Saudi, the authentic home of Arabia, has been announced as Premier Partner of World Travel Market London 2022 for the second year running.
Saudi’s Vision 2030 strategy is an ambitious blueprint for the future that is transforming Saudi, creating prosperity and opportunity, with tourism at the heart. Driving forward aims of welcoming 100 million visitors by 2030, Saudi joins partners and delegates at WTM to showcase an unparalleled destination offering.
Fahd Hamidaddin, CEO and Member of the Board at Saudi Tourism Authority said:
“Saudi is the world’s fastest growing tourism destination in the G20 and presents incomparable new business opportunities for partners looking to offer experiences in the last unexplored leisure tourism frontier. Returning to London as WTM’s Premier Partner for the second year in a row, Saudi will capture the hearts, minds, and imaginations of travelers at the world’s leading industry event.”
Senior figures from the Saudi delegation will be taking part in debates during WTM London. Fahd Hamidaddin, CEO and Member of the Board at Saudi Tourism Authority, will join feature trends expert Rohit Talwar, CEO, Fast Future, on the Future Stage for ‘The Future of Travel Starts Now.’ On the Sustainability Stage, leaders from Saudi will showcase ways in which it is increasing reliance on clean energy, offsetting emissions, and protecting the environment, in line with Vision 2030 goals.
Players in the hospitality industry are investing in Saudi, showing strong confidence in the future of Saudi’s tourism sector. As the world’s biggest investor in tourism, delegates at WTM will learn more about how Saudi is working with partners to create incomparable offerings and packages for travellers. Today, it is easier than ever for visitors to explore the authentic home of Arabia. Recently, Saudi extended eVisa regulations to enable residents of the UK, US, and EU to apply for a Visa on Arrival.
Additionally, Saudi is working with trade partners and Saudi’s Air Connectivity Program to increase international flight connectivity from 99 to 250+ destinations by 2030. Earlier this year, Wizz Air launched 20 new routes from Europe to Riyadh, Jeddah and Dammam in Saudi, offering affordable travel for tourists and residents in Europe and Saudi.
Juliette Losardo, Exhibition Director at World Travel Market London, said:
“WTM London is pleased to welcome Saudi as its Premier Partner for the second year in a row, building on the successes of 2021. Saudi has ambitious targets to grow its tourism sector and WTM offers an unparalleled opportunity for Saudi to share its diverse range of tourism products and investment opportunities with key trade buyers and media from around the world.”
“This November, World Travel Market welcomes visitors from around the world to the 42nd edition – a community event that drives critical business conversations and deals – fuelling a thriving sector. World Travel Market is embracing the opportunity to work with Saudi on their journey to develop, promote and enable an internationally competitive tourism sector as a key pillar of Vision 2030.’’
—ENDS—
Photography from previous WTM shows is available to download via the following link: https://wtm.mediafiler.net/wtm/start/index
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
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 23,000 visitors and hosted over 30,000 participants including 1,500 exhibitors and attendees from 150 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
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
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: Monday April 3rd to Wednesday 5th April 2023 – Expo Center Norte, SP, Brazil
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.
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/
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
About Saudi Tourism Authority
Saudi Tourism Authority (STA), launched in June 2020, is responsible for marketing Saudi’s tourism destinations worldwide and developing the destination’s offering through programs, packages and business support. Its mandate includes developing the country’s unique assets and destinations, hosting and participating in industry events, and promoting Saudi’s destination brand locally and overseas. STA operates 16 representative offices around the world, serving 38 countries.