Around 56 nations taking part in ATM

The ninth edition of the Middle East's largest travel and tourism event began yesterday with the opening by General Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Crown Prince of Dubai and UAE Defence Minister, who was given an extended tour of the venue, spread across two exhibition halls at the Airport Expo, Dubai yesterday.

The ATM is being held at a time when the region's travel and tourism industry is on the verge of recovery from September 11. Around 700 exhibitors from 56 countries are participating in the event, which is housed in 212 stands and spread over 8,500 square metre space, two per cent larger than last year's edition.

About 258 participants from the Middle East are participating in the event, which is 10 per cent higher than last year.

Besides Dubai's own stand, Sharjah has come in a very big way promoting the emirate as a preferred tourist venue. The entire exhibition area took a festive look with colourful banners, posters and backlit images to attract visitors' attention.

Travel and tourism professionals were meeting visitors, talking and trying to find out the best bargains for different destinations. Ranging from business travel, retail travel, eco-tourism, sports tourism, leisure travel - the event has it all.

Arabian Travel Market 2002 runs until Friday night at Airport Expo. The event is open to trade until today evening. The public can attend today evening from 5pm until 8pm and again on Friday, from 4pm until 9pm on payment of a nominal Dh5 entry fee per person of Dh10 for a family ticket. Consumers presenting a Visa card can enter free of charge.

Meanwhile, Khalid bin Sulayem, director general of the Department of Tourism and Commerce Marketing (DTCM), said the tourist influx grew by 24 per cent to 1.2 million during the first quarter of 2002 as against last year. September 11 compelled DTCM to change its marketing strategy and focus on the GCC states, the Arab countries, Asia and Japan.

"After September 11, the tourist influx from and to Europe and the U.S. declined and the focus shifted to South East Asia. We are now looking at opening new markets - like Singapore, Malaysia and Hong Kong - and the GCC," added Sulayem.

DTCM is also studying the opening of a tourism office in Singapore. Its latest was in Switzerland. "The coming phase will witness an increase in the number of tourists, especially from Japan, where Emirates will fly in October."

Sulayem said an announcement on the Hatta tourism project will be made soon, after it underwent some changes tuned to suit medical tourism. Sulayem also stressed that Dubai fears no competition with Qatar with which it had cooperated and is willing to. "Inter-GCC joint work is among our directives and the GCC states have joint messages to deliver."