\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n Ain Alalam – Rashad Iskandrni<\/strong><\/p>\n 24 November 2025:<\/strong> Global leisure travel spending is projected to reach $15 trillion in 2040, up from $5 trillion in 2024. With an anticipated 7% annual uptick in leisure spending, the Middle East is expected to outperform all markets except Asia Pacific during the next five years. Destinations, airlines, hotels and industry stakeholders from around the world will gather to explore these unprecedented opportunities at Arabian Travel Market (ATM) 2026<\/a>, which will take place at the Dubai World Trade Centre from 4-7 May<\/strong>.<\/p>\n \n Under the theme \u2018Travel 2040: Driving New Frontiers Through Innovation and Technology\u2019<\/em>, the event will explore the factors and trends redefining the global travel landscape. Leisure travel will form a key part of the programme at ATM, where the event will spotlight the changing behaviours of leisure travellers globally, and the Middle East\u2019s ever-growing status as a destination of choice for international tourists.<\/p>\n \n The ATM Travel Trends Report<\/em>, developed in collaboration with Tourism Economics<\/a>, forecasts that international tourism nights in the Middle East will reach 1.5 billion by 2030, representing a 90% surge from 2024. Approximately 15% of these nights are expected to be among leisure travellers from outside of the region. According to the report, European source markets currently account for 50% of leisure travel into the Middle East, although faster growth is expected for African and Asia Pacific markets in the next five years.<\/p>\n \n For exhibitors and buyers at ATM 2026, these projections underscore the strong growth potential of the leisure segment. With more than 2,600 exhibitors from 161 countries and over 47,000 attendees expected, the event will provide a comprehensive platform for the travel industry to leverage this rising demand.<\/p>\n Danielle Curtis, Exhibition Director ME, Arabian Travel Market<\/strong>, said: \u201cBy 2030, there are expected to be nearly 30 billion tourism nights globally, with the Middle East accounting for around 8% of tourism nights. During the same period, leisure nights in the region are expected to grow by 87%, reflecting the region\u2019s rapid infrastructure development, and its expanding experiential and cultural offerings. ATM 2026 will bring together the destinations, attractions, brands and innovators shaping this $15 trillion opportunity.\u201d<\/p>\n The ATM and Tourism Economics analysis found that Millennials and Gen Z travellers are planning more trips and embracing digital tourism innovations, while multigenerational and solo travel have moved from niche to mainstream pursuits. Leisure events were considered the top opportunity for tourism growth, mentioned by half of the industry experts surveyed by the researchers. In the Middle East, beach getaways, city breaks and nature experiences remain popular, while demand for sports tourism, cultural travel, and health and wellness trips is accelerating rapidly.<\/p>\n \n \u201cLeisure tourism can no longer be defined by a single demographic or travel style. Today’s travellers are seeking authentic, personalised experiences that reflect their values,\u201d added Curtis. \u201cFor this reason, the Middle East is ideally positioned to play a defining role in the coming era of global tourism, and we look forward to welcoming the international travel industry to Dubai in May to explore related opportunities together.\u201d<\/p>\n \n In addition to leisure travel, ATM 2026 will highlight a broad array of industry trends, innovations and opportunities. With a spotlight on the Middle East, North Africa and South Asia (MENASA) for both inbound and outbound travel, the 33rd<\/sup> edition will reinforce Dubai\u2019s position as a global gateway, connecting over 240 destinations across six continents.<\/p>\n \n Through features such as the ATM Ultra Luxury Lounge, IBTM @ ATM <\/strong>and co-located event, ATM Travel Tech<\/strong>, which will have two dedicated halls, the show will showcase how the industry is evolving to meet the needs of new traveller segments, while strengthening connections between destinations, buyers and brands that are shaping the next chapter of global travel.<\/p>\n \n The latest ATM news stories are available at https:\/\/hub.wtm.com\/category\/press\/atm-press-releases\/<\/a>.<\/p>\n \n Enquire to exhibit: Exhibitor Enquiry for Arabian Travel Market<\/a>.<\/p>\n \n -Ends-<\/p>\n For more information, log on to <\/strong>wtm.com\/atm\/en-gb.html<\/strong><\/a>.<\/strong><\/p>\n \n About ATM<\/strong><\/p>\n \n Now in its 33rd<\/sup> year, Arabian Travel Market (ATM) is the leading global platform driving growth and innovation across every sector of the travel and tourism industry. Held annually in Dubai \u2013 the gateway to global travel and tourism with its unmatched connectivity \u2013 ATM is where the energy of opportunity comes to life.<\/p>\n \n More than just an event, ATM is a dynamic hub for industry communities, featuring forums, experiences, and networking opportunities that continue well beyond the show floor throughout the week. Now in a period of rapid expansion, ATM has grown 16% year-over-year, attracting over 55,000 travel professionals from 166 countries<\/strong>.<\/p>\n \n About IBTM @ ATM<\/strong><\/p>\n \n IBTM @ ATM is the dedicated business events hub within Arabian Travel Market (ATM), connecting the global meetings, incentives, conferences, and exhibitions (MICE) community with the Middle East\u2019s rapidly expanding meetings and mega events sector.<\/p>\n \n The feature brings together association planners, conference organisers, corporate buyers, and incentive agencies with destinations, venues, DMCs, and business event suppliers specialising in world-class events. With a comprehensive hosted buyer programme, targeted networking, pre-scheduled appointments, and a dedicated Business Events Stage featuring expert-led sessions, IBTM @ ATM is the essential platform for driving innovation, collaboration, and growth across the global meetings industry.<\/p>\n \n About ATM Travel Tech<\/strong><\/p>\n \u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n ATM Travel Tech is the premier co-located technology event within Arabian Travel Market (ATM), dedicated to showcasing the groundbreaking innovations set to transform global travel by 2040.<\/p>\n ATM Travel Tech will feature more than 180 exhibitors from 30 countries across two dedicated halls, providing a dynamic platform for the technologies, partnerships, and ideas shaping the future of travel.<\/p>\n \n At its core, the Tech & Innovation Hub spans 850m\u00b2, offering immersive demos in AI, VR and AR, robotics, fintech, and green technologies. The Future Stage will bring together global tech leaders, entrepreneurs, and futurists to discuss artificial intelligence, immersive commerce, cybersecurity, and sustainability, alongside the Start-up Pitch Battle. Evolving from ATM\u2019s fastest-growing sector, ATM Travel Tech provides a dynamic platform driving the future of travel technology.<\/p>\n \n The next edition of ATM will take place in Dubai from 4\u20137 May 2026<\/strong>.<\/p>\n \n https:\/\/www.wtm.com\/atm\/en-gb.html<\/a><\/p>\n \n About RX<\/u><\/strong><\/p>\n \u00a0<\/u><\/p>\n RX is a global leader in events and exhibitions, leveraging industry expertise, data, and technology to build businesses for individuals, communities, and organisations. With a presence in 25 countries across 42 industry sectors, RX hosts approximately 350 events annually. RX is committed to creating an inclusive work environment for all our people. RX empowers businesses to thrive by leveraging data-driven insights and digital solutions. RX is part of RELX, a global provider of information-based analytics and decision tools for professional and business customers. For more information, visit www.rxglobal.com<\/a>.<\/p>\n \u00a0<\/u><\/strong><\/p>\n About RELX<\/u><\/strong><\/p>\n \u00a0<\/u><\/strong><\/p>\n RELX is a global provider of information-based analytics and decision tools for professional and business customers. RELX serves customers in more than 180 countries and has offices in about 40 countries. It employs more than 36,000 people over 40% of whom 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. *Note: Current market capitalisation can be found at http:\/\/www.relx.com\/investors<\/a><\/p>\n \n World Travel Market<\/strong><\/a> (WTM)<\/strong> portfolio comprises leading travel events and online portals across four continents. The events are:<\/p>\n \u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n WTM London<\/u><\/strong> is the world\u2019s most influential travel & tourism event for the global travel community. The show is the ultimate destination for those seeking a macro view of the travel industry and a deeper understanding of the forces shaping it. WTM London is where influential travel leaders, buyers and high-profile travel companies gather to exchange ideas, drive innovation, and accelerate business outcomes.<\/p>\n \n Next event: 4 to 6 November 2025 at ExCel London.<\/p>\n http:\/\/london.wtm.com\/<\/a><\/p>\n \u00a0<\/u><\/strong><\/p>\n WTM Latin America<\/u><\/strong> takes place annually in the city of S\u00e3o 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 \u2013 there have been eight face-to-face events along with a 100% virtual one, which was held in 2021 \u2013 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.<\/p>\n \n Next event: 14 to 16 April 2026 \u2013 Expo Center Norte, SP, Brazil.<\/p>\n http:\/\/latinamerica.wtm.com\/<\/a><\/p>\n \u00a0<\/u><\/strong><\/p>\n WTM Africa<\/u><\/strong>\u00a0launched in 2014 in Cape Town, South Africa.\u00a0In 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.<\/p>\n \n Next event: 13 to 15 April 2026 \u2013 Cape Town International Convention Centre, Cape Town\u00a0http:\/\/africa.wtm.com\/<\/a><\/p>\n \n About ATW Connect<\/u><\/strong>:<\/strong>\u00a0 Africa Travel Week\u2019s 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 and the MICE\/business travel sector as well as travel technology.<\/p>\n https:\/\/atwconnect.com\/<\/a><\/p>\n \u00a0<\/u><\/strong><\/p>\n WTM Global Hub,<\/u><\/strong>\u00a0<\/strong>is the 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.\u00a0https:\/\/hub.wtm.com\/<\/a><\/p>\n[\/mhc_text][\/mhc_column][\/mhc_row][\/mhc_section]\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" [mhc_section admin_label=”\u0642\u0633\u0645” fullwidth=”on” specialty=”off”][mhc_fullwidth_menu admin_label=”\u0642\u0627\u0626\u0645\u0629 \u0628\u0639\u0631\u0636 \u0643\u0627\u0645\u0644” menu_id=”56″ background_color=”#ffffff” background_layout=”light” text_orientation=”center” submenu_direction=”downwards” fullwidth_menu=”off”] [\/mhc_fullwidth_menu][\/mhc_section][mhc_section admin_label=”section” transparent_background=”off” gradient_background=”off” background_color=”#ffffff” gradient_style=”horizontal” inner_shadow=”on” parallax=”off” parallax_method=”off” video_hide=”off” video_pause=”off” allow_advanced_padding=”on” remove_padding=”on” force_fullwidth=”off” column_paddings=”padding-0pct” column_match_heights=”off” background_leak=”off” background_leak_color=”#ffffff” background_leak_size=”25″ separator_top=”off” separator_bottom=”off” background_image_size=”cover” background_image_repeat=”no-repeat” background_image_position_x=”center” background_image_position_y=”center” animation=”off” animation_color=”#ffffff” mobile_2_pr_row=”off” mobile_reverse=”off”][mhc_row admin_label=”row”][mhc_column type=”1_3″][mhc_image admin_label=”\u0635\u0648\u0631\u0629” src=”https:\/\/ainalalam.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/04\/ainlogo.png” show_in_lightbox=”off” url_new_window=”off” animation=”off” hoverfx=”scaleup” sticky=”off” image_mask=”off” border_radius=”0″ align=”center” force_center_on_mobile=”on” […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":108225,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[49],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-108228","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-coverage"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/ainalalam.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/108228","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/ainalalam.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/ainalalam.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ainalalam.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ainalalam.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=108228"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/ainalalam.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/108228\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ainalalam.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/108225"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/ainalalam.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=108228"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ainalalam.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=108228"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ainalalam.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=108228"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}![\"\"](\"https:\/\/ainalalam.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/danielle-curtis-exhibition-director-me-arabian-travel-market-300x200.jpg\")
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