More than 50 wide-ranging seminar and tech theatre sessions are scheduled at the Arabian Travel Market (ATM), taking place at in Dubai this month, with panellists flying in from around the world to contribute to discussions on topics including mid-market travel, luxury, aviation, technology trends, spa and wellness tourism, business, adventure and halal tourism.

The opening session, ‘The Future of the UAE As A Global Tourism Hub’, is taking place on 25 April from 13:00 - 14:30 on the ATM Global Stage located in Hall 8 and has an impressive line-up of speakers.

Panellists Issam Kazim, CEO, Dubai Corporation for Tourism and Commerce Marketing (DCTCM); Haitham Mattar, CEO, Ras Al Khaimah Tourism Development Authority; Marwan bin Jassim Al Sarkal, CEO Shurooq; Sultan Al Mutawa Al Dhaheri, acting executive director, Tourism, Abu Dhabi Tourism & Culture Authority (TCA Abu Dhabi); Gerald Lawless, head of tourism, Dubai Holding and honorary president, Jumeirah Group; Thierry Antinori, executive vice president and chief commercial officer, Emirates Airline; and Aligi Gardenghi - VP Marketing EMEA and Commercial Director MEA, Hilton Worldwide will discuss the grand vision for the UAE as one of the world’s leading tourism hubs and how will it evolve over the next decade and beyond.

The session will be moderated by Zeinab Badawi, Broadcast Presenter, BBC World News, who will steer the speakers through talking points such as unique selling points of each emirate and their tourism goals, the important role played by the UAE’s aviation infrastructure and airline industry, new mega projects in the pipeline and how Expo 2020 is set to put the UAE on the global tourism map.

Visitor statistics and hotel development across the emirates is showing signs of positive growth. Abu Dhabi experienced 4,105,846 hotel guest arrivals in 2015 – an 18 per cent rise on the previous year – with an additional 1,000 hotel keys delivered, increasing supply to 20,700 keys by the year-end.

Welcoming 14.2 million visitors in 2015 – a rise of 7.5 per cent on 2014 – Dubai is now a step closer to achieving its target of 20 million visitors by 2020. The hotel market saw the addition of 6,000 hotel keys in 2015, increasing the total supply to 98,330 keys according to Dubai Tourism.

Highlighting the mid-market show theme, which is officially sponsored by Louvre Hotels, is the ‘Mid-market Strategies’ session, taking place on April 26 from 13:15 - 14:15 on the ATM Global Stage. It is designed specifically to identify who the midmarket traveller is, where they come from and what they want. Panelists include Mark Nogal, regional head, Focused Service Brand Management, EMEA, Hilton Worldwide; Dr Amine Moukarzel, president, Louvre Hotels Group MENA; Karim ElGuanaini, Senior vice president of Product Marketing, Miral Asset Management (Yas Island) and Ali Abu Monassar, president, The Vision Destination Management.

Responsible tourism is another key focus and will headline several seminar theatre sessions devoted to the topic including ‘Coping With Success – The Sustainability Challenge in the Region’, taking place on April 26 from 14:15 - 14:45 in the Google Showcase Theatre. Solaiman Al Rifai, senior manager, Dubai Tourism Development and Investment and Chris Warren, founder, Warren & Associates will discuss how the region can adapt to address the challenge of increasing volumes of visitors at the destination level.

Over in the Travel Tech Theatre, highlights include headline session ‘Mobile Engagement: Geo-Fencing, Beacons and Service Design in Travel’ taking place on April 25 from 14:30 - 15:30 Travel Tech Theatre. Led by Nick Hall, CEO and founder, Digital Tourism Think Tank, the session will spotlight where mobile has come and where it is heading, as well as how to affordably deploy and scale the latest smartphone technology.

Now in its 23rd year, ATM is the region's largest travel trade fair and will be showcasing more than 2,800 products and destinations from around the world to over 26,000 buyers and travel trade visitors from April 25 to 28 at the Dubai International Convention and Exhibition Centre. - TradeArabia News Service