Arabian Travel Market celebrates 25th year, 150 countries represented in ATM 2018

TravelBizNews —

Dubai: Middle East’s largest travel trade event will celebrate its 25th year, with over 2,500 exhibiting companies and an expected 40,000 visitors, showcasing the largest ever hotel exhibition space in the show’s history.

Arabian Travel Market (ATM) 2018, the region’s leading travel industry showcase, opens its doors on April 22 for four days of business networking opportunities and insightful seminar sessions, where deals worth over US$2.5 billion will be agreed.

Now in its 25th year, the 2018 edition will welcome over 2,500 exhibiting companies and an expected 40,000 visitors, with over 150 countries represented, 65 national pavilions, and more than 100 new exhibitors set to make their ATM debut, according to a statement issued by ATM Secretariat.

Building on the success of last year, ATM 2018, which takes place at the Dubai World Trade Centre from April 22-25, will showcase the largest exhibition of regional and global hotel brands in the history of ATM, with hotels comprising 20% of the total show area.

Simon Press, Senior Exhibition Director, ATM said: “The tourism industry in the GCC has grown ten-fold and more since we first opened our show doors 25 years ago. With a host of top speakers lined up and panel sessions for ATM 2018, we will be looking back on the tourism revolution in the Middle East over the last quarter of a century and also forecasting what lies ahead for the industry, with continuing geopolitical tensions across the globe, economic uncertainties, huge technological advances and, of course, the increasing trend of responsible tourism.”

This year, ATM has partnered with International Hotel Investment Conference (IHIF) organisers to present the inaugural Destination Investment panel.

Taking place on the ATM Global Stage, the session will discuss what drives investment in travel destinations across the Middle East and neighbouring regions.

Inputs : news.wtm.com

April 19 , 2018

Photo caption: From left to right: Anwar A.Z Abu Monassar, Destination Director, Strategy & Operation, The Vision ; Thierry Antinori, Executive Vice President and Chief Commercial Officer, Emirates Airline ; Simon Press, Senior Exhibition Director, Arabian Travel Market and World Travel Market; Issam Abdul Rahim Kazim, Chief Executive Officer of Dubai Corporation for Tourism and Commerce Marketing and Olivier Harnisch, CEO, Emaar Hospitality Group