Category Archives: Exhibitions

Qatar Airways to participate in the Arabian Travel Market 2023 with new experiences

Qatar Airways is participating in the Arabian Travel Market (ATM) 2023 (Hall 1, ME1210), taking place from 1 to 4 May, in Dubai. At the exhibition, the national carrier of the State of Qatar will showcase QVerse, a virtual reality experience to tour the Premium Check-in area at Hamad International Airport (HIA) and to explore the award-winning Business Class Qsuite. Along with multiple other announcements, Qatar Airways and Qatar Tourism will share plans for the upcoming year featuring expected developments on products and services. The award-winning airline looks forward to meeting with trade partners, as well as travel and tourism professionals. Qatar Airways is strongly positioned to continue to lead the global recovery of the aviation industry – the “World’s Best Airline” has introduced new routes earlier this year as part of a robust growing network, stronger agreements and leading partnerships. The Global Partner and Official Airline of F1®, in partnership with Qatar Airways Holidays, announced lately the launch of its exclusive travel packages for the upcoming F1® races this season. The travel packages allow fans to be up-close to high-octane action, and exclusively enjoy unique experiences including pit lane walks, guided track tours, and special events with select F1® drivers. Recently, Qatar has upgraded the Hayya platform previously used to manage tourists entering the country for the FIFA World Cup Qatar 2023TM. Now, the Hayya platform has become the only portal in which tourists and business travellers should use to apply for visas to Qatar. The Arab Ministerial Council for Tourism, named Doha as Arab Tourism Capital for 2023, a recognition of Qatar’s development in the travel and tourism industry. As Qatar Airways’ sponsorship portfolio continues to grow, it …

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ITIC session to shine spotlight on industry financing at ATM 2023, with more than 150,000 pipeline hotel rooms currently under contract in GCC

Industry experts will gather in the UAE to discuss sustainable decision-making and financing during the International Tourism & Investment Conference (ITIC) Middle East Tourism Investment Session at Arabian Travel Market (ATM) 2023, which will take place at Dubai World Trade Centre (DWTC) from Monday 1 to Thursday 4 May. Saudi Arabia is leading the GCC’s tourism development activities with a pipeline of 100,071 hotel rooms, according to data released by STR. Dubai is the region’s second most active market with 27,095 rooms under contract, followed by Qatar (17,145), Oman (10,292), Bahrain (3,452) and Kuwait (1,369). In total, there are 159,424 pipeline rooms under contract in the Gulf at present. Related opportunities and challenges will be placed under the microscope throughout ATM 2023, thanks to a range of panel discussions and events related to industry financing. In addition to the ITIC panels, this year’s show will feature sessions highlighting industry-critical issues such as travel tech investment, the contemporary geopolitical landscape, urban regeneration, future markets, space tourism and more. Danielle Curtis, Exhibition Director ME, Arabian Travel Market, said: “With nearly 160,000 hotel rooms under development across the GCC, this region is undoubtedly a global hotspot for industry investment right now. Thanks to the participation of ITIC and a host of other finance-related sessions, ATM 2023 represents the ideal forum for travel, tourism and hospitality professionals from around the world to explore the latest investment opportunities and novel financing models with some of the biggest names in our sector.” Taking place on day three of ATM 2023, the ‘ITIC Tourism Investment Session: Making Sustainable Decisions’ will feature insights from an array of industry experts. The sessions will begin with a tourism economic outlook …

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World leaders to shape the future of sustainable tourism at ATM 2023

Travel professionals and policymakers from across the globe will explore how the tourism sector is ‘Working Towards Net Zero’ at the 30th edition of Arabian Travel Market (ATM), which will take place at Dubai World Trade Centre (DWTC) from Monday 1 to Thursday 4 May 2023. The four-day event will feature over 150 speakers across 63 sessions, as policymakers and industry figures from around the world outline how they are working to drive decarbonisation within the sector. Ministers from the UAE, Bahrain, Oman, Jordan, Jamaica and Spain will join a host of senior figures from the private sector to showcase sustainable innovations, share knowledge and best practice, and explore opportunities and challenges along the road to net zero. Exhibitor participation in ATM 2023 will be 27% higher than last year, with growth across all show sectors. These include regional upticks for the Middle East (15.1% larger), Europe (30.9% larger), Asia (18.6% larger) and Africa (44.7% larger), as well as representation from Travel Tech and hotels, which has expanded by 57.9% and 23.5%, respectively. Danielle Curtis, Exhibition Director ME, Arabian Travel Market, said: “We intend to use the 30th edition of ATM to address one of the most significant challenges facing our sector, in line with our theme of ‘Working Towards Net Zero’. Increased participation in this year’s show not only reflects the seriousness with which global tourism professionals and policymakers are taking sustainability, but also rising demand for leisure and business travel across the Middle East and beyond.” ATM 2023 will host an array of regional policymakers, including HE Abdullah bin Touq Al Marri, UAE Minister of Economy; Hoor Al Khaja, Associate Vice President of International Operations at Dubai’s Department …

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China makes welcome return to Arabian Travel Market, Middle East on the cusp of a surge in Chinese tourists

Chinese exhibitors and travel professionals are making a welcome return to Arabian Travel Market (ATM) 2023 which is being held at the Dubai World Trade Centre (DWTC) for its 30th edition from 1-4 May, for the first time in three years. China lifted its covid-related travel restrictions on 8th January 2023, allowing Chinese tourists to travel abroad, without having to quarantine upon their return.  Bookings for overseas travel during Chinese New Year, soared by 540% compared with the same period in 2022, according to data from the Chinese travel site Trip.com. Furthermore, in a CNN report, Steve Saxon, a partner at McKinsey, based in Shenzhen,  predicted the Chinese outbound market would recover to around six million per month by the summer of 2023, driven in part by the pent-up demand especially from young, affluent Chinese. Danielle Curtis, Exhibition Director ME, Arabian Travel Market commented, “China became the world’s top source market in 2019, with 155 million tourists spending more than $250 billion overseas. However, its isolation from the global market over the past three years has set the industry back by an estimated $840 billion, equivalent, to 16% of the $1.7 trillion spent annually on global tourism, according to UNWTO.” Dubai received almost one million Chinese visitors in 2019, which was an increase of over 15% compared with 2018. And while the 154,000 Chinese visitors Dubai welcomed over the first 11 months of 2022 was down 83% compared to the same period prior to 2020, it was up 115% year-on-year, which bodes well not only for Dubai, but also for the wider Middle East tourism sector. Popular destinations such as Dubai, Saudi’s AlUla, Egypt and Jordan, which have consistently marketed …

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Middle East and Africa region expected to return to pre-pandemic levels of business travel spend by 2024

Business travel in the Middle East and Africa (MEA) is recovering more rapidly than in any other region, according to the most recent Business Travel Index™ Outlook annual forecast and outlook (2022), from the Global Business Travel Association (GBTA), the world’s largest business travel association. MEA business travel achieved 86% of its 2019 levels during 2022, outperforming the recovery in Americas, Asia Pacific and Europe. The strong performance of the sector and future opportunities will come under the spotlight during Arabian Travel Market (ATM) 2023, which takes place at Dubai World Trade Centre (DWTC) from 1-4 May. Danielle Curtis, Exhibition Director ME, Arabian Travel Market, said: “The business travel sector is a key component of the Middle East’s wider travel and tourism industry, and it is encouraging to see that it has bounced back so strongly since the pandemic. The Global Business Travel Association (GBTA) will present an in-depth analysis of how technology can support this return to travel and the ways in which this can be done sustainably in two education sessions with key insights from leading industry professionals.” According to the forecast, business travel spending reached $933 billion globally in 2022, 65% of the USD $1.4 trillion business pre-pandemic travel spend, with the MEA region accounting for $23 billion or approximately 2.5% of overall spending within the sector. “The MEA region is an important growth market for business travel and benefitted from a prompt Covid-19 vaccination roll-out in key markets such as the UAE and Israel, as well as increased economic activity driven by the rising price of crude oil to accelerate the business travel recovery. The region is expected to return to pre-pandemic business travel spend by …

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Saudi brings the best of the country to ITB Berlin with record number of partners

Saudi kicks off its first participation at ITB Berlin, the world’s biggest travel show and convention, celebrating key milestones for Saudi’s tourism growth story and showcasing the breadth and depth of Saudi’s extraordinary destination offering. In the run up to the event, Saudi hosted members of media at the press conference session “Unexpected Arabia: Discover Saudi,” on Monday 6 March, giving a preview of Saudi’s diverse offerings and developments. During the week there will be interactive on-stand experiences, bringing to life the rich culture and heritage of one of the world’s last frontiers of tourism. Visitors will have an opportunity to immerse themselves in the authentic home of Arabia, to feel the unparalleled hospitality for which the country is known. As the largest exhibitor at this year’s edition of ITB Berlin, a record number of partners for Saudi are on the stand showcasing a record number of bookable products for the destination (200+) spanning experiences, packages, hotels, and cruises for trade partners. This presence reflects the incredible growth the country is witnessing. Since opening to tourism in 2019, Saudi has been recognized as the world’s fastest-growing tourism destination in the G20. With an extraordinary +121% increase from pre-pandemic international tourism levels, Saudi achieved 93.5 million visits in 2022 and is outpacing global tourism sector recovery as recognized by the UNWTO. As the world’s biggest investor in tourism, Saudi has committed $550bn to new destinations by 2030. Preserving heritage and history, a $50.6 billion masterplan will transform Diriyah, a 300-year-old city and birthplace of Saudi, into one of the world’s most exciting cultural sites. In 2023, Red Sea Global, the world’s most ambitious luxury tourism development, will debut its first hotel …

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150 countries convene @ ITB Berlin

After a hiatus of two years, ITB Berlin is back on track with a brand new theme, titled, “Open for Change” which is ironic as all borders have not opened up and in many ways different than before. 7th to 9th March 2023, the travel, tourism and hospitality fraternity across the globe gather together to network, understand, learn the new ropes, and initiate business for this new era of tourism. Deborah Rothe, Exhibition Director, ITB Berlin, shares with TTME. “With the motto of this year’s ITB Berlin “Open for Change,” the world’s leading travel trade show celebrates its live comeback from 7 to 9 March in Berlin.  As a pure B2B show, it now has a duration of three days for buyers, trade visitors, exhibitors and media. As usual, the tourism industry’s most important Think Tank, the ITB Berlin Convention will also be held in parallel with the trade show under the motto “Mastering Transformation”. In terms of the number of exhibitors she responded, “We are very satisfied with the current booking status – more than 90 percent of space is fully booked, and we are still receiving exhibitor registrations at short notice. At the moment we count more than 4.500 exhibitors from over 150 countries, not including companies to be represented by exhibitors that are not on site. The ticket sales for trade visitors are in full swing, and the general profile of trade visitors is high. The ITB Buyers Circle, for example, an exclusive community for top-tier buyers with backgrounds in corporate, leisure, business travel, or MICE, has already more than 1,500submissions from buyers. These are reviewed manually, based on fixed criteria, and are currently being approved one …

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Tourism Malaysia returns to 16th Tehran International tourism exhibition

Tourism Malaysia boost its promotion activities in Iran by participating in the 16th Tehran International Tourism Exhibition (TITEX) which was concluded last week. This provided a platform to reconnect and further develop more partnership in positioning Malaysia as a preferred destination for Iranians. This four-day exhibition features networking sessions between travel experts, tourism and hospitality sectors that are based in Iran. Tourism Malaysiais participation in TITEX this year sees six tourism industry players from Malaysia including travel agensts, hotels and airlines namely BetterBooking Travel & Tour, Toranj Tour and Travel Company, Gulliver Tour and Travel Company, Siahrood Holiday Sdn. Bhd., IOI Cluster Hotels and Air Arabia. Malaysia’s participation in the exhibition provided an avenue for Malaysia tourism industry players to network and solicit for new business with the Iran counterparts. It is also a platform to update industry players of Malaysia’s latest tourism developments and strengthen awareness on Malaysia as an ideal holiday destination for this market. Furthermore, TITEX will also gave visitors an insight to the many exciting packages and to promote some of the country’s latest attractions and destinations such as Kuala Lumpur, Genting Highlands and Penang for shopping, family fun and theme parks. Last year’s road show to Tehran which was led by the Director General of Tourism Malaysia, Dato’ Hj Zainuddin Abdul Wahab in May  2022, together with Malaysian travel trade players and officials validated that Malaysia maintains as one of the top of the mind travel destinations for this region. Tourism Malaysia’s promotion campaign as such is a continuous effort to boost inbound tourism to a greater height in the hope to achieve 15.6 million international tourist arrivals with MYR 47.6 billion in tourism receipts …

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Azerbaijan International Travel and Tourism Fair AITF returns in 2023

After a break caused by the pandemic, the 19th Azerbaijan International Travel and Tourism Fair AITF 2023 will reopen its doors at Baku Expo Center from 4 to 6 April. The organiser of the event is the Caspian Event Organisers company. Traditionally one of the leading events in the tourism sector of the entire region, the AITF exhibition brings together the leading players in the industry, provides them with the opportunity to establish new contacts, significantly expand the geography of sales and learn about the latest innovations and trends in the tourism industry. The AITF 2023 exhibition will bring together companies from Azerbaijan, Belarus, Bulgaria, Georgia, Cuba, Lithuania, Malaysia, Poland, Russia, Slovenia, Thailand, Tunisia, Turkey, the Czech Republic, Switzerland, and other countries. The visiting card of the AITF exhibition are national stands, this year such countries as Belarus, Croatia, Poland, and others will exhibit them. Bulgaria, which is a permanent participant of the exhibition, will be the general sponsor of AITF 2023 this year. The exhibition will cover the following areas: Outbound tourism Domestic tourism Inbound tourism AITF 2023 will feature relevant sectors such as: medical tourism, educational tourism, overseas real estate, sports tourism, information technology in tourism, hunting and fishing, cruise ships, airlines, national and regional tourism authorities, ministries, embassies, travel agencies and tour operators. A rich business program awaits participants and visitors. Traditionally, within the framework of the exhibition, bilateral business meetings (B2B) will be held, at which representatives of domestic and foreign companies will discuss ways of cooperation and other forms of partnership in person. AITF 2023 is a long-awaited event for professionals in the tourism industry, as international and local companies will have the opportunity to …

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For the first time, Qatar Tourism showcases its offerings at the 16th edition of Tehran International Tourism Exhibition

Qatar Tourism (QT) represented the State of Qatar in the 16th edition of the Tehran International Tourism Exhibition (TITE) 2023. As the first participation, QT’s booth included trade partners Qatar Airways, as well as The Torch Doha, Travel Designer WLL, Rixos Gulf Hotel Doha, and Banana Island Doha Resort. The tourism exhibition, which concluded at the Tehran International Permanent Fairground, presented the ideal opportunity for Qatar to highlight the latest developments in its tourism industry and showcase its newest tourism and hospitality offerings. In addition, it provided a platform for Qatar to network with prominent travel operators, agencies, and airlines in Iran, to increase business-to-business and business-to-consumer awareness on Qatar and provide an update on the destination’s offering. Chief Operating Officer of Qatar Tourism, Berthold Trenkel, said: “Iran is one of 15 target markets identified by Qatar Tourism as a primary source for visitors looking to relax, rejuvenate and take in Qatar’s vibrant culture. Participating in TITE allows us to share with sellers in Iran the information they need to expand and promote tourism opportunities to Qatar for their local, resident population. Initiatives such as these are important to help Qatar Tourism achieve its 2030 strategy, which aims to increase the number of visitors to Qatar by threefold, increase spending by 3 to 4 times, and grow the GDP contribution of the tourism sector to 12% by 2030.” Visitors to the Qatar pavilion (Hall 41 – Booth 18) were invited to learn about Qatar’s unique culture, beautiful outdoor spaces, and warm hospitality, all while exploring some of the newest attractions and favourable travel regulations that are set to boost the visitor experience.

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