joints; computer control systems and remote operations and several tech advancements. Today the use of pneumatics or compressed air, hydraulics, or pressurized oil, and electronics allow for the precise realistic motions humans would expect to see,” said Mr.Abdul Rahman Falaknaz, Chairman IEC, the organisers of the DEAL show.

Rainbow Productions recently worked with partners in the Middle East on projects ranging from the manufacture of animatronic costumed versions of licensed property, the Smurfs, which featured in the entertainment programme during the Dubai Shopping Festival 2015 when the Smurfs performed live on stage for four days at the Dubai World Trade Centre.  Other projects in the region include Fahed for the Qatar™ 2015, 24th Men’s Handball World Championship and a set of character costumes for Al Montazah in Sharjah.

“It is extremely pleasing to know that all our exhibitors from the previous editions are back at DEAL 2015. This shows that the business is on an exponential curve. Most of the amusement operations have registered a steady growth in revenue and this is promising for our industry on all dimensions. This year’s DEAL show will be one of the largest in the history of the event,” said Mr. Sharif Rahman, CEO, IEC.

Rainbow Productions works with visitor attractions across the UK, Europe and Middle East.  The mascots company has also created custom-made mascots for a number of international sporting events including Super Victor, the official mascot for the UEFA EURO 2016 tournament which will take place in France from 10 June - 10 July 2016.