ARABIAN TRAVEL MARKET 2000 A RECORD-BREAKER FURTHER EXPANSION SLATED FOR 2001

The Middle East’s foremost travel and tourism exhibition Arabian Travel

Market opens at the Dubai World Trade Centre tomorrow (May 2, 2000) with

a record number of exhibitors.

Arabian Travel Market 2000 features over 700 exhibitors from 59

countries in a show spanning some 7,000 square metres ? a 16% floor

space increase on last year.

"We are literally choc-a-bloc this year," said Tom Nutley, Managing

Director, Reed Travel Exhibitions (RTE), which organises Arabian Travel

Market.

"In exhibitor and floor space terms this show has smashed all previous

Arabian Travel Market records and outstripped the normal floor space

growth pattern of around 10% per annum established over the last seven

years."

Nutley said show growth resulted from regular exhibitors expanding their

participation and an encouraging influx of newcomers.


"Expanded participation is particularly true of tourist boards which in

the main have taken larger stands to accommodate growth in the number of

private sector partners sharing their pavilions. These include India,

Thailand, Malaysia, Singapore and Australia.

"Newcomers to the show include the New Zealand Tourism Board and Tahiti

Tourisme and we also have the first official representation from the

Indonesian Tourism Ministry. Although the Indonesian participation is

relatively small this year we are hoping to convert this into a

fully-fledged Indonesian pavilion next year."


Other show newcomers include Air Ukraine, the Libya Tourism Investment

and Promotion Board, Air Gabon, Sanuka Tours of Indonesia and the

Bulgarian tourism authorities.

Middle East participation at Arabian Travel Market 2000, which runs

until May 5, is the largest-ever.

"We are delighted that Abu Dhabi is represented in the show for the

first time by the Abu Dhabi National Hotel Company and that Bahrain is

back after a two-year break. With the return of Bahrain, all six GCC

countries are now represented.

"With over 100 exhibitors from the Middle East and North Africa, this is

our best regional participation since our launch in 1994.

"Most of the European pavilions are also bigger than ever," said Nutley.

The Far East is also out in force having bounced back from a decline in

tourism arrivals resulting from the economic crisis of 1988. Far East

exhibitors include: The Singapore Tourism Board, Hong Kong Tourist

Association, Malaysia Tourism Promotion Board, the Philippine Convention

& Visitors Corporation, the Tourist Authority of Thailand, Taiwanese

airline Eva Air, Royal Brunei airlines and private hotels and tour

operators from both Singapore and Indonesia.

"The Asia-Pacific region is revealing a much more positive tourist

trend," said Nutley.


RTE says the show’s exhibitor profile breaks down roughly into a 60/40

ratio in favour of outbound travel.

"With industry figures showing GCC tourists spending around US $13.33

billion a year on overseas travel, the pull of the Middle East market is

obvious. The World Tourism and Travel Council says Kuwait alone is now

one of the highest per capita spenders on overseas tourism among the

Arab states with spending of US $3.28 billion in 1998," said Nutley.


Inbound travel to the Middle East is also likely to develop rapidly,

according to Nutley. "We have many more regional products exhibiting

this year ? including Gulf cruise operators, new hotel properties and

resorts and this shows how yearly the tourism infrastructure here is

making remarkable strides forward. This has been given further impetus

recently with moves in Saudi Arabia to establish a controlled tourist

industry."


Anticipating further expansion in 2001, RTE has booked five halls ?

halls 3, 4, 5a, 5 and 6 - at the Dubai World Trade Centre for next

year’s show, which will be held from May 1-4.


"This gives us available floor space of 9,000 square metres. While this

may seem ambitious, representing a growth of some 28% on this year, we

are optimistic about further sales development," said Nutley.


"Industry figures show that globally tourism remains a major economic

power. According to the World Tourism Organisation global earnings from

tourism rose to US $455 billion last year, which was an increase of 3.2

% over 1998. The number of tourist arrival registered worldwide also

rose by more than three per cent to 657 million. Of this total, the

Middle East achieved substantial growth of 17.5%.


"Figures such as this point to an upward momentum for both inbound and

outbound trade ? and that will be reflected in the growth of this show,"

he added.