DRDubai: Sheikh Ahmed bin Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Chairman of the Mohammed Bin Rashid Al Maktoum Knowledge Foundation, officially inaugurated Arabian Travel Market (ATM) 2019, 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).
The 26th edition of the Middle East’s largest travel and tourism exhibition had 400 main stand holders with representation from over 150 countries
This year’s event had 400 main stand holders with representation from over 150 countries. With more than 40,000 visitors in attendance, ATM 2019 showcased over 2,500 exhibiting companies – of these 100 making their show debut. It also formed part of the inaugural Arabian Travel Week, as well as ILTM Arabia, CONNECT Middle East, India and Africa – a new route development forum launched this year and new consumer-led event ATM Holiday Shopper.
Other highlights included 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 was integrated across all show verticals and planned activities.
India Tourism had a formidable presence along with trade partners and many States also had independent booths surrounding the India pavilion. Consul General of India in Dubai, Vipul inaugurated the India pavilion. Kerala’s Minister for Tourism Kadakampally Surendran led the delegation from his State.
Rise in tourism arrivals to Oman
Tourism arrivals to Oman will increase at a Compound Annual Growth Rate (CAGR) of 5 per cent between 2018 and 2023 to 3.5 million, according to data released ahead of ATM 2019 Dubai.
Commissioned by ATM, the Colliers International data predicts the rise will be fuelled by visitors from India, who accounted for 21 per cent of total international arrivals during 2018. In addition, arrivals from the UK (9 per cent), Germany (7 per cent), the Philippines (6 per cent) and the UAE (6 per cent) are also expected to contribute to the growth, supported by the expansion of Muscat International airport, new and improved flight connections and new electronic and short stay visa processes.
While India is expected to remain Oman’s top source market over the next five years – accounting for 3,89,890 tourism arrivals by 2023 – the Philippines is projected to witness the highest CAGR, at 11 per cent compared with 3 per cent for India. The UK, Oman’s second largest source market, is forecast to closely follow with a CAGR of 9 per cent, while Germany and the UAE will experience comparative growths of 7 per cent and 2 per cent respectively.
Saudi tourism sector worth over $70 billion in 2019
Saudi Arabia’s travel and tourism sector is expected to contribute $70.9 billion (SAR 263.1 billion) in total to the country’s GDP in 2019, according to data from the World Travel and Tourism Council.
International arrivals to Saudi Arabia are expected to increase 5.6 per cent per year from 17.7 million in 2018 to 23.3 million in 2023. Religious tourism is expected to remain the bedrock of the sector over the next decade, with a goal of attracting 30 million pilgrims to the Kingdom by 2030, an increase of 11 million from the 19 million Hajj and Umrah pilgrims that visited the country in 2017. Vision 2030 has set aside $64 billion to invest in culture, leisure and entertainment projects over the next decade, which will significantly add to the attractiveness of the country as a tourist destination, according to a recent report from real estate firm Savills.
Moscow builds on record tourism year
Moscow saw tourism numbers jump to a record 23.5 million visitors and the total volume of tourist consumption and turnover of festivals in Moscow reached $13 billion in 2018.
The Russian capital’s blend of heritage sites and modern attractions is proving an irresistible combination; compared to 2010 with 12.8 million visitors, the number of tourists to the city has increased by 84 per cent. The successful hosting of the FIFA World Cup last year – which attracted 4.5 million tourists and recognised as the best ever by the FIFA Council – is part of the city’s long-term strategy to increase tourist numbers. Thanks to reciprocal visa-free travel between Russia and the UAE, and the enhanced airline capacity between the two nations, Moscow has seen tremendous interest in recent years from the Middle East region.
European Visitors to GCC to Increase 29 per cent by 2023
Arrivals from Europe to the GCC will increase 29 per cent over the period 2018 to 2023, driven by new and direct flight routes, a growing number of millennial and middle-class travellers and competitive air fares, according to the latest data released ahead of ATM 2019 Dubai. According to Colliers International, as many as 8.3 million EU residents will travel to the GCC in 2023, an additional 1.9 million travellers when compared to 2018 arrival figures.
The UAE and Saudi Arabia are expected to continue to be the preferred GCC destinations for European tourists, welcoming a projected 6.15 million and 1.11 million visitors respectively by 2023. Oman will follow with 720,000 visitors, while Bahrain will welcome 310,000 and Kuwait 140,000 visitors.
Bots, AI Wearables and VR to Create Billion-Dollar Savings
The impact of disruptive technologies on the tourism industry is set to create multi-billion-dollar savings through the use of IoT, robotics, Artificial Intelligence (AI), Virtual Reality (VR) and wearable technology, according to data published ahead of ATM 2019 Dubai.
The latest research from Colliers International, in partnership with ATM 2019, reveals that in addition to vast cost savings, the customer experience will be more streamlined with travel set to become better, smoother and more personalised with travel bookings on VR platforms, AI chatbots guiding customers through the booking process and IoT providing internet based inter-connectivity between everyday devices.
ATM 2019 TRADE TALK
Dr. Trust H J Lin
Director, Taiwan Tourism Bureau (ANZ, Singapore, ME)
For the first time we are collaborating with Emirates Airlines to promote Taiwan. The campaign will run from April 22 to May 6. Emirates has daily flights currently and we hope they will enhance the frequency. Every year we welcome 10 million international visitors to Taiwan but from ME receive only 27,000. But we see tremendous potential. From India we already are seeing dramatic growth. In Jan-Feb 2019 we registered 20 per cent YoY growth. Lot of incentive groups from India are coming to Taiwan. Recently, we had Hyundai and Asus. Right now we have 40,000 visitors from India but India is yet to make it to top 10. China is our top source market with about 25 per cent of total visitors. Every year 1.2 million Indians travel to Singapore and more than half a million Indians visit Hong Kong. We are cooperating with Cathay Pacific and Singapore Airlines to see how some of these travellers can include Taiwan in their itinerary.
Riyaz U C
Managing Director, Spiceland Holidays
We have seen about 40 per cent cancellation from India after the attacks in Sri Lanka. Cancellations have come in only for April, that too mostly upscale travellers and women-only groups. In May, there are hardly any cancellations. We are one of the largest DMCs operating there. We have seen gradual growth in tourism from India to the Island in the last four years. It is a very peaceful country ever since the civil war ended. The Sri Lanka Tourism Board has taken major initiatives to spread the word and communicate facts to the entire world. Security measures have been heightened in the hotels by introducing baggage screening, metal detectors etc. Remember, these came about in India after the Mumbai attacks. Sri Lanka will become much more safe and secure now.
Klara Vyslouzilova
Director of Foreign, Offices Czech Tourism
In 2019, we would like to promote family holidays and MICE. Czech Republic is not just Prague. There’s a lot more to see and experience – UNESCO® sites, chateaux and castles, and amazing nature. India is a strategic market for us and visitor numbers are growing – over 12 per cent. Our magic target was 1,00,000 last year but we reached 96,325. We will cross it in 2019.
Jiri Slavik
Ambassador, Embassy of Czech, Republic in Abu Dhabi
UAE is our biggest trade partner among Arab countries – $1 billion in bilateral trade. We have many areas of cooperation – energy, electronics, IT etc. Our rich history, culture, healthcare (physiotherapy and rehabilitation) and education, if marketed well, can secure far more number of visitors from GCC.
Thoyyib Mohamed
MD, Maldives Marketing and PR Corporation
Post ATM, we are doing a road show in Dubai and Abu Dhabi in May along with Eastbound. We are also planning Media FAM trips along with airlines flying this region. We have daily flights by Etihad, Emirates, Qatar Airways, Oman Air and Saudia. In 2018 FTAs stood at 1.4 million. The target for 2019 is 1.5 million. Our President has set a target of 2.5 million arrivals by 2023. As part of airport expansion, we are adding a runway. This will complete by the end of 2020. 20 islands are in the pipeline for auction. This will add more hotel inventory and attractions. In 2019, we are highlighting local island stays and livaboards that allow cruise around islands and stay on-board.
Kishu Gomes
Chairman, Sri Lanka Tourism
Sri Lankans are among the warmest people on earth. When guests arrive on our shores they become our family. And when they are hurt, the entire community comes together to protect, nurture, mourn and grieve and heal together… it has been our way from the beginning of time. We are overwhelmed by the outpouring of love, support and solidarity from people everywhere and look forward to welcoming the world back home to Sri Lanka. Addressing security issues is a prerequisite for the revival of tourism and we are working closely with all relevant authorities to ensure the safety and security of all tourists in Sri Lanka. This is absolutely our first priority.
Khalid Jasim Al Midfa
Chairman, Sharjah Commerce and Tourism Development Authority
Through the Vision 2021 programme, we aimed at reaching 10 million visitors annually by 2021. In 2015, when we announced it, we were at 5.3 million. By the end of 2018 we crossed 70 per cent of our target which is 7 million visitors. We only calculate hotel guests, exhibition attendees and visitors to anchor events. By 2020 we will have 50 per cent more hotel inventory. Now we have less than 11,000 rooms. Another 5000 rooms will get added by end of 2019, many of which will be operated by international brands. The onoing Airport expansion work will be completed within the next five years. Its current capacity is 10 million passengers per year but we are already 11 million-plus. Once complete, the capacity will grow to 25 million. In 2019, we are bullish about markets like Scandinavia and Far East (Indonesia, Malaysia and Singapore). Air Arabia is likely to announce schedules to these markets as their new aircraft can fly longer. We have witnessed very good growth indicators in 2019 Q1 from India. We welcomed 1,13,000 Indian hotel guests in 2018.
Steen Jakobsen
Assistant Vice President, Dubai Business Events
ATM is a great platform to talk about our new venues getting ready. We are really excited about several new hotel openings. Emaar has announced that it will open five new hotels in 2019. Dubai Exhibition Center that will be built at the Expo 2020 site will add to the venue options in Dubai. E2 Dubai South near Al Maktoum International Airport is another great venue which was originally built for the Air Show but can accommodate other event formats like exhibitions, conferences, shows etc. India is the number one market with more than 2 million visitors. Incentive programmes and corporate meetings from all industries choose Dubai. This weekend we finished a FAM trip for corporate meeting planners from India. The Coca Cola Arena will open in June with capacity of 17,000 seating ideal for concerts, meetings and conferences, exhibitions and even sports. It is centrally located on Sheik Zayed Road opposite Burj Khalifa. Russell Peters (June 6) and Adam Levine’s Maroon 5 (June 14) are scheduled to perform as part of opening festivities.
Neliswa Nkhani
Hub Head — ME, India and South East Asia, South African Tourism
Global luxury travel network Virtuoso deemed South Africa as the world’s number one adventure destination for 2018. The Middle East is a very important market for us and we will be holding a road show here soon. We are working with our trade partners back home, South African Airways, Emirates and dnata to grow this market. UAE is strategic as it gives us access to a global market as many expats with high disposable income live here. The entire Middle East is a booming high value leisure traveller market looking at South Africa for authentic animal experiences and our naturally beautiful surroundings.
Haitham Mattar
CEO, Ras Al Khaimah Tourism Development Authority
We are partnering with Bear Grylls Survival Academy to establish and operate a location on Jebel Jais as part of its ongoing drive to attract more adventure seekers from around the world. Itwill be ready in Q3 of 2019. We also signed up with Turkey’s Pegasus Airlines at ATM. It will further enhance tourism arrivals from Europe and Russia via Istanbul. India is the fourth largest market for us. We are discussing with Spice Jet for launching Mumbai and Delhi flights to RAK but due to grounding of Jet Airways discussions have been stalled. We hosted 16 weddings last year, including two from Bollywood. We have 5900 hotel rooms operational now and another 6400 rooms are under development which will open between now and 2022. We are targeting 1.5 million visitors by 2021 and 3 million by 2025.
Kristof Mate
Director, Hungarian Tourism Agency
We visited Mumbai and Delhi in December 2018 and it was an interesting experience. Indian travellers are very well informed. They have covered Western Europe and now are exploring central and eastern Europe. So Hungary is well placed. India is a huge market waiting to be tapped. At present, we have very few Indian visitors. The number is tricky also as we come under the Schengen visa regime so many visitors enter some other country like Czech Republic and Austria first and then travel to Hungary for a few days. We are still developing our database and visitor statistics and research, so in 2019 we will have a clearer picture. We are an interesting destination to be combined. Vienna, Prague and Budapest make Europe’s Golden Triangle. But we can be a perfect standalone destination, too. There is so much more to see beyond Budapest. Gastronomy – we are the only European nation that prefers spicy food like in India. Goulash, a Hungarian preparation is similar to Indian curry.
Yousef M AlKhan
Director of Tourism Marketing &Promotion, Bahrain Tourism and Exhibitions Authority (BTEA)
Around 28 new hotels are opening from now and 2021 adding 4000 rooms. Many are four and five star-rated while some are furnished service apartments. Hilton and JW Marriott are brands I can announce and few operators are yet to be finalised. Emaar’s Vida and Address hotel brands are coming up in Diyar Al Muharraq. South of Bahrain will have two new brands. Another major attraction we are developing is a diving site 30-40 minutes by boat ride. In summer we are sinking a Boeing 747 jumbo jet for this. Our 2018 numbers are encouraging and can be attributed mostly to Saudi market. In weddings and MICE sector India is booming, for us. Last season we did 10 Indian weddings when hotels saw full buyouts and the whole economy benefitted. MICE group movements are also happening – Groups from TATA, Cisco and many other organisations came to Bahrain from India. For wedding and MICE groups we apply for their visa and give it free of charge. For weddings, we work with Customs to get the clearances for jewellery and valuables. We finally have approval in place for a new 1,20,000-sq.m. exhibition and convention centre – 10 exhibition halls each 10,000 sq.m. and a 4000-seater auditorium offering convention and meeting room space for 20-30,000 pax. This facility will open end of 2021.
Vipul
Consul General of India in Dubai
Tourism infrastructure across India has been strengthened – more hotel rooms and enhanced connectivity (air and road). In 2018 we clocked 10.5 million FTAs – almost 4-5 per cent YoY growth. The e-visa scheme has been a real game-changer for India – 30 per cent growth in terms of e-visa applications. Many GCC nationals travel to India for medical tourism needs and this is an emerging market that has great potential.
Kadakampally Surendran
Minister for Tourism Government of Kerala
ATM has always been an important travel trade event for Kerala Tourism. As you can see, the maximum number of sellers in the Incredible India pavilion are from Kerala only. Hence, there is a high demand from among our travel trade community for setting up an exclusive pavilion for Kerala Tourism at ATM next year onwards. The Government will certainly consider this proposal. Champions Boat League (CBL) is the major tourism activity coming up in Kerala this year. We want it to be a world-class tourism product capable of attracting thousands of tourists. Also, we have a plan to organise ‘Ayurveda Trade Mart’ in Kerala every two years, along the lines of Kerala Travel Mart (KTM).
