Arabian Travel Market (ATM) 2021 has reconfirmed that Dubai will host the largest in-person travel and tourism event in the world, since the onset of the pandemic last year. Now in its 28th year, ATM 2021 will go-ahead at the Dubai World Trade Centre (DWTC) from May 16 to 19, as final preparations are being put in place.

“The theme of this year’s show is ‘A new dawn for travel and tourism’ and the spotlight will be focused on the very latest ‘Covid’ news from around the world – vaccine rollouts, the current state of the industry and more importantly, what the future holds,” said Claude Blanc, portfolio director of WTM and IBTM portfolios.

ATM 2021 features 67 conference sessions with over 145 local, regional and international speakers overall. Onsite, there is a global stage which will include a hotel industry summit, dedicated buyer forums for Saudi Arabia and China, an International Tourism & Investment Conference (ITIC), as well as an aviation panel and a special session on Gulf-Israeli ties.

Other features this year will include Travel Forward at ATM, which has world-class technology experts, providing industry-leading insights about the latest technologies and trends that will undoubtedly shape the future of travel and tourism.

A total of 62 countries are being represented on the exhibition floor this year such as the UAE, Saudi Arabia, Israel, Germany, Cyprus, Egypt, Indonesia, Malaysia, South Korea, the Maldives, the Philippines, Thailand, Mexico and the US.

“This underscores the importance of ATM, connecting destinations with their source markets,” said Danielle Curtis, exhibition director in Middle East at ATM. ATM 2021 will be held at the Dubai World Trade Centre, spread across nine halls. Consistent with the existing density restrictions and social distancing guidelines and regulations, there will be 11,000 people in the halls at any given time.

The event will once again play an integral role in Arabian Travel Week, a 10-day long festival of travel and tourism events taking place in Dubai and online. In addition to the in-person Arabian Travel Market event, the travel events that are part of Arabian Travel Week are: travel technology exhibition Travel Forward, ARIVAL Dubai for the tours and attractions sector, GBTA’s half day virtual business travel conference, ITIC’s Middle East Tourism Investment Summit, speed networking events for digital influencers and regionally focused buyer groups including China, and of course ATM Virtual, the online edition of the ATM exhibition.

This year, for the first time in ATM history, a new hybrid format will mean a virtual ATM running a week later to complement and reach a wider audience than ever before. ATM Virtual, which made its debut last year, proved to be a resounding success attracting 12,000 online attendees from 140 countries.