Arabian Travel Market 2002

The 2007 edition of Arabian Travel Market, the Middle East’s premier travel and tourism event, attracted the highest visitor turnout in its 14-year-history with some 23,449 people from 108 countries attending.

Preliminary figures for the event at the Dubai International Convention and Exhibition Centre (DICEC) showed an eight percent increase in visitors on last year with the geographic footprint of the turnout expanding to nine more countries.

Media interest also grew, registering a seven per cent rise with more than 1,000 local, regional and international journalists covering the event.

Whilst celebrating another highly successful show, Reed Travel Exhibitions (RTE), which organises Arabian Travel Market, said it is now looking to take the event to “the next level.”

“We are gauging industry feedback from both the exhibitor and visitor perspective to move the show on to a whole new parameter which will reflect the enormous advances the travel and tourism sector is now making,” said Mark Walsh, RTE Group Exhibition Director – Overseas Events.

“One idea up for discussion is the introduction of new vertical, industry-specific pavilions.”

At the end of its four-day run, Arabian Travel Market 2007 attracted 12,859 trade visitors - up 5.1 percent on 2006, while an eight percent increase on overseas visitors was recorded.

Most trade visitors expressed satisfaction with the business potential of the show and reported finalising many deals.

Zakaria Oummani, Manager of Morocco’s Go Holiday said that the company signed more than 30 deals with tour operators from Kuwait, Tunisia, Bahrain, Indonesia and Syria during the first two days alone.

“This was our ninth Arabian Travel Market visit and we found it very fruitful as we had the time to meet with exhibitors who we could not meet at London’s World Travel Market and ITB in Berlin.”

Meanwhile Syria’s Dawn Creative Tours, specialising in trips to historic sites in Syria, Jordan and Lebanon, finalised agreements with two major GCC wholesalers as well as numerous small and medium regional and South African operators.

Trade professionals on the Arabian Travel Market Hosted Buyer programme©, which brought more than 100 regional and international buyers to the event, got an in-depth insight into the regional travel sector.

“Arabian Travel Market is larger than I expected and I met with a wide range of local and regional exhibitors,” said Nicole Gottschalk, Travelive, Germany.

Norway’s Tove Voss, Managing Director of Escape Travel, said the event was on par with London’s World Travel Market and other leading international travel and tourism exhibitions.

Local visitors underscored the importance of the exhibition to the UAE’s industry.

Ali Abou Ali, Manager, Bin Brook Travel & Tourism, visiting for the sixth year, said “it is great that the world comes to see us at the event instead of us going to all these different countries. The Government of Dubai is doing a great job in supporting this show which truly reflects the international image of the country.”

The show attracted over 115 new exhibiting companies, including nine destinations, which are looking to return in 2008 for the 15th Arabian Travel Market which will be held from May 6-9 at the DICEC.

Tonci Skvrece, manager of the Dubrovnik Tourist Board, said response gained would lead to a recommendation for an expanded presence.

“We were on an exploratory trip. I will recommend that the Croatian National Tourism Board is present at next year’s show with a bigger stand, so all regions can showcase Croatia’s unique and beautiful tourism products.”

At its Arabian Travel Market debut, the Taiwan Tourism Board met with more than 400 visitors. “Interest was more than what we expected and we are interested in coming back next year,” said Shu-Fen Luo, of the country’s External Trade Development Council.

Final audited results from the show, which had a 10 per cent increase in contracted floor space over 2006, taking up more than 24,600 square metres, are being processed.

“A detailed breakdown of Arabian Travel Market 2007 statistics will be available by the end of the month. We will also detail the results of the numerous on-site surveys conducted,” said Lucie Dawkins, Marketing Manager, Arabian Travel Market.

One of the most anticipated announcements at the 2008 event will be the final report on the research by international think tank – Global Futures & Foresight - into the region’s tourism industry.

Arabian Travel Market is held under the patronage of His Highness Sheikh Mohammed Bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Vice President and Prime Minister of the UAE and Ruler of Dubai and under the auspices of the Department of Tourism and Commerce Marketing, Government of Dubai.

Reed Exhibitions is the world’s leading organiser of exhibitions and conferences. Reed brings together over 90,000 suppliers and more than 5.5 million buyers from around the world every year generating billions of dollars in business. Today Reed events are held in 38 countries throughout the Americas, Europe, the Middle East and Asia Pacific, and organised by 33 fully staffed offices.

Reed’s portfolio of over 460 events serves 52 industry sectors, including:

aerospace and defense, building and construction, design, electronics, energy, oil and gas, entertainment, food and hospitality, gifts, healthcare, IT/telecoms, jewellery, manufacturing, marketing and business services, pharmaceuticals, property, publishing, sport and recreation, transport and logistics and travel.

Working closely with professional bodies, trade associations and government departments Reed ensures that each and every event is targeted and relevant to industry needs. As a result, many Reed events are market leaders in their field.

Reed Exhibitions is part of Reed Elsevier, a FTSE 100 company and world-leading publisher and information provider, with revenues in excess of £4.8 billion (US$ 8.4 billion) (2004).

Reed Travel Exhibitions organises 17 events worldwide, including World Travel Market, Arabian Travel Market, C.I.S. Travel Market, EIBTM, British Travel Trade Fair, Asia Pacific Incentives & Meetings Expo (AIME), International Golf Travel Market, Top Resa, ICCA Exhibition, in association with the ICCA Congress, International Luxury Travel Market (ILTM), La Cumbre, City Break, China Incentive, Business Travel & Meetings Exhibition (CIBTM), Latin American & Caribbean Incentive & Meetings Exhibition (LACIME), Gulf Incentive Business Travel & Meetings (GIBTM) and Asia Luxury Travel Market (ALTM).

For further press information, please visit the Reed Travel Exhibitions’ website on

Or visit the show online at:

Sony Elias
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+ 971 4 390 2960
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