Events like GITEX in Dubai or LEAP in Riyadh can work well as an entry channel, mainly for B2B credibility and pipeline — they compress relationship-building into a few days in a region where trust is often built face-to-face. They are typically expensive relative to digital channels, though, so they work best as one part of a plan, not the whole plan.
The mistake is treating a trade show as the GTM strategy itself. Use it to generate warm introductions and validate positioning in front of real buyers, then feed what you learn back into the broader plan.