Moroccan National Provincial Tourist Office
- Popular ‘Best Stand Awards’ recognises North African tourism board’s representation of a traditional townhouse
- Other stands awarded for their creativity include Marriott International, Sharjah Tourism, Babylon Booking and The Garden Hotel Company
It’s hard to stand out from the crowd when you’re one of 2,800 exhibitors – but the Moroccan National Provincial Tourist Office has been adjudged the Best Stand Design for its authentic representation of a typical Moroccan house at Arabian Travel Market 2019.
Reproducing elements of both a ‘riad’ and a ‘dar’, the Moroccan stand featured a traditional townhouse with pink walls, a courtyard and a fountain, while EXPO 2020 was highly commended for its colourful and engaging stand.
The awards also covered Best Stand for Doing Business; Best Stand within the Travel Tech Show at ATM; Best Stand Feature; Best Stand Personnel; and People’s Choice Award. (see full winners list below).
Danielle Curtis, Exhibition Director ME, Arabian Travel Market, said: “Arabian Travel Market would not be the huge success it is, without the incredible amount of effort and investment that exhibitors put into creating and manning these exceptional stands at the show. Since its inception, the annual award programme has not only recognised exhibitor’s efforts but has also encouraged exciting, fresh and creative designs.”
Competition in the Doing Business category was tougher than ever but the judges – Faye Bartle, Managing Editor, Hot Media Publishing; Leo Fewtrell, Managing Partner, Gulf Reps; Nicholas Hall, CEO and Founder of Digital Tourism Think Tank; and Matt Gibson, CEO, UpThink – were impressed by the Marriott International stand for its scale and impact.
“The layout of the stand was very inviting and efficient, encouraging both social networking as well as private business meetings. It was exceptionally busy throughout and there was a real buzz and sense of anticipation – it was a stimulating environment,” said Faye Bartle, Managing Editor, Hot Media Publishing.
Babylon Booking’s sleek all-black design and creative use of space meant the Iraqi company won Best Stand within the Travel Tech Show at ATM while Sharjah Tourism’s diverse use of attractions – from a powerboat and photo booths to LED floors and tunnels – meant it was the clear winner in the Best Feature category.
Judges selected The Garden Hotel Company’s stand for Best Stand Personnel and picked out the Guangzhou property for its friendliness and staff knowledge.
The Best Stand Feature was awarded to Sharjah Tourism, which managed to blend multiple contemporary features such as a photo booth and LED floor tiles with cultural landmarks and a traditional coffee shop.
Fewtrell, who has never missed an ATM over the past 25 years, said: “It never ceases to amaze me how exhibitors continually manage to raise the bar, improving the appearance and practicality of their stands, in both subtle and significant ways.”
The winners of this year’s awards were announced at a photo-call on the exhibition show floor on Tuesday 30th April.
Launched in 2015, the Best Stand Awards were created to recognise the design creativity and business-friendly appeal of exhibiting companies’ physical presence at ATM.
ATM 2019 Stand Award Winners
Best Stand Design – Moroccan National Provincial Tourist Office
Best Stand Feature – Sharjah Tourism
Best Stand for Doing Business – Marriott
Best Stand at the Travel Tech Show - Babylon Booking
Best Stand Personnel - The Garden Hotel Company Ltd., Guangzhou
For more news about ATM, please visit: https://arabiantravelmarket.wtm.com/media-centre/Press-Releases/.
About Arabian Travel Market (ATM)
Arabian Travel Market is the leading international travel and tourism event in the Middle East for inbound and outbound tourism professionals. ATM 2018 attracted almost 40,000 industry professionals, with representation from 141 countries over the four days. The 25th edition of ATM showcased over 2,500 exhibiting companies across 12 halls at Dubai World Trade Centre. Arabian Travel Market 2019 will take place in Dubai from Sunday, 28 April to Wednesday, 1 May 2019. To find out more, please visit: www.arabiantravelmarket.wtm.com.
About Arabian Travel Week
Arabian Travel Week is an umbrella brand comprising four co-located shows including Arabian Travel Market and ILTM Arabia, as well as CONNECT Middle East, India and Africa – a new route development forum launching this year and ATM’s first ever consumer event ATM Holiday Shopper. Providing a renewed focus for the Middle East’s travel and tourism sector – under one roof over the course of one week – the inaugural Arabian Travel Week will take place at Dubai World Trade Centre from Saturday 27 April to Wednesday 1 May 2019. For more information visit: arabiantravelweek.com.
About CONNECT
CONNECT Route Development Forum delivers a total networking experience, bringing together airports, airlines and aviation suppliers in a format that offers formal one-to-one pre-arranged meetings, engaging industry seminars together with social opportunities to cement relationships with existing clients and engage with new ones. Created and organised by The Airport Agency-France, CONNECT is now in its 16th year and set to attract more 650 participants in June 2019 at its flagship event taking place in Cagliari, Sardinia. For more information, visit: www.connect-aviation.com.
The inaugural CONNECT Middle East, India and Africa event will be the brand’s first and only networking forum in the Middle East. Ideally located in Dubai to address the booming aviation market of the Middle East, it will bring together the aviation and the tourism industries, which are the backbone and catalyst of economic development. For more information, visit: www.connect-aviation.com/2019-meia/.
About ATM Holiday Shopper
ATM Holiday Shopper is the brand-new travel event for consumers offering the very best travel and tourism discounts and deals, plus the chance to learn about a range of emerging and unexplored destinations and activities from destinations around the world. The inaugural event will take place in Hall 1 of the Dubai World Trade Centre on Saturday, 27 April, 2019 from 12:00 – 20:00. For more information, visit: www.atmholidayshopper.com.
About ILTM Arabia
International Luxury Travel Market Arabia is an exclusive event for those looking to attract HNW travellers from the Middle East to their destination. Returning for its third year, ILTM will allow international luxury suppliers and key luxury buyers to connect via one-to-one pre-scheduled appointments and networking opportunities. ILTM will take place on Sunday 28th April and Monday 29th April 2019. For more information, visit: www.iltm.com/arabia/.
About Reed Exhibitions
Reed Exhibitions is the world’s leading events business, enhancing the power of face to face through data and digital tools at over 500 events a year, in more than 30 countries, attracting more than seven million participants.
About Reed Travel Exhibitions
Reed Travel Exhibitions is the world’s leading travel and tourism events organiser with a growing portfolio of more than 22 international travel and tourism trade events in Europe, the Americas, Asia, the Middle East and Africa. Our events are market leaders in their sectors, whether it is global and regional leisure travel trade events, or specialist events for meetings, incentives, conference, events (MICE) industry, business travel, luxury travel, travel technology as well as golf, spa and ski travel. We have over 35 years’ experience in organising world-leading travel exhibitions.
About World Travel Market
World Travel Market (WTM) portfolio comprises six leading B2B events across four continents, generating more than USD 7 billion of industry deals. These events include:
WTM London, a must-attend three-day exhibition for the worldwide travel and tourism industry. About 50,000 senior travel industry professionals, government ministers and international media visit ExCeL London every November, generating about GBP 3.4 billion of travel industry contracts. The next edition will take place from 4-6 November, 2019. For more information, visit: http://london.wtm.com/.
Travel Forward, a new travel technology event co-located with WTM London and part of the WTM portfolio of events. The inaugural Travel Forward conference, exhibition and buyer programme will take place from 4-6 November, 2019 at ExCeL London, showcasing next-generation technology for travel and hospitality. For more information, visit: http://travelforward.wtm.com/.
WTM Latin America, an exhibition that attracts about 9,000 senior executives and generates about USD 374 million of new business. Taking place in Sao Paulo, Brazil, this show attracts a global audience to meet and shape the direction of the travel industry. More than 8,000 unique visitors attend the event to network, negotiate and discover the latest industry news. The next edition will take place in 2020. For more information, visit: http://latinamerica.wtm.com/.
WTM Africa, which was launched in 2014 in Cape Town, South Africa. Nearly 5,000 travel industry professionals attend Africa’s leading inbound and outbound travel and tourism market. WTM Africa delivers a proven mix of hosted buyers, media, pre-scheduled appointments, on-site networking, evening functions and invited travel trade visitors. The next event will take place in 2020. For more information, visit: http://africa.wtm.com/.
Meela Seenarain
Dubai, United Arab Emirates UAE