Sustainability in tourism will be the hot topic at one of the biggest events in Dubai’s conference calendar this week.
Tens of thousands are expected to gather at the Dubai World Trade Centre for the 30th annual Arabian Travel Market, which starts on Monday and runs until Thursday.
This year’s event focuses on efforts to cut carbon emissions, with those in attendance to hear from experts and industry leaders about how the sector is working towards that goal.
“My colleagues and I cannot wait to welcome participants to the 30th edition of Arabian Travel Market, which will see bring our industry together in Dubai to explore this year’s theme, Working Towards Net Zero,” said exhibition director Danielle Curtis in a statement on Wam.
“[Monday's] programme features a diverse selection of interviews and panel discussions, which will provide valuable insights as we work to build a sustainable travel industry for future generations.”
Three decades of Travel Market
The opening session will feature a panel discussion on how to tackle the issue of climate change, with Abdulla bin Touq, UAE Minister of Economy, among those offering insight.
How Big Data can benefit the tourism sector will also be up for discussion on the first day, with experts offering their views in another panel session.
The return of luxury travel will also be high on the agenda, as well as sessions focusing on markets including China, India and the GCC.
Cop28 will also loom large, with experts discussing how the tourism industry can do more to reduce its carbon emissions ahead of November’s conference.
This year’s Arabian Travel Market will attract more than 2,000 exhibitors from 150 countries, marking an increase of 27 per cent from last year.
About 34,000 visitors are expected over the four days.
The event comes as Dubai’s tourism chief said the emirate is very much on the up, despite how high inflation rates and oil prices might have affected consumer travel.
“Looking at forward bookings … we can see that demand for Dubai is going up,” said Issam Kazim, chief executive of the Dubai Department for Tourism and Commerce Marketing.
Speaking at a press conference on Thursday to launch the Arabian Travel Market conference, Mr Kazim said the industry had grown despite concerns about the global economy.
“I know that some people were concerned about the impact on discretionary disposable income, and that's the bracket that leisure travel falls into, but we've managed to see significant growth within that number as well in terms of length of stay within Dubai and also the contribution to the GDP [gross domestic product].”
