Inayat-ur-Rahman, Senior Staff Reporter

Sheikh Ahmed Bin Mohammed Bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Chairman of the Mohammed Bin Rashid Al Maktoum Knowledge Foundation, officially inaugurated the Arabian Travel Market, ATM, 2019 on Sunday, marking the start of the 26th edition of the Middle East’s largest travel and tourism exhibition.

Sheikh Ahmed was joined by Helal Saeed Al Marri, CEO of Dubai World Trade Centre, DWTC, and Director-General of Dubai’s Department of Tourism and Commerce Marketing, DTCM, and other dignitaries who embarked on a tour of the show floor as the four-day event got underway at DWTC.

Taking place from 28th April to 1st May, this year’s event has 400 main stand holders with representation from over 150 countries. With more than 40,000 visitors expected to attend, ATM 2019 will showcase over 2,500 exhibiting companies — of these 100 will be making their show debut.

The 26th edition of ATM will form part of the inaugural Arabian Travel Week, as well as ILTM Arabia, CONNECT Middle East, India and Africa - a new route development forum launching this year and new consumer-led event ATM Holiday Shopper which kicked off proceedings on Saturday.

Other highlights will include the debuts of the Arabia China Tourism Forum and the Hotel Industry Summit, as well as the return of the Global Halal Tourism Summit. As this year’s main theme, cutting-edge technology and innovation will be integrated across all show verticals and planned activities.

Dubai’s Department of Tourism and Commerce Marketing (Dubai Tourism) is taking part in this year’s Arabian Travel Market (ATM), showcasing the emirate’s diverse tourism offerings to the local and international travel trade community. As one of the exhibition’s longest-standing official partners, Dubai Tourism will be joined on stands ME3110 and ME3140 by over 300 representatives from government bodies, hotels, destination management companies and tour operators. The 2019 edition of ATM marks the 26th year that Dubai Tourism has partnered with the region’s flagship travel event.

 The Dubai stand at ATM 2019 is showcasing the breadth of the emirate’s ever-evolving destination portfolio, as well as highlighting an upcoming pipeline of new experiences through numerous interactive activations and content-rich displays. The strategic platform will also bring together an extensive network of industry stakeholders across the public and private sectors to strengthen new and existing in-market trade partnerships. In support of the show’s 2019 focus on technological innovation, the state-of-the-art stand will embrace disruptive innovation by providing unique and immersive experiences to visitors, all designed to showcase the city’s unique and attractive tourist proposition for diverse market segments.   Issam Kazim, CEO, Dubai Corporation for Tourism and Commerce Marketing (DCTCM) said: «ATM plays a key strategic role in helping Dubai Tourism provide insights into the emirate’s dynamic tourism proposition to international, regional and local travel, tourism and hospitality decision makers. We are delighted to extend our reach this year by hosting more than 300 buyers from around the world to explore how to maximise our combined potentials. Our activations and on-stand experiences will build on the technological innovation theme of this year’s show, and we look forward to highlighting the scale of the activities that continue to build on our ‘digital, mobile and social first’ agenda.”

This year, visitors to the Dubai stand can explore a dedicated ‘EMAAR Zone’ with a new Virtual Reality (VR) system, introduced in partnership with Dubai Future Foundation and Dubai Future Accelerators to provide a glimpse into how VR technology is transforming the travel and tourism industry as the demand from travellers looking for new experiences continues to grow. Meanwhile, the ‘Attractions Zone’ will return once again, showcasing the city’s exciting experiential attractions including Dubai Frame, Hysteria, La Perle by Dragone, Seawings, HERO OdySEA, Hot Air Balloon, Platinum Heritage, Aventura Park, and more.

 Dubai-based technology provider, PrioHub will showcase the recently announced business to business (B2B) ‘Attractions Marketplace’ that aims to connect attractions and experiences across the city with global audiences and relevant channel partners. Launched in January 2019, the online platform has been designed to create a seamless technological framework to further stimulate industry cohesion through the connectivity of the city’s attractions and experiences, increasing productivity across the breadth of Dubai’s destination offering.

 Championing home-grown concepts, speciality drinks will be provided at the on-stand Gawha Café in partnership with by Mirzam Chocolates. Building on Dubai Tourism’s commitment to supporting local small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs), the stand will also feature Emirati Kashtas and Meet the Locals teams of local tour guides who are dedicated to helping visitors interact with, and learn about Emirati culture.

 The Dubai Festivals and Retail Establishment (DFRE) and Dubai Calendar will once again showcasing their upcoming schedule of exciting events planned for the second half of 2019.