More than 46,000 industry professionals from over 160 countries, including 33,500 visitors, attended the 31st edition of Arabian Travel Market (ATM), which took place in Dubai recently. This represents a 15% year-on-year increase in attendees compared to ATM’s landmark 30th edition, setting a new record for the show and demonstrating the strength, resilience, and momentum of the global travel and tourism sector.
In a free-wheeling conversation with Hotelier India, Bader Ali Habib, Regional Head of Proximity Markets, Dubai Department of Economy and Tourism, tells us about his love for India, tourism plans for the country, and more…
India is my first baby
There were 555 participants at the ATM Mega Fam Trip, out of which 200 were from India, and this is the largest participation we have had from any one country since 2017. And when we did it, it had to be India for us. I can promise you, it wouldn’t have been any other country. I always tell people that India is my first baby, and the other markets are my stepchildren. And I’m so happy to report that in Q1 this year, we hosted about 6,87,000 visitors from India, which is about 12% more than last year.
Every year, 13–15 million Indians are getting passports
The kind of love we’ve got from India is great. I think Dubai, for Indians, has become a second home. Every year, 13–15 million Indians are getting passports. So India will remain our focus on many important aspects.
Firstly, stopovers are extremely important for us, and I can’t emphasise enough how much we’re doing for luxury stopovers. There’s a big diaspora of Indians in the US and UK, and Dubai has been the gateway for them. So we want to make sure that the travellers acknowledge Dubai as a destination where they can stop, shop, play, have fun, and then go.
Secondly, summer is the time when Indians have a school break. So we introduced something called the Kids Go Free campaign, wherein children under 12 years of age (up to two children) can eat, stay, and play for free; we have onboarded multiple hotels in this campaign.
India has about 16–17 long extended weekends this year; we want to capture this segment and have more Indians coming over the weekends. With visas being issued the same day or the next day, it is much more feasible for people to come, shop, and return. I know of some Indians who come here specifically to have their favourite Michelin-starred meal and fly out.
We also want to promote cruise and adventure tourism. We have good glamping and camping sites, which we’ve made more luxurious.
Solo travel is booming, and a lot of solo travellers from India are opting for Dubai.
We want to be net zero by 2050
Last year, we launched the Dubai Sustainable Tourism Initiative, which mandates all our stakeholders within the ecosystem to ensure that their practices comply with our net-zero initiative; they will be ranked based on this.
We have a zero-plastic policy. We don’t have printers; we don’t print paper.
We have announced the Reef Project, where 20,000 reefs will be put up in the ocean to support biodiversity, marine life, and fish. We want to be net zero by 2050.
ATM: A great way to showcase Dubai
ATM, for us, has been a great way of showcasing what Dubai can do. It allows us to bring in new people from global untapped markets, as well as established markets. For example, we don’t actively work with the Bangladeshi market, but travel agents from Bangladesh were here. So, ATM gave me an opportunity to connect with them. Likewise, my colleagues connected with agents from various other countries where they saw potential.
Dubai open to Indian FinTech
ATM 2024’s theme was ‘Empowering Innovation: Transforming Travel Through Entrepreneurship’, where over 2,600 exhibitors gathered at the Dubai World Trade Centre (DWTC) to explore the drivers behind industry growth and identify future opportunities within the global tourism sector.
This year, the focus has shifted towards startups, especially FinTech. I think Dubai is very open to Indian financial companies coming and setting up their businesses. So we built an ecosystem for incubators to come and find investors and meet people who have ideas. You’ll find that many Indian businesses have moved here or are going to move here; many businesses are also getting funding from Dubai.
Dubai is being looked up to as a place where you can invest and grow your business.
