Gulfood 2026 took more than 280,000 square metres across two Dubai venues at once, and sold out. That is the moment Dubai stopped being a one-address exhibition market, and it changes the first question you ask when you book.
The Dubai Exhibition Centre expansion is a Dh10 billion programme. Phase 1 delivers 140,000 square metres: 64,000 square metres of permanent exhibition halls and 30,000 square metres of flexible pavilions. The venue is built to take up to 50,000 visitors a day, and it was reported in November 2025 as nearing completion for an early 2026 opening.
The first event to use both
Gulfood ran from 26 to 30 January 2026 across Dubai World Trade Centre and the Dubai Exhibition Centre at Expo City Dubai. More than 8,500 exhibitors from 195 countries. The space was reported as fully sold out.
Trixie LohMirmand, executive vice president at DWTC and chief executive of KAOUN International, put it this way:
In a single year, we have achieved 100% growth, delivering the world’s largest annual F&B event across two mega venues simultaneously, a first in global exhibition history.
Hold on to the growth number, because doubling the floor of the region’s biggest food show in twelve months is not a venue story. It is a demand story that the venue caught.
What a producer should take from it
Two venues is not one venue with more halls. DWTC sits in Trade Centre district. Expo City sits out towards Jebel Ali. They are separate sites with separate load-in, separate crew badging, separate parking and a transfer between them that somebody has to own.
If your event spans both, you are running two shows with one brand on them. Budget it that way. Two site crews, two production offices, two sets of house AV negotiations, and a delegate movement plan that is a real workstream rather than a line on a run sheet.
If your event sits in one, the question becomes which one, and the honest answer depends on where your visitors already are. A trade audience with hotel rooms in the Trade Centre district behaves nothing like one staying out by Expo City. The first group walks in. The second group needs a bus plan, and a bus plan sets your start time whether you like it or not.
Read the 64,000 and the 30,000 as two different things
Phase 1 splits into 64,000 square metres of permanent exhibition halls and 30,000 square metres of flexible pavilions. Those are not interchangeable and the sales conversation will not always make the distinction for you.
Permanent hall is what you want for heavy stands, rigging points and anything that needs a real power distribution. Flexible pavilion is faster to configure and it suits a format that changes shape between days. Ask which one your allocation sits in, and ask what the rigging capacity is over your stand, before the design goes to the client.
The 50,000 visitors a day figure is a design capacity for the site. It is not a promise about your show, and it is not a number to put in a proposal as though it were your expected footfall.
More space is not cheaper space
The obvious hope with new capacity is that rates soften. The first evidence points the other way. The first flagship event to use the new capacity filled it and sold out both sites, which is a demand signal rather than a supply one.
Plan on more choice, not on a discount. If you have been told otherwise by someone selling you space, ask them for the rate card in writing.
The 2031 line, and what we are not asserting
DWTC has said the wider plan is for the complex to be the region’s largest purpose-built indoor exhibitions and events venue by 2031.
What has not been published is a total size at full build-out. We looked, we did not find one, and we are not going to estimate a number and let it get quoted back at us as though a venue confirmed it. When the figure exists we will put it here.
What to do with this
1/ Ask which venue before you ask about dates. In Dubai that is a new first question.
2/ If you span both sites, staff it as two events and put one named person on delegate movement.
3/ Walk both sites before you sign. The floor plans do not tell you about the transfer.
Our market view on the emirate is in the Dubai events guide, and if you are choosing between Dubai and Singapore for a conference, we have put the two side by side. For sizing the room once you have picked it, the room capacity calculator takes the stage and the circulation out for you.
What did I miss? If you exhibited at a dual-venue show this year, we want the operational detail more than the marketing line.
Read next
- Dubai conference venues compared, with the real capacity numbers
- The Dubai event permit, and what the government publishes
Frequently asked questions
How big is the Dubai Exhibition Centre expansion?
Phase 1 delivers 140,000 square metres, made up of 64,000 square metres of permanent exhibition halls and 30,000 square metres of flexible pavilions. The investment figure given is Dh10 billion and the venue is built to take up to 50,000 visitors a day.
When did it open?
Phase 1 was reported as nearing completion in November 2025 and opening in early 2026. Gulfood ran across it in January 2026.
Has an event used both Dubai venues at once?
Yes. Gulfood 2026 ran from 26 to 30 January 2026 across Dubai World Trade Centre and the Dubai Exhibition Centre at Expo City Dubai, using more than 280,000 square metres of sold-out space with more than 8,500 exhibitors from 195 countries. DWTC called it a first in global exhibition history.
What is the 2031 target?
DWTC has said the wider plan is for the complex to be the largest purpose-built indoor exhibitions and events venue in the region by 2031. No total size at full build-out has been published, so we are not quoting one.
Does this change how I should book space in Dubai?
It changes what you have to ask. Which venue, whether your event spans both, and who owns delegate movement between them. Those questions did not exist in Dubai two years ago and they are now the first ones on the call.
Is more space cheaper space?
Not on the evidence so far. Gulfood 2026 was reported as fully sold out across both venues, so the first big test of the new capacity absorbed it rather than leaving slack. Treat added capacity as more choice, not as a discount you can plan around.
