Wednesday, March 20, 2024
Oxford Economics’ research indicates that outbound travel from China is expected to nearly double in 2024 compared to 2023, reaching just 22% shy of its 2019 peak, when 155 million Chinese tourists spent over $250 billion abroad. The sector is anticipated to fully recover by 2025, with the Middle East poised to be the first global region to fully regain its Chinese inbound tourism market.
In line with these projections, the Arabian Travel Market (ATM) 2024, scheduled to be held at the Dubai World Trade Centre (DWTC) from May 6-9, is preparing to host twice as many Chinese exhibitors and travel experts as it did in 2019.
This resurgence in Chinese outbound travel follows China’s removal of its COVID-19 travel restrictions on January 8, 2023. The easing of these restrictions sparked a significant increase in overseas travel bookings during the Chinese New Year, which surged by 540% compared to the previous year, as reported by Trip.com.
Danielle Curtis, Exhibition Director ME, Arabian Travel Market commented, “Last year, some analysts were predicting that the Chinese outbound market would recover to around six million per month by the summer of 2023, driven in part by the pent-up demand especially from young, affluent Chinese.
“However, that rebound wasn’t as great as many tourism professionals had hoped for and now analysts are confident that this year, we could see Chinese visitor numbers double year-on-year, with major destinations in the Middle East recovering quicker than any other internationally, especially for luxury travel.
“That sentiment has also been borne out by the latest spending data for the 2024 Chinese New Year. According to Chinese payment platform Alipay, the number of Chinese overseas transactions were 7% higher than those recorded in 2019.
“The most popular Middle East destinations include Dubai, Saudi’s AlUla, Egypt and Jordan – Dubai alone welcomed more than one million Chinese visitors in 2019,” said Curtis.
The participation of Chinese exhibitors at the Arabian Travel Market (ATM) 2024 is anticipated to more than double compared to ATM 2019. Notably, new exhibitors will include private companies such as Heytrip International, Jiangsu Intelligence Equipment Co, Flightroutes24 Travel Company Ltd, Feeyo Technology, along with destination representatives from the Macao Government Tourism Office, China Cultural Centre in the UAE, and the Hongkong Tourism Board.
ATM 2024 will feature a special conference session focused on the significant Chinese market, named ‘Capitalising on China’s Predicted Tourism Surge’, in collaboration with Huawei. Scheduled for Monday, 6th May from 15:10 to 15:50, this session aims to delve into evolving trends, cultural preferences, and the impact of mobile marketing and tourism forecasts within the Chinese tourism sector.
Aligning with the theme ‘Empowering Innovation: Transforming Travel Through Entrepreneurship’, the 31st edition of ATM will highlight entrepreneurship-focused discussions and sessions dedicated to other major markets like India and the Americas. The event will also introduce a variety of features and informative content related to the theme, presented on the Global Stage and the newly introduced Future Stage, featuring keynotes and insights from industry leaders and thinkers.
Organized in partnership with the Dubai World Trade Centre, ATM 2024’s strategic partners include the Dubai Department of Economy and Tourism (DET) as the Destination Partner, Emirates as the Official Airline Partner, IHG Hotels & Resorts as the Official Hotel Partner, and Al Rais Travel as the Official DMC Partner.
Saturday, April 27, 2024
Saturday, April 27, 2024
Sunday, April 28, 2024
