ATM Introduces a ‘Best Stand Build Incorporating Sustainability Initiatives’

Arabian Travel Market (ATM) 2023, the leading travel and tourism showcase in the Middle East which is being held at the Dubai World Trade Centre from 1–4 May 2023, will feature a sustainability category at its annual exhibitor awards next year for the first time.

The decision was taken to recognise exhibiting organisations that have considered the impact that their stand will have on the environment and the efforts they have made to reduce and or offset their carbon footprint.

Danielle Curtis, Exhibition Director ME, Arabian Travel Market, said: “We are aware of the incredible amount of effort and investment that goes into designing, building, and manning exhibition stands at Arabian Travel Market.

“Since its inception, the ATM exhibitor award programme has not only recognised those efforts, but has also encouraged exciting, fresh, and creative ideas.

“For our 2023 event, we wanted to include a category that provided synergy with our official theme, ‘Working Towards Net Zero’ and furthermore one that supports the UAE’s broader net zero commitment as well as RX’s mission to deliver Net Zero Carbon events by 2040.”

“The sustainability award will be open to all exhibitors who can nominate themselves with a justification against certain criteria that will be clearly laid out in the ATM operations manual,” added Curtis.

The criteria will include the use of bio-degradable, reusable and recyclable materials for the stand build & features, digital marketing materials, limited single-use plastics, reduced freight and logistics emissions, waste management, as well as recycling and or reusing the stand for multiple events, plus carbon offsetting initiatives.

The award will be judged in advance of the show by the ATM operations team, with advice and support from an independent sustainability expert and the winner will be announced onsite along with the other award category winners. These will include Best Stand Design, Best Stand for Doing Business, Best Stand Feature, and Best Stand at ATM Travel Tech.  

The Best Stand Design award has also been revamped and is now more inclusive with two awards, one for stands above and one for those less than 150 square metres. For stands, over 150 square metres ATM has added additional criteria that will consider pre-show and onsite promotions to attract visitors.

The judging for these awards will take place as usual on day two of the show (Tuesday 2nd May), with all winners announced on day three (Wednesday 3rd May), with a panel comprising of trade journalists and industry commentators.

“As usual, the judging panel will have an exceptionally difficult job, comparing creative design, people skills, and business-friendly appeal. So, for the 2023 awards along with the winners, we will publish up to five shortlisted stands in each category to recognise their considerable efforts,” 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.

Each year, ATM highlights specific aspects of travel that will be pivotal in determining the direction the industry will take moving forward. The show will explore how innovative sustainable travel trends will evolve and identify strategies for growth within specific key vertical sectors.

The ATM 2023 conference programme is being specifically developed to address sustainability issues across the travel and tourism industry, with commentary from leadership figures representing a variety of sectors such as Destinations, Travel Technology, Airlines, Cruise, Hospitality, Car Rental and Hotels.

ATM 2022 attracted over 24,000 visitors and hosted over 31,000 participants, including 1,600 exhibitors and attendees from 151 countries, across ten halls at Dubai World Trade Centre. 

For more information log on to www.wtm.com/atm

About Arabian Travel Market (ATM), now on its 30th year, is the leading, international travel and tourism event in the Middle East for inbound and outbound tourism professionals. ATM 2022 attracted over 24,000 visitors and hosted over 31,000 participants including 1,600 exhibitors and attendees from 151 countries, across 10 halls at Dubai World Trade Centre. Arabian Travel Market is part of Arabian Travel Week. #ATMDubai

Next in-person event: Monday 1 to Thursday 4 May 2023, Dubai World Trade Centre, Dubai https://www.wtm.com/atm/en-gb.html    

About Arabian Travel Week is a festival of events taking place within and alongside Arabian Travel Market 2023. Providing a renewed focus for the Middle East’s travel and tourism sector, it includes ILTM Arabia, ARIVAL Dubai, Influencers’ events and activations, ITIC, GBTA Business Travel Forums, as well as ATM Travel Tech. It also features the ATM Buyer Forums, ATM Speed Networking Events as well as a series of country forums. https://www.wtm.com/arabian-travel-week/en-gb.html     

About RX (Reed Exhibitions)

RX is in the business of building businesses for individuals, communities and organisations. We elevate the power of face-to-face events by combining data and digital products to help customers learn about markets, source products and complete transactions at over 400 events in 22 countries across 43 industry sectors. RX is passionate about making a positive impact on society and is fully committed to creating an inclusive work environment for all our people. RX is part of RELX, a global provider of information-based analytics and decision tools for professional and business customers. www.rxglobal.com

RELX About RELX

RELX is a global provider of information-based analytics and decision tools for professional and business customers. The Group serves customers in more than 180 countries and has offices in about 40 countries. It employs over 33,000 people, of whom almost half are in North America. The shares of RELX PLC, the parent company, are traded on the London, Amsterdam and New York Stock Exchanges using the following ticker symbols: London: REL; Amsterdam: REN; New York: RELX. The market capitalisation is approximately £33bn, €39bn, $47bn.*

*Note: Current market capitalisation can be found at http://www.relx.com/investors

World Travel Market (WTM) Portfolio comprises leading travel events, online portals and virtual platforms across four continents. The events are:

WTM London, the leading global event for the travel industry, is the must-attend three-day exhibition for the worldwide travel and tourism industry. The show facilitates business connections for the global (leisure) travel community. Senior travel industry professionals, government ministers and international media visit ExCeL London every November, generating travel industry contracts. Next live event: Monday 7 to 9 November 2022 at ExCel London http://london.wtm.com/

WTM Latin America takes place annually in the city of São Paulo and attracts around 20,000 tourism professionals during the three-day event. The event offers qualified content together with networking and business opportunities. In this its ninth edition – there have been eight face-to-face events along with a 100% virtual one, which was held in 2021 – WTM Latin America continued to focus on effective business generation and achieved the advance booking of six thousand meetings that were held between buyers, travel agents and exhibitors in 2022. Next event: Tuesday 4 to Thursday 6 April 2023 – Expo Center Norte, SP, Brazil http://latinamerica.wtm.com/

WTM Africa launched in 2014 in Cape Town, South Africa.  In 2022, WTM Africa facilitated more than 7 thousand unique pre-scheduled appointments, an increase of more than 7% compared to 2019 and welcomed more than 6 thousand visitors (unaudited), the same number as in 2019.

Next event: Monday 3 to Wednesday 5 April 2023 – Cape Town International Convention Centre, Cape Town http://africa.wtm.com/

About ATW Connect:  Africa Travel Week’s digital arm, is a virtual hub packed to the seams with interesting content, industry news and insights, and the opportunity to hear from experts on a variety of topics in our new monthly webinar series. All with the aim to keep all of us in the travel and tourism industry connected. ATW Connect focuses on inbound and outbound markets for general leisure tourism, luxury travel, LGBTQ+ travel and the MICE/business travel sector as well as travel technology.

https://atwconnect.com/

WTM Global Hub, is the new WTM Portfolio online portal created to connect and support travel industry professionals around the world. The resource hub offers the latest guidance and knowledge to help exhibitors, buyers and others in the travel industry face the challenges of the global coronavirus pandemic. WTM Portfolio is tapping into its global network of experts to create content for the hub. https://hub.wtm.com/