Arabian Travel Market 2008 Fast Approaching
Chris · April 29, 2008
A number of my hotelier colleagues in Cairo are heading out to the ATM next week in Dubai. Since I had no idea what this was, I did a little research:
“The Arabian Travel Market (ATM) is the industry’s leading travel and tourism exhibition dedicated to unlocking business potential within the Middle East and pan-Arab regions. ”
This year marks the fifteenth annual ATM, which is expected to attract over 23 thousand industry players from over 100 countries to the Dubai International Exhibition and Convention Centre on May 6th, 2008.
Check out some pics from last year’s event:
I just read on Marriott Corporate PR’s Twitter feed that they will be attending this year’s event. Bill Marriott himself mentioned on a recent blog post that his company is branding 35 more hotels in the Middle Eastern region, increasing their portfolio to 64 properties in the next three years.
Sheraton has embarked on its largest growth initiative in the brand’s history, with half of these developments launching outside of North America. Ten new properties are currently in Starwood’s pipeline in the Middle East:
“Europe, the Middle East and Africa will continue to experience significant growth with over ten new hotels expected to open this year and close to 50 scheduled to open by 2012. More specifically, Starwood is expanding in key Middle Eastern markets such as UAE, Bahrain, and Qatar, where currently there are 20 operating hotels and another ten in the pipeline. ”
Looks like Dubai won’t be the only “place to be” before long!
