ATM kicked off on May 1st in Dubai with significantly busier agenda and Sustainability being the main theme. For the first time a new Sustainability Hub is launched, which offers a venue for sessions dedicated to the latest sustainable travel trends and innovations.
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GLOThe 30th edition of Arabian Travel Market Dubai started this Monday in Dubai with Sustainability being the key theme. As UAE is prepared to host COP28 in November at Expo City Dubai, ATM dedicated this year’s event to exploring routes and solutions for innovative sustainable travel within aviation, hospitality and technology. The global ecotourism industry is set to almost double in revenue to $333bn by 2027 (from $181bn in 2019).
The conference participation saw a significant increase year-on-year with 2,000 square meters of exhibition space dedicated only to the technology sector, representing 80 of the world’s top travel technology companies which is a 54.7% increase in sector participation compared to last year.
On Day 1 the key themes on the global stage covered were new tech solutions enabling sustainable travel and currently employed by key industry players Sabre, Amadeus, Booking.com and Mastercard and how the use of Big Data in hospitality can unlock routes to more fulfilling customer experience.
Christopher Hartley, CEO of Global Hotel Alliance, commented that while hospitality has made a significant progress in the last years, much more can be achieved as hotels currently see just a fraction of customers’ journey, compared to credit companies and banks who have years of data and can do better profiling and potentially predict customer behaviour.
Sandeep Walia, COO MENA at Marriott International, said that while big data analysis can provide impactful insights many times last step of data analysis needs a “human touch and input”. Past behaviour is not always a good predictor of the future. Hence best strategy is “using big data with some human follow-up”.
Day 2 on the ATM will see discussions about consumer preferences and changing aspirations in travel and a Global Loyalty Organisation panel on Loyalty & Sustainability covering how loyalty programs can support operational sustainability efforts with expert speakers Inge Huijbrechts, MBA, Radisson Hotel Group and Jelena Kezika, Senior Director Strategy at Global Hotel Alliance.
