DUBAI: The Middle East’s largest travel and tourism exhibition has kicked off in Dubai, wth CEO of the Emirates GroupSheikh Ahmed bin Saeed Al Maktoum officially inaugurating the 29th edition of theArabian Travel Market.
The event is set tohostmore than 20,000visitorsand 1,500 exhibitors from 112 destinationsoverfour days, and will reflectthe concerns and hopes of the industry in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic.
Tourism Lift: As therecovery in Saudi tourism continues, thefirst quarter of 2022 witnessed over 130 percent of growth in the sectorcompared to pre-pandemic levels, the CEO of the Saudi Tourism Authority said during the Arabian Travel Market event.
Fahd Hamidaddin attributed the progress to “the absolute alignment between vision, leadership, resources, and talent.”
‘Guilt-Free’Tourism:Managing Director of NEOM Tourism Andrew McEvoy said the megaproject'saim is to give travellers a regenerative holiday. He added that NEOM wants to provide travellers with a balanced, guilt-free holiday through regenerative tourism.
Managing Director of NEOM Tourism Andrew McEvoy (Arab News)
Pandemic battle:Issam Kazim, CEO of Dubai Corporation for Tourism and Commerce Marketing said at theopening session that Dubai managed COVID-19 quite well with record breaking numbers.
He made the comments during a debate on “The Future of International Travel” alongsideChief Economist of Oxford Economics Scott Livermore, President of Middle East, Africa, & Turkey at Hilton Jochem-Jan Sleiffer, Industry Head, Travel & Tourism at Google Bilal Kabbani, and Regional Director Europe of Middle East & Oceania at World Travel & Tourism Council Andrew Brown.
Issam Kazim speaking at the ATM (Arab News)
