Dubai Tourism celebrates 26th edition of Arabian Travel Market

Dubai’s Department of Tourism and Commerce Marketing (Dubai Tourism) is taking part in this year’s Arabian Travel Market (ATM), from 28 April – 01 May at the Dubai World Trade Centre, showcasing the emirate’s diverse tourism offerings to the local and international travel trade community. As one of the exhibition’s longest-standing official partners, Dubai Tourism will be joined on stands ME3110 and ME3140 by over 300 representatives from government bodies, hotels, destination management companies and tour operators. The 2019 edition of ATM marks the 26^th year that Dubai Tourism has partnered with the region’s flagship travel event.

The Dubai stand at ATM 2019 will showcase the breadth of the emirate’s ever-evolving destination portfolio, as well as highlighting an upcoming pipeline of new experiences through numerous interactive activations and content-rich displays. The strategic platform will also bring together an extensive network of industry stakeholders across the public and private sectors to strengthen new and existing in-market trade partnerships. In support of the show’s 2019 focus on technological innovation, the state-of-the-art stand will embrace disruptive innovation by providing unique and immersive experiences to visitors, all designed to showcase the city’s unique and attractive tourist proposition for diverse market segments.

Issam Kazim, CEO, Dubai Corporation for Tourism and Commerce Marketing (DCTCM) said: “ATM plays a key strategic role in helping Dubai Tourism provide insights into the emirate’s dynamic tourism proposition to international, regional and local travel, tourism and hospitality decision makers. We are delighted to extend our reach this year by hosting more than 300 buyers from around the world to explore how to maximise our combined potentials. Our activations and on-stand experiences will build on the technological innovation theme of this year’s show, and we look forward to highlighting the scale of the activities that continue to build on our ‘digital, mobile and social first’ agenda.”

This year, visitors to the Dubai stand can explore a dedicated ‘EMAAR Zone’ with a new Virtual Reality (VR) system, introduced in partnership with Dubai Future Foundation and Dubai Future Accelerators to provide a glimpse into how VR technology is transforming the travel and tourism industry as the demand from travellers looking for new experiences continues to grow. Meanwhile, the ‘Attractions Zone’ will return once again, showcasing the city’s exciting experiential attractions including Dubai Frame, Hysteria, La Perle by Dragone, Seawings, HERO OdySEA, Hot Air Balloon, Platinum Heritage, Aventura Park, and more.

Dubai-based technology provider, PrioHub will showcase the recently announced business to business (B2B) ‘Attractions Marketplace’ that aims to connect attractions and experiences across the city with global audiences and relevant channel partners. Launched in January 2019, the online platform has been designed to create a seamless technological framework to further stimulate industry cohesion through the connectivity of the city’s attractions and experiences, increasing productivity across the breadth of Dubai’s destination offering.

Championing home-grown concepts, speciality drinks will be provided at the on-stand Gawha Café in partnership with Mirzam Chocolates. Building on Dubai Tourism’s commitment to supporting local small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs), the stand will also feature Emirati Kashtas and Meet the Locals teams of local tour guides who are dedicated to helping visitors interact with, and learn about the Emirati culture.

The Dubai Festivals and Retail Establishment (DFRE) and Dubai Calendar will once again showcase their upcoming schedule of exciting events planned for the second half of 2019. They will be joined by Dubai Culture & Arts Authority (Dubai Culture) to present selected artworks from Mattar Bin Lahej Gallery and Tashkeel, as well as offering UAE-based artists the opportunity to showcase their talents in front of an international audience.

Dubai College of Tourism (DCT) will reveal details of the vocational training and interactive industry training tools available through the learning facility. In particular, the College will showcase the Dubai Way online training programme for professionals looking to excel in Dubai’s flourishing tourism and hospitality industries. There will also be the opportunity to interact with current students and instructors, as they highlight the specialised vocational courses on offer at DCT.

ATM will provide the international travel trade market with the opportunity to discover the various sustainability initiatives that are being put in place by Dubai Sustainable Tourism (DST) to support Dubai’s goal of becoming one of the world’s leading sustainable tourism destinations. This includes highlighting existing and upcoming sustainability projects, training tools and new standards currently being implemented across the industry that ensure the emirate’s tourism sector contribute to the wider clean energy and sustainable development targets.

Dubai Tourism will be joined on the Dubai stand by Ministry of Interior, General Directorate of Residency and Foreigners Affairs, Dubai Police, Dubai Health Authority (DHA), Dubai Municipality and Sheikh Mohammed Centre for Cultural Understanding (SMCCU). These entities will be joined by a number of private sector co-participants, covering the full spectrum of Dubai’s leisure and business tourism offerings.