Dubai: The 22nd edition of the Arabian Travel Market (ATM), the region’s largest travel and tourism exhibition, wrapped up on Thursday at the Dubai International Convention and Exhibition Centre.
The four-day event is expected to have attracted more than 23,000 visitors this week, according to Reed Exhibitions, the organiser of ATM. There were 2,700 exhibitors, including 113 new companies exhibiting for the first time, as well as 70 national pavilions.
The number of European companies grew by 12.5 per cent this year compared with 2014’s edition, while the number of UAE companies increased by 6 per cent, according to Simon Press, senior exhibition director at Reed Exhibitions. New countries that joined the show this year were Serbia, Slovakia and Croatia.
“The size of the show has grown by 7 per cent this year,” Press said.
Earlier this week, Issam Abdul Rahim Kazim, chief executive of the Dubai Corporation of Tourism and Commerce Marketing (DCTCM), said that ATM was an “important” and “strategic” event in Dubai’s aim to attract 20 million visitors per year by 2020.
Dubai welcomed 13.2 million tourists in 2014.
Exhibitors at this year’s show included hotel chains such as Jumeirah, Movenpick, Starwood Hotels and Resorts, Hilton Worldwide, InterContinental Hotels Group, Accor, Marriott and Rotana, among others. Airlines exhibited at the show too, including Emirates airline and Etihad Airways.
Many companies made announcements during the show. Emaar Hospitality Group, the hospitality and leisure business of Emaar Properties, for instance, said that it will open The Address hotels in Nigeria and Bahrain by 2018.
Starwood Hotels and Resorts Worldwide announced that it will open an Aloft-branded hotel in Dubai World Central by 2018.
Dubai-based conglomerate Al Habtoor Group signed an agreement with The Ritz-Carlton to operate a hotel that it owns in Budapest, Hungary.
Meanwhile, Qatar Airways announced a joint venture with Royal Air Maroc on the Doha-Casablanca route. The airline also announced daily Doha-Ras Al Khaimah flights from October. Also, Saudi’s low-cost carrier, Flynas, launched its loyalty programme “nasmiles”.
