- Debut Arabian Travel Market Virtual event registers 11,977
attendees
- Participants represented 140 countries
Dubai,
United Arab Emirates, 22 June 2020: Travel trade professionals from across the
world gathered in their thousands to attend the three-day Arabian
Travel Market (ATM) Virtual, which debuted on 1-3 June 2020.
The online event which attracted almost 12,000 attendees
from 140 countries around the world, focused on the ME region’s tourism sector,
addressed emerging trends, as well as the opportunities and the challenges
which are directly impacting the travel and tourism industry amid the COVID-19
global health pandemic and beyond.
In total, the event facilitated
11,301 prescheduled one-to-one meetings, of which over 92% were rated four or
five, out of five stars. A series of one-to-one pre-scheduled 30-minute meetings between editors,
exhibitors, and buyers also took place, and 23 live video sessions
included Q&As and polls which ran alongside the presentations to enable
audience interaction. Overall, the webinars had more than 24,000 views over the
course of three days.
Danielle Curtis,
Exhibition Director ME, Arabian Travel Market (ATM), said: “Considering that
this was a debut event, the outcome clearly validated our strategy to virtually
support and guide the region’s travel and tourism industry. The resilience and
determination to get through these challenging times was clearly evident.
“It
also underscored our commitment to organise an event with positive and
constructive business insight and opinion, as well as offering networking
opportunities across the entire community.
“There were so many highlights during the
event, that it would be extremely difficult to single out any particular session.
The event was seamless, each session complemented the next and it is also fair
to say that the whole was greater
than the sum of its parts.”
The highlight of the opening day was an interview
with Sir Tim Clark, President of Emirates Airline. During a discussion with
aviation expert John Strickland, Sir Tim predicted a degree of tourism recovery
during the course of 2021, and expectations for Emirates to be operating its
network prior to COVID-19 by 22/23, 23/24.
Another key event that took place on the first
day was the Arival-run OTAs & Distribution for Tours &
Attractions Post-COVID session, which explored the changes amid the
rise of online travel agencies (OTAs), the re-opening of operations and what
this means for tour and attraction operators across the Middle East.
The much anticipated The Virtual ATM
China Forum took an in-depth look at the potential of the Chinese
outbound leisure market post COVID-19’s closed borders and what overseas
destinations and attractions can do to reassure and convince Chinese tourists,
of whom 45% are willing to travel overseas, that their destination is safe to
visit.
Other issues discussed
included, technology, the role of international industry associations and the
need for destinations to change their propositions, with a focus on safety,
trust, and consumer confidence.
Another highlight of the second day was the
live webinar ‘Bouncing
Back: Tourism Strategies for the Future’ where Keith
Tan, CEO, Singapore Tourism Board, underscored the importance of governments
implementing ‘green lanes’ to aid tourism recovery and promote bilateral travel
agreements. He cited the common standards Singapore and China have implemented
to allow travel between the two countries.
The third and final day included the interview
with Wizz Air CEO, Joszef Varadi where he confirmed his ambitions for the
low-cost carrier’s impending move to operate out of Abu Dhabi, and their plans
to have 100 aircrafts serving the GCC markets by 2035.
Other highlights on the final day included the International
Travel Investment Conference summit, the responsible tourism
session, ‘The
Implications of COVID-19 for Responsible Hospitality’, and the
Influencers’ session, ‘Make
Your Connection: Influencers as a Key Part of the Marketing Mix – COVID-19 The
Road to Recovery.
“As an
organiser we have learnt a lot from this virtual experience and to give our
seminar programme broader reach and greater inclusivity, we will certainly be
looking to integrate more virtual elements into our physical show next year,” said
Curtis.
The sessions and other content are now
available on demand via the WTM Global Hub. To view, please go to: https://hub.wtm.com/atm-virtual/
Tags: Arabian Travel Market Virtual event
