Arabian Travel Market to be ‘live’ event next year

Saturday, 16 Nov, 2020 0

The Arabian Travel Market (ATM) will go ahead as a ‘live’ show next year as organisers are buoyed by news of successful vaccine trials.

Claiming the travel industry will be ‘on the threshold of a new dawn’ by May 2021 – the month when ATM will be held – Danielle Curtis, Exhibition Director Middle East, Arabian Travel Market, said: "Last week, Pfizer released the first reading of its Phase-3 trial data for its COVID-19 vaccine, announcing that it was more than 90% effective in preventing the coronavirus, based on interim data analysis.

"If approved by the US Food & Drug Administration (FDA), Pfizer estimates it can roll out 50 million doses this year and up to 1.3 billion in 2021, enough to vaccinate almost 675 million people. So, we are confident that by May next year, we will be on the threshold of a new dawn for our industry."

Next year’s ATM will take place live at the Dubai World Trade Centre (DWTC) on Sunday 16 to Wednesday 19 May. The theme will be ‘a new dawn for travel and tourism’, with the spotlight thrown onto the current state of the industry and what the future holds.

Supporting ATM’s theme, a recent Colliers report – MENA Hotel Forecasts, estimates that 2021 will be a year of recovery, based on the assumption that hotel performance across the region is already improving. Major destinations such as Dubai and Cairo are leading the way with estimated full year 2021 occupancy levels of 68% and 65% respectively.

They were closely followed by Abu Dhabi, Riyadh, Jeddah, Muscat and Amman, with average occupancies of 58%, 56%, 51%, 48%, and 45% respectively. Overall, average year-on-year growth of the 20 destinations researched was 47%.

The travel show will also run a week later as a virtual show alongside Arabian Travel Week.

Curtis added: "It is imperative that we include a virtual element to Arabian Travel Week because many industry professionals from around the world cannot attend the live event in person every year. It would also be naïve of us to imagine that governments throughout the world will relax their travel restrictions, to the same degree, at the same time and of course reopening airports and flight routes will also vary by country."

By Louise Longman, Contributing Editor (UK)