Arabian Travel Market (ATM), the travel and tourism event for inbound and outbound tourism professionals throughout the Middle East, has announced that ‘Working Towards Net Zero’ will be its official theme for ATM 2023, which takes place at the Dubai World Trade Centre on 1-4 May.

RX (Reed Exhibitions), the organiser of ATM, will celebrate its 30th annual event by unveiling a dedicated sustainability pledge, not only to make the ATM 2023 event more sustainable but to announce 30 long-term goals as ATM works towards net zero in line with the RX Global pledge. Danielle Curtis, exhibition director, Arabian Travel Market, said: “If the UAE and the wider Middle East are to achieve their net zero ambitions, the travel and tourism industry will play a vital role, given its share of regional economic activity and of course its growth potential.

“With COP27 being held in Sharm El Sheikh this year and COP28 in Dubai in 2023, it is essential that hotels, airlines, leisure resorts and all associated companies start to put their sustainability strategies in place. While unveiling our strategic path to net zero, ATM 2023 will also provide an ideal platform for industry players to engage with sustainability experts and their peers to address the challenges of achieving net zero.”

According to a World Travel and Tourism Council (WTTC) report, travel and tourism account for between 8-11% of the world’s emissions. It also revealed that 42% of the travel and tourism businesses analysed currently have publicly announced climate targets, 61% of travellers say they want to travel more sustainably in the future and over 80% of travellers plan to prioritise sustainability in their travels in the coming year.

“Compounding the challenges of reaching net zero, travel activity is expected to soar by 85% from 2016 to 2030,” added Curtis. ATM 2023 will offer global travel trade professionals a vision of how the travel and tourism industry will look in the coming years by sharing new and insightful commentary from experts from around the world, creating significant business opportunities over the course of the four-day event.