To Become Leading Sustainable Tourism Destination Globally - ATM

To Become Leading Sustainable Tourism Destination Globally – ATM

Arabian Travel Market (ATM), is one of the leading international event in the Middle East region that focuses on both inbound and outbound travel. The ATM event also enable the exhibitors to reach and expand in newer markets along with penetrating in existing market. In particular, the Dubai’s Department of Tourism and Commerce Marketing (DTCM) focused on promoting Dubai Sustainable Tourism (DST) initiative emphasizing on resource conservation apart from ensuring that Dubai evolves to become a leading sustainable tourism destination globally.

The 26th edition of Arabian Travel Market (ATM) 2018 took place at Dubai World Trade Centre from 28th April to 1st May 2018. More than 40,000 visitors including travel professionals, government officials and international press professionals participated in the event, with approximately 2,500 companies exhibiting over 2,800 products and destinations around the world from across 150 countries. According to the reports published by Arabian Trade Market (ATM), more than Dh 9 billion (USD $2.5 billion) worth of travel deals took place during the four day event.

Arabian Travel Market – Event Highlights

The event was inaugurated by H.H. Sheikh Maktoum bin Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Deputy Ruler of Dubai. The exhibitors who attended the event were from various industries including but not limited to travel & tourism, aviation, hospitality, spa & wellness and educational establishments etc. Some of the major highlights of the events are listed below:

Dubai announces ‘Sustainable Tourism’ initiatives at ATM

DTCM successfully launched Dubai Sustainable Tourism (DST) Awards apart from introducing 19 new standards in line with effective management of resources for various hotel classifications. Furthermore, new tools were developed including Hospitality Sustainability Board Game and the Carbon Calculator. Likewise, 12 Steps to Sustainability was introduced to help promote energy conservation, create energy efficient services, and encourage environmentally sustainable practices Dubai’s tourism and hospitality sectors.

Experience All That’s Possible With the Dubai Pass at ATM

Dubai Tourism announced Dubai Pass at ATM; an all-inclusive  prepaid card that grants cash-free access to 33 key events and venues across Dubai, making it the perfect way for tourists to explore the emirate’s world-class destination proposition. Through the new announced Dubai Pass, visitors can enjoy the exciting range of attractions, experiences and tours that Dubai has to offers.

Emirates Airline unveiled new Boeing 777 private suites at Dubai ATM

Emirates Airline introduced first class private suite with Mercedes Benz style interiors on its Boeing 777. The suite comes with cutting-edge technology with floor-to-ceiling sliding doors, soft leather seating, high-tech control panels and mood lighting. The suite also provides virtual windows and a personal video-call service. The professionals and enthusiasts were awed by its design and luxury the suite provides as Emirates look to enhance its service offerings in luxury travel segment.

Dubai – ATM Conference

Several topics were discussed in the ATM event on enhancing tourists inflow, targeting digital platforms successfully, insights on consumer perception and much more. Some of the major topics are listed below:

• Branding and Selling on Social Media
•  How smart destinations use big data to attract ideal visitors
• The Hospitality Sector in the next 25 years
•  The Most Common Mistakes in Influencer Marketing In 2018 (And How To Fix Them)
•  Aviation Strategies for Success
•  A world without money: how the cashless revolution is turning payments into profit
•  Responding to the evolving regional travelers

Government Initiative to Promote Tourism in Dubai

UAE has successfully placed itself amongst the most popular tourist destination at a global level. With ambitious developmental initiatives, high quality projects robust infrastructure and high-end services has contributed to the success. A statistics provided by Hotelier Middle East suggested that the overall tourists visiting Dubai by 2017 was around 15.8 million which was a 6.2 per cent increase from the previous year. The government of Dubai has also planned over 50 large-scale government initiatives to boost its tourism growth. Some of the major initiatives are

• Construction of mega tourism attraction projects such as Adventure Theme Parks, Parks & Resorts, Mega Malls, Entertainment and Leisure avenues etc.
• Introducing tourist VISA on arrival for Chinese visitors to give strong push to the tourist volume
• Introducing 96 hours VISA to attract transit passengers who have a transit flights from Dubai
• Developing medical tourism infrastructure to attract medical tourists to Dubai. (Dubai Medical Tourism market generated more than Dh 1.4 billion in 2016. According to Dubai Health Authority (DHA), the Emirate is well on its way to attract more than 500,000 medical tourists by 2020 compared to near around 350,000 medical tourists in 2017.)
• Constructing more hotels to accommodate the tourists visiting Dubai (Dubai has one of the highest numbers of hotel rooms (100,000) and is set to see a massive increase of 28,000 new hotel rooms as 80 new hotels are set to open in Dubai, increasing the hotel supply by 30% by 2018)

Investment Opportunities in Dubai’s Tourism and Hospitality Sector

The tourism industry is among the fastest growing sectors in Dubai and also has a significant contribution to UAE’s GDP. The total contribution of the travel and tourism industry of UAE was around Dh 168 billion in 2017 (12% of total GDP) with an annual growth rate of 4.9 per cent. Dubai welcomed 15.7 million visitors by the end of 2017 which was a 6.2 per cent increase compared to previous year.

In 2017, it was estimated that more than 24 million passengers had a transit flight from UAE. In order to capitalize the influx of transit passengers, the government of Dubai now offers transit visa for 96 hours to transit passengers. The change in visa laws along with EXPO 2020 which anticipates 25 million visitors is likely to fuel tourism growth in Dubai, providing an ideal platform for investors to invest in Dubai’s travel, tourism and hospitality sectors.

Research Konnection – Market Research, Feasibility Study & Business Plan Services Dubai (UAE) Research Konnection is a market research company in Dubai that assists local and international companies to setup or expand businesses in Dubai and UAE smoothly. At Research Konnection, we specialize in Market Research, Feasibility Studies and Business Plan Developments. Feel free to reach out to us on hello@researchkonnection.com