China, Arab Spring and technology dominate ATM seminars

Influence of technology, China and hard-hitting panel discussions to assess ongoing impact of Arab Spring in focus at Arabian Travel Market 2012 Arabian Travel Market, the leading travel exhibition in the Middle East, reprises its popular Seminar Theatre series this year with a packed three-day schedule covering a gamut of key hospitality and tourism issues and attracting experts from some of the industry’s biggest brands such as Hilton, InterContinental, Qatar Airways as well as government officials from Jordan and Egypt. While the Arab Spring remains a focal part of the seminar sessions and indeed, show floor discussion, attention is to turning to fledgling markets and new opportunities from the BRIC nations especially with technological advances and increased connectivity - even the remotest markets are now accessible. One of the seminars on this year’s schedule already attracting keen interest is ‘The Rise of the Dragon: Attracting Chinese Travellers to the UAE’. Moderated by Lucy Chuang, Managing Director and Co-Founder of Gulf Sino Training and Consulting and the Dubai Chinese Learning Center, Chuang will address ways in which the tourism sector can adapt and develop their services and skill set in order to attract inbound business from China. An estimated 300,000 Chinese tourists travelled to the UAE last year and spent US$334 million, according to a recent study by MasterCard; making Chinese tourists the most lucrative segment for the UAE. Per capita spending by visitors from China was AED4,092 per tourist compared with AED3,477 per average British tourist and AED3,996 per average Kuwaiti tourist, figures showed. “The UAE has seen a huge rise in the number of tourists from China since 2009 when it gained ‘approved destination’ status from the Chinese government, and the number of visitors from China is expected to grow further as they continue to enjoy the mix of leisure, cultural and retail tourism that Dubai and Abu Dhabi have to offer,” said Chuang, adding: “A flying time of around eight hours and a growing airline capacity between the two countries, help make the UAE an ideal destination for Chinese tourists.” In March this year Abu Dhabi’s Etihad Airways signed an MoU with China Eastern Airlines that included joint route and schedule co-ordination. Meanwhile, Dubai’s Emirates Airline continues to increase the number of routes for its Airbus A380 to China. The 60-minute session, which will be held on 1st May from 1-2 pm, will take an in-depth look at how the region’s tourism industry can adapt or improve products and services to entice Chinese travellers to choose the UAE as a preferred travel destination. Chuang will also give insight into how Chinese culture, behavioural patterns, habits and unique etiquette are key drivers when making travel decisions as the dragon nation’s influence continues to grow from both a business and leisure perspective. “This session will be of particular interest to tourism professionals targeting the Chinese market as part of strategic development plans, and with around 84 million Chinese tourists expected to travel overseas by 2015 – a dramatic jump from 57.4 million last year – this is already proving to be a popular session,” remarked Mark Walsh, Portfolio Director, Reed Travel Exhibitions. A major draw of this year’s seminar series is a number of sessions featuring high profile industry speakers and thought leaders. In ‘Bouncing Back from the Arab Spring’ the panel, which includes Rudi Jagersbacher, President, Hilton Worldwide Middle East & Africa, Hisham Zaazou, Senior Assistant Minister of Tourism for Egypt and Leanne Harwood, VP Commercial for India, Middle East and Africa, IHG will discuss what steps can be taken to improve the perception of the region globally and what can be done to lure investors to these attractive markets where infrastructure requires development. In ‘The Big Talk’ Akbar Al Baker, CEO, Qatar Airways will be in conversation with John Strickland of JLS Consulting, for a head-to-head on the airline’s expansion and future plans. Other sessions include ‘Luxury with a Conscience’ – examining the rise of philanthropic travel and asking whether it is, in fact, a hypocritical beast – and ‘Return of the Dhow’, which aims to bring the Middle East’s boutique cruisers out of the shadow of their supersized sisters and explore the critical role they are playing within the region. With the Holy Month once again directly impacting the crucial summer season, a number of dedicated sessions will look at the strategies being employed to overcome the ‘Ramadan Factor’ and share industry experience and learning curves from 2011. Running alongside the seminar series, the all-new Tech Theatre is a dedicated platform that provides an opportunity to gain invaluable insight into leading edge industry-related technologies including social media, GDS, internet booking sites and mobile apps’. -ENDS- Photo caption: Lucy Chuang, Managing Director and Co-Founder of Gulf Sino Training and Consulting and the Dubai Chinese Learning Center. For more information on Arabian Travel Market 2012, please log on to www.arabiantravelmarket.com About Arabian Travel Market Arabian Travel Market 2011 boasted more than 2,200 exhibitors and stand-sharers, from 69 countries. Arabian Travel Market is part of the Reed Travel Exhibitions’ portfolio, which includes 15 of the world’s leading travel industry events. For more information visit www.arabiantravelmarket.com Reed Travel Exhibitions Reed Travel Exhibitions (RTE) is the world’s leading provider of exhibitions in the travel and tourism industry. Its wide-ranging portfolio of events around the globe covers leisure travel, luxury travel, business travel and the meetings and incentives industry. The 13 events are; World Travel Market (WTM), Arabian Travel Market (ATM), International French Travel Market (IFTM), La Cumbre, International Golf Travel Market (IGTM), International Luxury Travel Market (ILTM), International Luxury Travel Market Asia (ILTMA), Asia-Pacific Incentives & Meetings Expo (AIME) (owned by Melbourne Convention Visitors Bureau), Global Exhibition for Incentive, Business Travel, and Meetings (EIBTM), Gulf Incentive, Business Travel and Meetings (GIBTM), Americas Incentive, Business Travel and Meetings (AIBTM), China Incentive, Business Travel and Meetings (CIBTM) and Business Travel Market. April 2013 will see RTE will launch World Travel Market Latin America in São Paulo. RTE is a business unit of Reed Exhibitions. In 2011, six million participants attended RE’s 500 events in 39 countries covering 44 industry sectors from aerospace and aviation to beauty and cosmetics to sports and recreation. Reed Exhibitions is owned by Reed Elsevier, the world’s leading provider of professional information and online workflow solutions. www.reedtravelexhibitions.com Reed Exhibitions The world's leading organiser of trade and consumer events running over 470 events in 37 countries. Reed Exhibitions excels in creating high profile, highly targeted business and consumer exhibitions and events to establish and maintain business relations, and generate new business. Reed Exhibitions network of offices and promoters extends to 65 countries. www.reedexpo.com Reed Elsevier Reed Elsevier is a world leading provider of professional information and online workflow solutions in the Science, Medical, Legal, Risk Information and Analytics, and Business sectors. Based in over 200 locations worldwide, they create authoritative content delivered through market leading brands, enabling their customers to find the essential data, analysis and commentary to support their decisions. www.reed-elsevier.com For more information, please contact: Nathalie Viselé Director Shamal Marketing Communications PO Box 502701 Office 106, Al Sufouh Tower Dubai Media City Dubai, United Arab Emirates Office: +971 4 3652711 I Direct : +971 4 3652712 I Mobile : +971 50 4576525 Fax:+971 4 4278703 E-mail: nathalie@smc-pr.com I Web site: www.smc-pr.com

اخر الاخبار