GCC travel industry confident of growth - Arabian Travel Market starts on April 25 2016

Issam Kazim, CEO of Dubai Tourism, said that the opening of new theme parks in Dubai and the focus on mid-market visitors will help diversify what Dubai has to offer and help in achieving the 2020 target of attracting 20 million visitors to Dubai.

Thierry Antinori, Executive Vice President and Chief Commercial Officer of Emirates Airline spoke about the partnership between Dubai and Emirates which is encouraging visitors to come to Dubai. He also said that despite global economic concerns, the airline is on track to add Taipei and Prague to the list of 38 destinations serviced by their flagship A380 aircraft.

Chris Newman, Corporate Director of Operations at Emaar Hospitality said that the hospitailty segment of Emaar is contributing about 16% to total profits for the group and the hotels are experiencing 86% occupancy rates – 10% above the industry average.

Nadege Noblet-Segers, Exhibition Manager of ATM and Simon Press, Senior Exhibition Director ATM and WTM, spoke about the growth in ATM with 100 additional exhibitors and the likelihood that last year’s visitor numbers of 26,000 will be surpassed this year.

Dr Ali Abu Monassar, Chairman of The Vision, a destination management company, highlighted the dynamic changes that are taking place in Dubai and the importance of ATM as a meeting place for the region's travel and tourism industry.

The Irhal team will be covering the Arabian Travel Market over the next four days and we will be highlighting some of the new and interesting destinations and offers that will be unveiled for GCC tourists.