Arabian Travel Market (ATM) 2019, the region’s leading travel and tourism event taking place this year from 28 April – 1 May, drew to a close today, with the Department of Culture and Tourism – Abu Dhabi (DCT Abu Dhabi) finishing off a week of fruitful participation.
One of the biggest presences at ATM 2019, DCT Abu Dhabi attended with 69 participants, 54 booths, six areas and 745 square metres of stand area. Aligned with DCT Abu Dhabi’s promotional strategy, the ATM participation served as a platform from which to network, secure new partnerships, elevate the emirate’s profile and promote Abu Dhabi as a leading tourist destination.
With robust infrastructureand world-class services, Abu Dhabi is increasingly asserting its position as a global destination of distinction, with the emirate seeing a healthy 13.62% increase in hotel guests since the beginning of 2016. A huge factor in this rise has been due to cultural tourism, with more than 2.6 million visitors of the total 10 million visitors in 2018 specifically attracted by Abu Dhabi’s unique and varied cultural assets. Abu Dhabi has also received a huge boost from the booming cruise sector, which contributed to 2018’s record numbers by bringing in more than 350,000 visitors to the capital last year.
Saeed Rashed Al Saeed, Destination Marketing Director, DCT Abu Dhabi, said: “At this year’s ATM, we continued to successfully position Abu Dhabi as a distinctive global destination offering unique attractions and experiences as well as rich cultural heritage. DCT Abu Dhabi continues in its mission to implement policy and build infrastructure which resonates with tourists globally. Our success in this thus far is evidenced by the continually improving visitor statistics we publish year-on-year. In attracting more than ten million visitors last year, we surpassed our original targets by some distance, proving that the robust strategic plan we devised is paying off.
“ATM is one of our key annual events, and this year, as with every edition, we took advantage of valuable networking opportunities, learned about industry developments, and promoted the emirate to the most relevant audiences. Our partners and stakeholders across the public and private sectors play a pivotal role in supporting our vision and we were able to hold many productive meetings on the sidelines of the event.”
ATM is a key pillar in DCT Abu Dhabi’s international trade show push, alongside ITB China and World Travel Market.
This year, DCT Abu Dhabi’s ATM participation highlighted the emirate as the leading cruise destination in the Middle East. Due to the increasing number of passengers, Abu Dhabi is quickly cementing its position at the forefront of the Gulf’s ambitions to become a leading international winter sun cruise destination. With the capital welcoming more than 350,000 cruise tourists in 2018, forecasts indicate another promising year ahead for 2019.
DCT Abu Dhabi also promoted the emirate’s ever-expanding portfolio of attractions, experiences and events across Abu Dhabi and the Al Ain and Al Dhafra regions, including recently added assets such as the spectacular Louvre Abu Dhabi, the Al Hosn cultural site and Abu Dhabi’s newest landmark, Qasr Al Watan.
A new online events calendar recently launched by DCT Abu Dhabi was also heavily promoted at the event. The rebranded website, Abu Dhabi Calendar, aims to increase attendance at a range of Abu Dhabi-based events in 2019 and beyond by attracting greater levels of web traffic. The new look and feel was designed to better communicate with DCT Abu Dhabi’s priority target markets and key audiences in India, China, Australia, the Middle East, the USA and Europe.
DCT Abu Dhabi’s stand also featured, for the first time, the participation of Hotels Duty Free, an Abu Dhabi-based company that specialises in servicing hotel guests in the emirate. Hotels Duty Free provides innovative and convenient solutions for hotel guests by delivering all they might need during their stay, and allowing them to shop freely from the comfort of their hotel room.
