Category Archives: Exhibitions

The two day summit held last week at Fairmont Palm Jumeirah, Dubai included an insight on Serviced Apartments, Extended Stay Hotels, Branded Residences and Short Term Rentals. This annual hospitality conference and exhibition for the sector attracted industry leaders and decision makers to gain a greater understanding of serviced apartments and other extended stay methods by the leaders.   With over 11 hours of allocated networking time they were able to welcome delegates, exhibitors, sponsors and speakers collectively providing a vibrant platform for interaction between owners, general managers, operators, investors and service providers.  

A two day conference sponsored by Sojern and Sabre, with TravTalk as media partners, offered in-depth insight into some of the most important issues in the industry. Welcome remarks by the event organiser IQPC (International Quality and Productivity Center) stated the importance of taking in to account the rapid changes and making sure that all players adapt to these timely changes. Some of the key areas covered were the challenges and opportunities in online travel, a review of the growing trends in the travel industry from 2012 to 2017, the future of B2B supplier payments in travel, how the leading OTAs use secured ways of payment to ensure safety and several panel discussions on the importance of social media to communicate directly with the future customers.

All stakeholders of travel, tourism and hospitality gathered at the World Travel Market seeking new opportunities at ExCel-London. This time the three day event will address and focus on several issues faced by the trade partners. With the ever changing new trends in travel, tourism and hospitality, there are many emerging new trends in the sectors. There will be more than 80 conference seminars covering all the key sectors including aviation, hotels, sports, tourism, responsible tourism, blogging, social media and travel technology. Do not miss out the WTM Presents Keynotes with tourism expert Doug Lansky and futurist Brian Solis. Also, the latest worldwide travel and tourism industry data (statistics and trends) will be presented by the leading research organisations Euromonitor International, Mintel and Nielsen. Mintel’s session will even cover the impact and opportunities of Brexit on the UK travel market. The WTM Speed Networking in the Global Stage will bring 1,400 exhibitors and more than 200 businesses senior buyers over one session. The two pillars of the WTM London 2016: World Responsible Tourism Day and the prestigious UNWTO & WTM MINISTERS’ SUMMIT will both celebrate their tenth editions this year. Let’s not forget the Travel Tech Show, the UK’s largest travel technology event and the fastest growing region at WTM London. The show brings together the latest products and services in technology to the global travel industry.

The first edition of the Tourism Innovation and Transformation Forum is organised by the UAE Ministry of Economy (MOE) in collaboration with the United Nations World Tourism Organisation (UNWTO) is all set to be held in Dubai, UAE on November 23, 2016. The Forum organised by Ministry of Economy during UAE Innovation Week to discuss how tourism stakeholders can prepare for and attract next generation of visitors to the region.

Following the successful Las Vegas Customer Forum earlier this year, Sabre Hospitality Solutions last week (October 10-12) invited key hotel players from across the region to its EMEA Customer Forum in Abu Dhabi. The event brought together Sabre’s hospitality clients with industry experts and technology gurus to identify and discuss the most relevant trends impacting the industry and explore in-depth some of the most avant-garde innovations on the horizon. Keynote speaker Jonathan MacDonald, founder of Thought Expansion Network (TEN) gave insights on “Radical Disruption: How to turn risk into opportunity”. Sabre unveiled the latest innovative technology solutions developed to drive successful hotel strategies and increase business and asked participating hoteliers for feedback and comments.

Experiential travel encompassing the adventure, culture, heritage, wellness & spa and cruise tourism segments, which are currently trending globally, will be adopted as the official show theme, for Arabian Travel Market (ATM) 2017, taking place at the Dubai World Trade Centre from 24-27 April. ATM 2017 will integrate the experiential theme across all of the show verticals and activities, including focused seminars and roundtable events, featuring dedicated exhibitor participation. Industry professionals throughout the Middle East region are keen to look for new and niche markets, especially in the short to mid-term as Dubai in particular, continues to grow its hotel supply unabated. According to STR, at the end of August 2016, Dubai had grown its room stock to 85,500 across 403 hotels, which is putting added downward pressure on rates as hotels compete for occupancy, with little respite ahead as room supply is set to rise further to between 140,000 and 160,000 rooms by 2020.

Dubai World Trade Centre (DWTC) is expected to welcome over half a million visitors this month to events that cover a range of subjects from sustainable economic development to B2B and B2C technology. With over 350,000 visitors attending technology events alone, DWTC continues to solidify Dubai’s position as the leading regional hub for ICT development and innovation. DWTC kick-started October with GITEX Shopper 2016, the region’s most popular consumer electronics and IT show, setting the momentum for strong footfall at the venue. Economic sustainability events early in the month were also leading contributors to the budding visitor numbers. Organised by Dubai Electricity and Water Authority (DEWA), The World Green Economic Summit and Water, Energy, Technology, and Environment Exhibition (WETEX), have been two key events in ushering in thousands of visitors interested in resource and economic sustainability. Ahmed Alkhaja, Senior Vice President – Venues, DWTC said, “As the MICE sector is an important facilitator of economic diversification and contributed 3.1 per cent to the Emirate’s GDP last year, it is a core focus for us to bring diverse conferences and events to the city. This month, in addition to popular technology events, we are also welcoming professionals from the fields of healthcare, mining, environment as well as entertainment.” The rest of October will continue to see growing visitor numbers that include technology professionals, entrepreneurs and industry specialists as they gather for region’s largest technology event, GITEX Technology Week.

Convention Bureau of Florence presented the destination, its MICE and leisure products to an audience of tour operator, DMCs and PCOs highly specialised in events and luxury travel of UAE in Dubai. This will help FCVB to promote Florence not only as a MICE destination but also to the most important tour operators in the world. By the end of 2016, FCVB will participate in major trade fairs as the ILTM Cannes, WTM London, or the BTO in Florence in addition to many targeted sales mission and workshops. The B2B event was organised in strategic partnership with Emirates. Director of FCVB, Carlotta Ferrari said, “It was un unique opportunity that inaugurates our programme of leisure activities. We organised this event format with Emirates, an exceptional partner for us. The appointments went very well and we registered a great interest from UAE tour operators and DMCs. We expect the first results soon and we are very optimistic about the benefits that these new activities will bring to our destination.”

The 22nd international trade fair for travel and tourism in Moscow (Otdykh) opened its doors on Sept 21 at the Expo Center Fairgrounds. This year 750 exhibitors from 70 countries including Russian regions will be participating with over 160 business events. This is one of the most looked forward to events aimed at both inbound and outbound travel of the Russian market. It consists of leisure, MICE, business, medical, spa, health and luxury tourism. The first three days will be solely dedicated to trade visitors, partners and buyers whereas the last day will be open to the public. There is much expectation as the Russian market seems to be on a steady road to recovery.

The International Travel Week (ITW) has announced new dates for the networking exhibition from November 25-28, 2017, at ADNEC, Abu Dhabi. All summit components will remain unchanged to allow ITW Abu Dhabi to continue its successful growth. More details will be available in due course.