Total printing revenues in the Middle East and North Africa region were $17.6 billion in 2012 and are forecast to grow 7.2 per cent per annum to reach $26 billion by 2018, according to a report from Smithers Pira.

And owing to growing infrastructure and associated developments in the Mena, International Expo Consults, or IEC, a part of Falak Holding, sees the region's printing industry to continue witnessing rapid growth.

"Print media has a strong turnover in the Mena region with a surge in printing of books, periodicals, magazines, newspapers, large scale banners and other materials. Commercial printing is finding inroads into ever growing sales and revenues regardless of the fact that there is a paradigm shift to alternative technology," said Abdul Rahman Falaknaz, chairman of IEC.

"This technology fad in terms of digital or electronic books and online communication has taken prominence but cannot scale the popularity of the printed tangibles as yet. Print industry is set to reach new heights with steady popularity of conventional large scale printing and the augmentation of online technology."

Another facet of the printing industry in the country, textile printing, is set to gather momentum as UAE stands as the world's fourth-largest trading centre of textiles, generating approximately $17.5 billion annually. Screen printing continues to hold a major share of the global textile printing market, in terms of production volume of printed textiles.

"One of the finest inventions of all time gifted by Johannes Gutenberg is undoubtedly the printing press, which has seen ingenious innovations throughout decades. It would be really difficult to imagine a world where we do not have books, magazines or newspapers to enlighten ourselves," said Falaknaz.

"New technologies have been boosting the process of printing, thereby helping GCC countries to expand their domestic industries. There has been a notable diversification among printing companies which are depending on value added services such as packing, shipping, signs and graphic design."

SGI Dubai 2015, an official DSF event, welcomed over 400 global exhibitors from across 34 countries and registered over 12,781 trade visitors from 78 countries during the three days during January this year. The SGI Dubai 2016 show will be held from January 10 to 12 at the at the Dubai World Trade Centre.