Britain is to field its largest ever delegation to Arabian Travel Market, the Middle East's premier travel and tourism show, being held in Dubai, United Arab Emirates this May.
Thirty companies will be housed in the British pavilion, jointly organised by the British Tourist Authority (BTA) and the British Incoming Tour Operators Association (BITOA), which this year takes on a distinctly green theme.
"Eighty per cent of this year's BTA partners at Arabian Travel Market will be making their first appearance at the show. ATM represents a perfect forum for British participants to develop business opportunities in the Middle East, make new contacts and network with trade suppliers in the region. We have had some very positive feedback from stand partners in previous years and are tracking post-show business on an ongoing basis," said Mark Miller, General Manager Middle East,
BTA.
"Our newly-designed stand promotes British gardens as this is one of our major campaigns and follows the launch of our website www.visitbritain.com/gardens, which lists over 400 gardens and gardening events tourists can visit as well as a Britain's Gardens Map.
"A pergola and fountain built into the stand will give it a true British garden atmosphere.
"The British delegation has eight more companies than last year, a growth which reflects the UK's determination to remain an outbound leader from the Middle East market."
British pavilion delegates span a range of tourism providers from tour operators, hoteliers, car rental companies and language schools and BITOA's Chief Executive, Mr Richard Tobias OBE will fly to Dubai to attend the show.
The stepping up of its Arabian Travel Market push comes as the BTA reveals that it is researching the growth of virtual offices throughout the region to assist in maintaining the country's long-standing tourist links with the Gulf.
"In 2000, Britain welcomed 446,000 visitors from the Middle East who spent 757 million," explained Miller. "We experienced a small decrease of five per cent in 2001 actual figures and are now predicting a small growth for 2002 in both the number of visits and spend.
The Middle East continues to be an important market for British tourism with an average of five per cent growth a year in both visits and spend. The average spend of the Middle Eastern visitor to Britain is between 1,700 to 2,000 per visit, compared to 500 for visitors from other parts of the world.
Britain is just one of 54 international destinations contracted, to date, as exhibitors.
"Destination marketing is perhaps the strongest segment in the show, and new countries featured include South Africa, Mauritius and Korea. At the show, all travel and tourism sectors are represented,
indeed new exhibitor categories, such as yacht chartering are entering the market," said Lindsey Kavanagh, RTEs Marketing Manager, Overseas Events. "New segments go some way to meeting visitor demand for additional product exposure."
Arabian Travel Market 2002 is the ninth in the highly-successful annual series and will be held at the Airport Expo Dubai from May
7 - 10.
"The geographic spread of participation has held up well with perhaps only the USA not meeting expectations," said
Kavanagh.
RTE, which is part of Reed Exhibition Companies (REC), organises 11 events worldwide, including World Travel Market, Arabian Travel Market, C.I.S. Travel Market, EIBTM, British Travel Trade Fair, PATA Travel Market, International Golf Travel Market, Mediterranean Travel Fair, Top Resa, AIME and ICCA Exhibition in association with ICCA Congress.
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