Arabian Travel Week to Focus on Recovery of Middle East Tourism

Reed Exhibitions, organiser of the annual Arabian Travel Market (ATM) showcase in Dubai, has announced the return of Arabian Travel Week (ATW) between 16-26 May 2021.

Danielle Curtis

“This week-long festival of events is dedicated to travel professionals from all over world, to collaborate and shape the recovery of the Middle East travel industry, through exhibitions, conferences, breakfast briefings, awards, product launches and networking events,” Danielle Curtis, Exhibition Director ME, Arabian Travel Market.

“Essentially, Arabian Travel Week will provide a pivotal platform for the region’s travel and tourism industry, whether participating in-person at the events or virtually, over the course of 10 days – it will put a spotlight on Dubai, the UAE, GCC and of course the wider MENA region’s tourism sector,” she added.

Now in its 28^th year and working in collaboration with Dubai World Trade Centre (DWTC) and Dubai’s Department of Tourism and Commerce Marketing (DTCM), ATM 2021 will play an integral role in Arabian Travel Week.

“There will be a whole host of in-person seminars on ATM’s show floor specifically designed to support, inspire and innovate all travel and tourism professionals, looking at the latest trends in technology, sustainability and profiling the next generation of global travellers,” said Curtis.

There will also be an array of high-profile keynote speakers and world-class technology experts lined up for the Travel Forward Theatre, providing industry-leading insights and discussing the latest technologies and trends that will shape the future of travel.

Other notable features of Arabian Travel Week and in-person at ATM include ILTM Arabia 2021, buyer forums with networking dedicated to key source markets including Saudi Arabia, India and China, a hotel summit, the responsible tourism programme and the International Tourism & Investment Conference (ITIC) summit.

Ibrahim Ayoub, Group CEO, ITIC & Invest Tourism Ltd said, “We are delighted to host in partnership with ATM, our ITIC Middle East Tourism Investment Summits, in-person on Wednesday, 19th May and followed by our virtual summit, a week later on Thursday, 27th May. We will bring together hospitality, tourism and financial services leaders to discuss how the Middle East’s travel and tourism industry can position their businesses to be ready for the post COVID-19 recovery, through instituting and making strategic investments to rebuild the sector.”

“This year’s theme of ‘A New Dawn for Travel and Tourism’ has never been more relevant nor important - this message of recovery will be integrated into all of the show verticals and planned activities,” added Curtis.

To complement the four-day in-person show, for the first time, a new hybrid format will mean a virtual ATM running a week after to reach a wider audience than ever before. ATM Virtual, which made its debut last year, proved to be a resounding success attracting 12,000 online attendees from 140 countries.

“It is imperative that we include a virtual element to Arabian Travel Week because many industry professionals from around the world, may not be able to attend the in-person event for 2021."

“Indeed, it would also be impossible for us, at this moment in time, to even begin to speculate on how effective the vaccine rollout will be and subsequently when governments around the world will start to withdraw their travel restrictions,” said Curtis.

ATM Virtual will feature comprehensive webinars, live conference sessions, roundtables, speed networking events, virtual digital influencers’ speed networking session, one-to-one meetings, destination briefings, as well as facilitating new connections and offering a wide range of online business opportunities.

A highlight on Arabian Travel Week’s agenda and part of ATM Virtual is Arival Dubai @ ATM. This event will feature a series of sessions covering current and future trends for operators of tours and attractions.

 Douglas Quinby, CEO of Arival said, "Arabian Travel Market has long been the event that gathers the global travel community around the Middle East, and its role in the revival of our industry is more important than ever. We are partnering with ATM to create a special virtual forum that assembles leading voices from tours and attractions, as well as technology innovators, from across the region to help our industry chart a path of resilience and resurgence in 2021 and beyond."

The Global Business Travel Association (GBTA), the world’s premier business travel and meetings trade organisation, will also be participating at ATM Virtual for the first time. The GBTA will deliver the latest business travel content, research and education to drive the post-pandemic recovery and support growth in business travel.

The show will strictly adhere to all DWTC’s stringent health and safety guidelines and will set out to provide a touchless and seamless experience. The team at DWTC are working hard to ensure that all events run safely and have implemented a range of measures including an enhanced cleaning regime, improved air circulation, multiple hand sanitiser stations and temperature checks.

About Arabian Travel Market (ATM)

Arabian Travel Market (ATM), now on its 28th year, continues to be the focal point for the Middle East’s resilient and ever-changing travel and tourism landscape and prides itself on being the hub of all travel and tourism ideas, providing a platform to discuss insights on the ever-changing industry, share innovations and unlock endless business opportunities. Arabian Travel Market is part of Arabian Travel Week.
 

Next in-person event: Sunday 16 to Wednesday 19 May 2021, Dubai World Trade Centre, Dubai

Next virtual event: Monday 24 to Wednesday 26 May 2021
 

About Arabian Travel Week

Arabian Travel Week is a festival of events taking place within and alongside Arabian Travel Market 2021. It includes ATM Virtual, ILTM Arabia, Arival Dubai, the Travel Agents’ Academy, The ATM Influencers day, the Digital Influencer Speed Networking and Travel Forward – a new travel tech and hospitality innovation event launching this year. It also features the ATM Buyer Forums, ATM Speed Networking Events as well as The Saudi, India and China Summits. Providing a renewed focus for the Middle East’s travel and tourism sector, Arabian Travel Week will take place in Dubai from Sunday 16^th to Thursday 26th May 2021.

World Travel & Tourism Council (WTTC) awards Dubai ‘Safe Travels’ stamp

Dubai is one of the safest cities in the world to visit with a wide range of precautionary measures in place to ensure the safety of tourists at every stage and touchpoint of their travel journey, from arrival to departure.  Dubai’s commitment to maintaining the highest standards of hygiene and safety and its effective citywide management of the pandemic received a strong endorsement from the World Travel and Tourism Council (WTTC), which gave the city a ‘Safe Travels’ stamp.

About Reed Exhibitions

Reed Exhibitions is a leading global events business. It combines face-to-face with data and digital tools to help customers learn about markets, source products and complete transactions at over 500 events in almost 30 countries across 43 industry sectors, attracting more than 7 million participants. 

Our events, organised by 35 global offices, leverage industry expertise, large data sets and technology to enable our customers to generate billions of dollars of revenues for the economic development of local markets and national economies around the world. Reed Exhibitions is part of RELX, a global provider of information and analytics for professional and business customers across industries.

About World Travel Market

World Travel Market (WTM) Portfolio comprises leading travel events, an online portal and a virtual platform across four continents, generating more than $7.5 billion of industry deals. The events are:

WTM Virtual, is the WTM Portfolio virtual platform, created to offer global delegates the chance to arrange one-to-one virtual meetings, to do business, attend conference sessions and roundtables, take part in speed networking and more. WTM Virtual embrace the global leading travel shows in one platform.

WTM London, the leading global event for the travel industry, is the must-attend three-day exhibition for the worldwide travel and tourism industry. Around 50,000 senior travel industry professionals, government ministers and international media visit ExCeL London every November, generating over £3.71 billion in travel industry contracts.

Next event: Monday 1 November to 3 November 2021 at ExCel London

WTM Latin America attracts around 19,000 participants – 11,586 unique. The trade show, which takes place in São Paulo, has a worldwide audience that meets to establish the direction of the travel industry. The event is recognised for attracting a high level of professionals from the segment, including buyers and travel agents. It also offers programmes with qualified content and plenty of opportunities for networking and generating business that is relevant to the travel industry

Next event: Tuesday 3 to Thursday 5 August 2021 – Expo Center Norte, São Paulo

WTM Africa launched in 2014 in Cape Town, South Africa. More than 6,000 travel industry professionals attend Africa’s leading inbound and outbound travel and tourism market. WTM Africa delivers a proven mix of hosted buyers, media, pre-scheduled appointments, on-site networking, evening functions and invited travel trade visitors.

Next event: Wednesday 7 to Friday 9 April 2021 – Cape Town International Convention Centre, Cape Town