Over 8,000 visit Arabian Travel Market 2004 in first three days

In all some 8,466 trade visitors from 92 countries had attended up to Thursday evening.

'This means we have registered visitors from 20 additional countries than last year,' explained Matt Thompson, Group Exhibitions Director, RTE. 'The extra countries stretch from Bermuda in the East to Comores in the South. The show is now truly international both in exhibitor and visitor profile and the attendance demonstrates its mounting reputation as a global business forum.'

Almost half the trade visitors came from outside the UAE. 'Overseas trade visitor attendance is running 45% ahead of last year,' said Thompson.

Meanwhile His Highness Sheikh Mohammed Bin Zayed Al Nahyan, Deputy Crown Prince of Abu Dhabi after making a short tour of the show received Tom Nutley, Chairman of Reed Travel Exhibitions on the Abu Dhabi pavilion - the first the UAE capital has ever mounted at an Arabian Travel Market.

His Highness praised the organisation of the show. 'It really is an excellent exhibition,' he told Nutley. 'It shows how well major events can be staged in the UAE and the big participation of public and private sector organisations from the country demonstrates, without doubt, that the Emirates will be the tourism star of the Middle East.'

Meanwhile, as the show moved into its closing phase, exhibitors were already planning their participation at Arabian Travel Market 2005, which will be held at the Dubai World Trade Centre from May 3-6.

Austria and Spain say they both hope to expand their pavilions while numerous private companies say they too are looking to grow their participation.

Visitors too could be converted into exhibitors. Farah Razi of Sunny Land Tours in Iran said she visited to assess the show's worth with a view to participating next year. 'I think it is clear this is a show worth being involved with. During my visit I also met a good number of European tour operators who now want to link up with us to promote inbound business to Iran and we will be communicating after the show to try and fully establish these new links,' she said.

Also likely to exhibit next year is India's Amar Tours & Travels. Its Director, Sushil K. Gupta commented after visiting ATM 2004: 'This is a very important event for us to bring tourists from the Middle East to India, Nepal, the Maldives and surrounding areas. This is our first visit and it has been very successful and we will be coming back next year with a stand. We are trying to attract people from this region during our off season from July to September and have made a lot of good contacts that will generate business.'