The Arabian Travel Market (ATM) 2021 has been officially inaugurated today, marking the start of the 28th edition of the Middle East’s largest travel and tourism exhibition.
On opening day His Highness Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid, Vice President and Ruler of Dubai, said there is light at the end of the tunnel for global tourism.
Speaking at Dubai staged Arabian Travel Market, Sheikh Mohammed said the city hosting the “mega tourism event” underlined how the battered industry was surging back, following the blow dealt by Covid-19.
More than 60 countries took part on Sunday, the start of the four-day conference – the first-in-person international travel and tourism event in the world since the outbreak of the pandemic.
“Dubai welcomes the world as global tourism begins to recover, representing the light at the end of the tunnel,” Sheikh Mohammed wrote on his Twitter handle.
The first day of the event saw big developments in how the UAE will navigate the next stages, as global travel slowly returns.
“How we are going to move forward in 2021 … Abu Dhabi will be open for everyone with no quarantine protocol, starting from July 1,” Ali Al Shaiba, executive director of tourism and marketing at the emirate’s Department of Culture and Tourism, told the press.
“We are going to welcome everybody to Abu Dhabi with a different [travelling] protocol but no quarantine, he said”
