Sheikh Ahmed bin Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, chairman of the Mohammed Bin Rashid Al Maktoum Knowledge Foundation, officially inaugurated Arabian Travel Market 2019 earlier.

Dubai is currently marking the 26th edition of the Middle East’s largest travel and tourism exhibition.

Sheikh Ahmed was joined by Helal Saeed Al Marri, chief executive of Dubai World Trade Centre and the and director-general of Dubai’s Department of Tourism & Commerce Marketing, plus other VIPs embarked on a tour of the show floor as the four-day event got underway at DWTC.

Taking place until May 1st, this year’s event has 400 main stand holders with representation from over 150 countries.

With more than 40,000 visitors expected to attend, Arabian Travel Market will showcase over 2,500 exhibiting companies – of these 100 will be making their show debut.

This edition of ATM will form part of the inaugural Arabian Travel Week, as well as ILTM Arabia, Connect Middle East, India and Africa – a new route development forum launching this year and new consumer-led event ATM Holiday Shopper which kicked off proceedings yesterday.

Other highlights will include the debuts of the Arabia China Tourism Forum and the Hotel Industry Summit, as well as the return of the Global Halal Tourism Summit.

As this year’s main theme, cutting-edge technology and innovation will be integrated across all show verticals and planned activities.