Initial unaudited figures issued by Reed Travel Exhibitions (RTE), organizers of Arabian Travel Market 2002, the Middle East's travel and tourism exhibition which closed Friday, May 10, after a four-day run at the Airport Expo Dubai, reveal that trade buyers from 68 countries attended the ninth ATM in the annual series.
By Thursday night and before the show opened to the public, some 5,624 trade professionals had visited, a 5.4 percent drop on last year's attendance. Sixty-three percent of the trade turnout by Thursday night came from the United Arab Emirates (UAE), 5.9 percent were from Saudi Arabia and 4.6 percent from Kuwait.
"Trade attendance from the UAE was 6.8 percent down on last year," explained Matt Thompson, RTE’s Group Exhibition Director, Overseas Events. "There could be several reasons for this—consolidation within the local industry, the change of show venue or the fact that many previous visitors from the Emirates have since been converted into exhibitors."
The number of overseas trade visitors attending by Thursday night was only slightly down on last year from 2,119 to 2,062. The media corps covering this year's show increased substantially with 563 press members registering compared to 451 in 2001.
RTE says the show, which featured over 700 exhibitors from 56 countries, delivered a clear demonstration of the resilience of the international travel industry, which was badly hit by the events of September 11 last year. Arabian Travel Market 2002 will be held at the Airport Expo Dubai from May 6-9, 2003. — (menareport.com)
© 2002 Mena Report (www.menareport.com)
