More
than 50 seminar and tech theatre sessions will take place over the course of
the show; new ATM Global Stage will host a roster of high-level speakers in the
200+ attendee theatre; mid-market travel and responsible tourism among the key
topics for discussion
More than 50 wide-ranging seminar and tech
theatre sessions are scheduled at Arabian Travel Market (ATM), which is taking place at Dubai World Trade
Centre from 25-28 April 2016. Panellists will be flying in from around the world
to contribute to discussions, with topics including mid-market travel,
luxury, aviation, technology trends, spa and wellness tourism, business, adventure
and halal tourism.
The
opening session, ‘The Future of the UAE As A Global Tourism Hub’, is taking place on 25
April from 13:00 - 14:30 on the ATM Global Stage located in Hall 8 and
has an impressive line-up of speakers.
Panellists Issam Kazim, CEO, Dubai Corporation for Tourism and Commerce
Marketing (DCTCM); Haitham Mattar, CEO, Ras Al Khaimah Tourism Development
Authority; Marwan bin Jassim Al Sarkal, CEO Shurooq; Sultan Al Mutawa Al Dhaheri, Acting Executive Director, Tourism, Abu
Dhabi Tourism & Culture Authority (TCA Abu Dhabi); Gerald Lawless, Head of Tourism, Dubai Holding and Honorary President, Jumeirah Group; Thierry Antinori, Emirates Executive Vice President and Chief
Commercial Officer, Emirates Airline; and Aligi Gardenghi - VP Marketing EMEA and Commercial Director MEA, Hilton
Worldwide
will discuss the grand vision for the UAE as
one of the world’s leading tourism hubs and how will it evolve over the next
decade and beyond.
The session will be moderated by Zeinab
Badawi, Broadcast Presenter, BBC World News, who will steer the speakers
through talking points such as unique selling points of each emirate and
their tourism goals, the important role played by the UAE’s aviation
infrastructure and airline industry, new mega projects in the pipeline and how
Expo 2020 is set to put the UAE on the global tourism map.
Visitor
statistics and hotel development across the emirates is showing signs of
positive growth. Abu Dhabi experienced 4,105,846 hotel guest arrivals in 2015 –
an 18% rise on the previous year – with an additional 1,000 hotel keys
delivered, increasing supply to 20,700 keys by the year-end.
Welcoming
14.2 million visitors in 2015 – a rise of 7.5% on 2014 – Dubai is
now a step closer to achieving its target of 20 million visitors by 2020. The hotel
market saw the addition of 6,000 hotel keys in 2015, increasing the total
supply to 98,330 keys according to
Dubai Tourism.
Highlighting
the mid-market show theme, which is officially sponsored by Louvre Hotels, is
the ‘Mid-market Strategies’ session, taking place
on 26 April from 13:15 - 14:15 on the ATM Global Stage. It is designed
specifically to identify who the midmarket traveller is, where they come from
and what they want. Panelists include Mark Nogal, Regional Head, Focused
Service Brand Management, EMEA, Hilton Worldwide; Dr Amine Moukarzel,
President, Louvre Hotels Group MENA; Karim ElGuanaini, Senior VP of Product
Marketing, Miral Asset Management (Yas Island) and Ali Abu Monassar, President,
The Vision Destination Management.
Responsible tourism is another key focus and
will headline several seminar theatre sessions devoted to the topic including ‘Coping With Success – The Sustainability Challenge in the Region’,
taking place on 26 April from 14:15 - 14:45 in the Google Showcase Theatre.
Solaiman Al Rifai, Senior Manager, Dubai Tourism Development and Investment and
Chris Warren, Founder, Warren & Associates will discuss how the region can
adapt to address the challenge of increasing volumes of visitors at the
destination level.
Over
in the Travel Tech Theatre, highlights include headline session ‘Mobile
Engagement: Geo-Fencing, Beacons and Service Design in Travel’ taking place on
25 Apr from 14:30 - 15:30 Travel Tech Theatre. Led by Nick Hall, CEO and
Founder, Digital Tourism Think Tank, the session will spotlight where mobile has
come and where it is heading, as well as how to affordably deploy and scale the
latest smartphone technology.
Now in its 23rd year, ATM 2016 will build on
the success of this year’s edition with the announcement of an additional hall
as Reed Travel Exhibitions looks to add to its record-breaking achievements
earlier this year. ATM 2015 witnessed a year-on-year visitor attendance
increase of 15% to over 26,000, with exhibiting companies increasing by 5% to
2,873. Business deals worth more than US$2.5 billion were signed over the four
days.
For more information on Arabian Travel Market
2016, please visit the website at www.arabiantravelmarket.com
