On the 29th of April 2019, I was privileged to be given the opportunity to visit the Arabian Travel Market (ATM) at the Dubai World Trade Centre. I had gone for it on behalf of Oberoi Dubai (the hotel where I'm currently doing my 2 months of internship). I had just heard about it the other day in the briefing in one of the departments and was eager to see if I could go for it. Infact the same day I came to know about it, I immediately told my parents about it and my father hearing it immediately told me to grab this opportunity as it is very much related to the Travel and Tourism (with regards to my course) and so I registered for it as Travel Professional in excitement and the best part was that my department allowed me to go for it for 2 hours. So I would really like to document my experience at the ATM.......
For all those who don't know what the ATM is, ATM (Arabian Travel Market) is an annual travel trade fair held every year for about 3 or 4 days at the World Trade Centre in Dubai. It provides a platform for all the suppliers and major businesses in the travel and tourism industry not just in U.A.E but all over the world to network with other businesses and sign major deals or provide an opportunity to attract new customers or clients here in the U.A.E. So you could say, it's main aim is to connect businesses with businesses and businesses with customers in the Travel and Tourism Industry. This is the platform where all the major hotel corporations from Marriott International, to Intercontinental Hotels Group and even famous hotels in India like 'The Oberoi' and Taj Hotels and Resorts along with all the major airlines and travel agencies around the world exhibit their products in a way to attract more businesses and clients while at the same time to position themselves in a competitive market (speaking of Dubai) with new projects coming up every month.
So to start off, it was a huge exhibition hall which was divided into these four areas namely America, Asia, Middle East and Europe. I first started off with the Europe area. In the European area, I saw many tourism agencies and governmental organizations of countries like Hungary, Portugal, Italy and even Spain. It was about just 10 AM at that time so they were still setting up. All of them were promoting their destinations each with attractions in them. There was one stall however which was a promoting a mall in Italy called 'The Mall' which has all the luxury fashion brands ranging from Gucci, Prada, to Fendi, Versace and many other similar brands. I really liked the way the exhibitor described about the mall which is based in a place called Sicily in Italy and at the end of a conversation with her, I collected a brochure of her mall. As I was moving around seeing many travel agencies in the European section, I got to know that there were talks happening at around 11:30 at different sections of the European area: one was on 'Medical Tourism'- a developing field in today's tourism industry and Halal Tourism which was held at a place called the 'ATM Global Stage'. I was in a dilemma as to which to choose. So I decided to go for the 'Halal Tourism' one as it was a topic just mentioned about in my tourism class and besides I already knew what medical tourism was all about. So when I entered the auditorium, my badge was scanned and I took my seat awaiting for the talk to begin!!!!!
It indeed was a very interesting talk convened by Rafi-ud-din Shikoh, Chris Nader and Mamoun Hmedan and through this talk I got to know that it's one of the top trends and the reason 'halal' because there's been a spike in the number of Muslim travellers around the world and with that many countries in particular Indonesia, Turkey and even UK are designing their tourism products (for example: hotels) to appeal to the Muslim traveller (close to the mosque, serving no alcohol, emphasis on privacy and food served in accordance with Halal standards). I had attended just the first session of the talk as I had very less time and soon I would be spending two hours in the travel trade fair.
After that I visited the other areas around in the ATM. I visited the Middle East area and saw many stalls set up by the hotels especially the ones based in Dubai (almost every stall based in Dubai and the other emirates had their stalls) to promote their respective hotels. There was even a Saudi Tourism stall which was the most surprising part of it which shows that with the new King Salman, a lot of reforms especially in the tourism area are being brought about in the kingdom. Apart from that I even got a chance to see a simulation of the Turkish Airlines aircraft seating area and even the Saudia Airlines which was great.
I ended by visiting the Asia area and to my utmost amazement, in the Asian area apart from the Incredible India and Hyderabad Tourism stall, there was a Goa Tourism stall. I was surprised and at the same time was so happy to see it considering the fact that I'm a Goan and the fact the Goa Tourism could reach the ATM was indeed a great thing. After that I visited the Indonesian stall and then finally the EMAAR stall after which I really wish I could continue as there was still more to explore and moreover there more talks coming up in the evening by 3:00 pm and 5:00 pm, but unfortunately I had to leave as I had to go back to work and I had promised them that I would spend just two hours there.
Nevertheless it was a great experience to visit the Arabian Travel Market at the World Trade Centre in Dubai and moreover being a Travel and Tourism student, it made a lot of sense for me to go for it. I do wish I can go for it next time but spend a whole day over there as you really need to spend a lot of time if you would like to explore it fully!!!!
PS: Below are some of the pictures I clicked at the ATM 2019
It indeed was a very interesting talk convened by Rafi-ud-din Shikoh, Chris Nader and Mamoun Hmedan and through this talk I got to know that it's one of the top trends and the reason 'halal' because there's been a spike in the number of Muslim travellers around the world and with that many countries in particular Indonesia, Turkey and even UK are designing their tourism products (for example: hotels) to appeal to the Muslim traveller (close to the mosque, serving no alcohol, emphasis on privacy and food served in accordance with Halal standards). I had attended just the first session of the talk as I had very less time and soon I would be spending two hours in the travel trade fair.
After that I visited the other areas around in the ATM. I visited the Middle East area and saw many stalls set up by the hotels especially the ones based in Dubai (almost every stall based in Dubai and the other emirates had their stalls) to promote their respective hotels. There was even a Saudi Tourism stall which was the most surprising part of it which shows that with the new King Salman, a lot of reforms especially in the tourism area are being brought about in the kingdom. Apart from that I even got a chance to see a simulation of the Turkish Airlines aircraft seating area and even the Saudia Airlines which was great.
I ended by visiting the Asia area and to my utmost amazement, in the Asian area apart from the Incredible India and Hyderabad Tourism stall, there was a Goa Tourism stall. I was surprised and at the same time was so happy to see it considering the fact that I'm a Goan and the fact the Goa Tourism could reach the ATM was indeed a great thing. After that I visited the Indonesian stall and then finally the EMAAR stall after which I really wish I could continue as there was still more to explore and moreover there more talks coming up in the evening by 3:00 pm and 5:00 pm, but unfortunately I had to leave as I had to go back to work and I had promised them that I would spend just two hours there.
Nevertheless it was a great experience to visit the Arabian Travel Market at the World Trade Centre in Dubai and moreover being a Travel and Tourism student, it made a lot of sense for me to go for it. I do wish I can go for it next time but spend a whole day over there as you really need to spend a lot of time if you would like to explore it fully!!!!
PS: Below are some of the pictures I clicked at the ATM 2019
Portuguese Tourism Stall
Simulation of Turkish Airlines seating area
Session on Halal Tourism
Simulation of Saudia Airlines seating area
Dubai Airports Stall
Goa Tourism stall
EMAAR stall and it's future projects
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