ARABIAN TRAVEL MARKET 2001 NOW THE LARGEST IN SHOW’S HISTORY 7,500 SQUARE METRES OF FLOOR SPACE SOLD

Reed Travel Exhibitions (RTE), organisers of Arabian Travel Market, the Middle East’s premier travel and tourism show, have confirmed that the 2001 edition, which will be held at the Dubai World Trade Centre, United Arab Emirates, from May 1-4 is now the largest in the annual event’s eight-year-history.

"Just over 7,500 square metres of floor space has been sold, which is 400 square metres more than last year’s record-breaking event and there is still two months to go before the show opens," said Matt Thompson, Group Exhibitions Director, Overseas Events, RTE. "We anticipate that come May, we will have a show of around 8,000 square metres in size."

Thompson said show growth was prompted by regular exhibitors increasing the size of their participation but also the entry of new exhibitors.

"To date we have exhibitors from 53 countries and this includes first-time representation from Belgium, Brazil, Norway and Vietnam.

"South Africa is more fully represented this time as the country’s own travel show, Indaba, which usually is held very close to Arabian Travel Market, is being staged earlier this year freeing up South African private sector exhibitors for participation in Dubai.

"Yemen will also be once again represented at the show following a break of several years. This time representation takes the form of a private tour operator from the country."

Thompson said the truly global nature of Arabian Travel Market was being exemplified by a wide exhibitor footprint. "We do expect that the number of countries represented in the exhibitor profile will rise slightly before the show in May," he added.

This year, Arabian Travel Market, will take up five halls at the Dubai World Trade Centre, with RTE booking an additional hall to cater to exhibitor growth.

Arabian Travel Market 2001 will also feature a dedicated free-to-attend seminar programme with experts probing the latest travel and tourism issues, including the environment, maximising meetings business, the impact of technology and incentive criteria.

"We will construct a special seminar arena in one of the halls," said Thompson. "This year we are also taking the popular Internet Café out from the organising centre to one of the hall floors."

Meanwhile, RTE says visitor pre-registrations have already begun from Arabian Travel Market 2001.

"We are receiving registrations in the traditional way and on-line," said Lindsey Kavanagh, Marketing Manager, Arabian Travel Market. "To date we have more than 600 trade visitors registered, which is well up on the same period last year. More than half those registered are from outside the UAE with particularly strong response from the UK, Saudi Arabia, Romania, Kuwait, India, Egypt and Bahrain."

RTE organises ten events worldwide, including World Travel Market, Arabian Travel Market, C.I.S. Travel Market, EIBTM, British Travel Trade Fair, PATA Travel Mart, International Golf Travel Market, Mediterranean Travel Fair, Top Resa and AIME.