Registration is now live and free to attend the Arabian Travel Mart due to take place 9 to 12 May 2022 at the Dubai World Trade Centre. Following more than two years of lockdowns travel restrictions that postponed trade events, ATM will reunite buyers, exhibitors and travel trade professionals from all over the world for four days of networking and business sourcing.

Last month the Arabian Travel Mart team released details of a commissioned report undertaken by STR, a data and hotel analytic specialist. The report, compiled at the end of 2021, showed hotel development in prime GCC tourism destinations growing at six times the global average.

It highlighted massive hotel development plans in Makkah, Doha, Riyadh, Medina, Muscat and Dubai despite the pandemic headwinds that the global hospitality industry must contend with over the past two years.

Makkah and Doha are both expanding their hotel room inventory by 76%, followed by Riyadh, Medina and Muscat with 66%, 60% and 59% growth respectively.

The trend in hotel expansion indicates ATM 2022 organisers can expect a significant presence at the show’s live event with hotel participants from Saudi Arabia, Qatar, Oman and UAE. In Dubai, rooms growth stands at 26%, which is still extraordinary, considering its existing base and following years of continuous hotel development – it is still more than double the global average.

Arabian Travel Market Exhibition Director ME Danielle Curtis said, “With the global average sitting at 12%, we are witnessing multiple GCC destinations growing at six times those rates. These figures coupled with the ongoing relaxation in travel restrictions will undoubtedly encourage travel professionals throughout the Middle East and further afield. As such, we are expecting a substantial increase in the number of participants at the ATM live event this year, especially Saudi Arabia, Qatar, Oman and the UAE.”

Dubai’s Expo 2020 in Dubai will close on 31 March. The mega event has been the catalyst for accelerated hotel room growth in the UAE, with almost 50,000 rooms still to open across the Emirates. Following closely behind is Doha, with final preparations for the FIFA World Cup 2022 now being put in place. Doha is on track to deliver 23,000 hotel rooms pre-and post-World Cup 2022, adding to the country’s burgeoning hotel property portfolio.