Arabian Travel Market 2010 closed on a high note on Saturday as four days of the Middle Easts premier travel and tourism event clearly reflected the industry's built-up momentum for growth. With significantly increased number of participants and visitors maximizing every opportunity at further developing renewed business opportunities, brought about by steadily recovering economies previously affected by unfavorable global economic conditions, the show lived up to its billing as the most important to date. Onsite statistics recorded an overall visitor increase of three percent. Arabian Travel Market also witnessed an increase in GCC visitors. Turkey registered the largest visitor increase amongst participating countries. Most importantly there was an increase in quality visitors with participants returning day after day to conduct business. Even before the show opened, Arabian Travel Market already witnessed positive consolidation of exhibitors and stand-sharers, and a record 72 participating countries which included more than 60 new-to-market representatives, said Mark Walsh, group exhibition director, Reed Travel Exhibitions - organizers of Arabian Travel Market 2010. More importantly, such growth figures were strongly reinforced by the increased number of visitors that translated into an equally significant increase in business activity, to the benefit of exhibitors. As one of the most critical editions in Arabian Travel Markets 17-year history, the introduction of several new initiatives, such as our expanded seminar program, brought added value to all participants as an event that not only serves as a platform to announce new initiatives and projects, as well as promote enhanced inbound and outbound tourism products, but also to further enhance industry knowledge about strategies and issues that were thoroughly presented and discussed by well-renowned industry experts, added Walsh. With exhibitors comprising the industry's top tour and hotel operators, international carriers, private jet operators, car rental companies, destination and country tourism boards, positive feedback from participants reverberated across the halls of the Dubai International Conference and Exhibition Centre (DICEC) throughout Arabian Travel Markets four days. Celebrating their seventh year anniversary, Royal Jet the Abu Dhabi-based international luxury flight services company, chaired by Sheikh Hamdan Bin Mubarak Al Nahyan - launched at Arabian Travel Market 2010 the 100 Club - a new corporate relationship program. Prospects for the region as a whole look promising with green shoots of recovery evident in many sectors in the first quarter of this year, leading to organic growth overall, said Shane O'Hare, president and CEO, Royal Jet. Royal Jets presence at Arabian Travel Market 2010 provided us with a valuable platform to sustain the company's growth trajectory whereby being among the industry's key players from across the globe allowed us to keep the market abreast about Royal Jets global benchmark for in-flight luxury through the combination of cutting-edge technology and unmatched opulence. Having been recognized on the eve of the start of this event by the World Travel Awards as the Leading Private Jet Charter Operator in the Middle East for the third consecutive time, this years Arabian Travel Market also served as a fitting venue for us to launch new initiatives highlighted by our corporate relationship programme 100 Club - which allows all customers, from individuals to corporate, to profit from an attractive range of benefits and take cost-effectiveness and efficiency of private jet travel to another level, added O'Hare. Among a number of airline operators from the region who constantly participates at Arabian Travel Market was Qatar Airways. Qatar Airways was once again delighted at participating in Arabian Travel Market this year which clearly is the regions premier travel and tourism event, said Akbar Al Baker, Qatar airways chief executive officer. It is important we maintain and step up our presence each year to reflect the continuous growth we have, are having, and will have as part of the airlines strategy to be the leading player in the global aviation industry. “We used this opportunity to showcase our award-winning hospitality and promote our new destinations for 2010 - Bengaluru (Bangalore), Copenhagen, Ankara, Tokyo, Barcelona, Sao Paulo and Buenos Aires,” Al Baker added. Having its own dedicated stand as a new-to-market exhibitor, Turkish Airlines used this years Arabian Travel Market participation to enhance its brand presence, raise further awareness and reach out to more clients. With so many airlines exhibiting this year, Arabian Travel Market has been a positive for us as we were able to see how our competitors are acting in the market place. At the same time, this situation helped the public become more aware of the aviation sector in general, said Ayse Misirli MIrza, director Dubai and Sri Lanka, Turkish Airlines. Turkish Airlines finds its participation at Arabian Travel Market 2010 very worthwhile as we met the right people in a business focused environment. It had indeed been very fruitful for us. Hospitality Management Holdings (HMH), one of the regions top hotel operators took exceptional notice of the year-on-year improvement within Arabian Travel Market, which continuously served as a catalyst for business opportunities within the travel and tourism industry.
