Category Archives: Exhibitions

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.

Come October, the first Arabian Travel Awards will recognise and honour the best in travel and tourism industry in the Middle East. This initiative to encourage industry professionals started with India Travel Awards in 2014 and has now become a well-established and sought-after award show. The awards have been recognised for its fair and illustrious presence all over India. Being a formal black-tie event the awards are known for its glitzy, world-class ceremonies. Arabian Travel Awards is organised and executed by DDP Publications, which has a long standing presence in the Middle East with TravTalk. Owing to India being one of the top source markets for the Middle East, specially the UAE and DDP’s existing strong ties with the travel industry in the region, the response to the inaugural Arabian Travel Awards has been overwhelming with nominations already pouring in.   Gunjan Sabikhi, Convenor, Arabian Travel Awards, says, “Everyone needs encouragement to grow and Arabian Travel Awards is our initiative to help the industry in this endeavour. The Awards aim to recognise the contribution and achievements of travel and tourism players and reward those who have gone above and beyond to offer a superior tourism experience to travellers. We have received nominations from the remotest corner of the region. This Award will in turn help winners in improving their relationship with their suppliers, build their credibility and help them break into new markets.”   Based on a unique system of nomination as well as self-nomination and voting system on the Internet, these Awards will be transparent, fair and unbiased. Arabian Travel Awards will aspire the ‘Best of the Best’ in the region. The highest accolade in travel and tourism of the region, these awards shall be …

Jordan has been announced as the official host for the 6th edition of the Arab Aviation Summit which will take place at the Dead Sea in Jordan on 5th and 6th December 2016. The theme of the forthcoming summit will be ‘Linking Cultures, Driving Economies’ to draw attention to the interdependent roles the Aviation and Tourism sectors play in contributing to the greater economic development of the region. It is the most prominent aviation and tourism event within the region focusing on trends, insights and opportunities driving the continuous growth and development of the avia-tourism industry in the Arab world. Described as the ‘voice of the industry,’ the summit is an industry initiative launched in 2011 and is organised on an annual basis in collaboration with aviation and tourism leaders, government entities, media heavy-weights and other well-entrenched organisations, to lead the discussion on a variety of topics relevant to key stakeholders and aviation commentators.

Registrations for VisitBritain’s flagship event ExploreGB 2017, to be held on March 2-3, 2017, in Brighton, Great Britain, is now open for the Middle East. This B2B event is an opportunity to meet with 350 British and Irish suppliers throughout the two day workshop and dining which provides excellent networking opportunities.

Abu Dhabi will host International Travel Week 2016 from November 21-25 at Abu Dhabi National Exhibition Center. The world’s largest travel industry hosted buyer programme will deliver an exceptional networking and knowledge-sharing experience for global travel professionals seeking to maximise new tourism revenue opportunities within the halal, medical and shopping tourism industry biggest buyers.  ITW-Abu Dhabi will aim to deliver a comprehensive programme which will combine targeted meetings with networking opportunities, inspiring knowledge-bound seminars and innovative experiences, culminating in a glittering gala awards evening to celebrate outstanding achievements across the international Halal Tourism landscape. This year, Indonesia Ministry of Tourism will be the official Headline Sponsor for the ITW Abu Dhabi 2016, and commented that, Indonesia participates again in 2016 but this time bigger than 2015 to bring more sales. As a major sponsor of the summit, Indonesia Ministry of Tourism expects to welcome key international delegations, investors, tourism associations and market-leading specialists to the summit. ITW-Abu Dhabi is a progressive and evolutionary event which has developed from last year’s World Halal Travel Summit. The 2015 edition enjoyed unprecedented success, where the summit yielded impressive results, generating more than $18.4 million worth of business on the show floor, and a further $73.5 million stemming from opportunities directly created at the event. With more than 6,000 travel professionals expected to participate in this year’s ITW-Abu Dhabi, this transformative five-day event is hotly-anticipated to be the premium platform for the global halal travel, medical and shopping tourism industry.