Dubai Leans on Its Biggest Travel Show to Prove It’s “Up and Running”
Dubai’s tourism industry gathers today for the opening of the 33rd edition of Arabian Travel Market (ATM), an event that carries more weight than usual this year as the emirate works to rebuild traveller confidence following months of disruption tied to the wider regional security situation.
The show, held at Dubai World Trade Centre, was itself a casualty of the turbulence it’s now meant to help address — originally scheduled for May, ATM was postponed after the Iran-linked regional conflict, now in its seventh month, disrupted travel plans and forced organisers to push the event back. Its return this week is being framed by city officials less as a routine trade show and more as a symbolic milestone in the emirate’s broader recovery effort.
The Numbers Behind the Confidence
Dubai’s tourism chief, Issam Kazim, CEO of the Dubai Department of Tourism and Commerce Marketing (DCTCM), used a press conference ahead of the show to lay out both the city’s underlying strength and the real challenges it’s currently navigating. Dubai welcomed 19.6 million international visitors in 2025, a record year that included a single-month high of roughly two million visitors in December alone — figures that give the city a strong baseline heading into a more turbulent 2026.
“The trajectory is moving in the right direction,” Kazim told reporters, while acknowledging candidly that recent circumstances have affected visitor flows, particularly through their impact on flight availability and international travel advisories. “Circumstances play a big role in terms of traffic coming in, impacting the flights because again, the travel advisories,” he said.
Working the Problem From Multiple Angles
Rather than simply waiting out the disruption, Kazim described an active, coordinated effort between DCTCM and partners at the federal and local government level, alongside airlines and other industry stakeholders, aimed at restoring air connectivity to the city as quickly as possible. “We are trying to make sure that we get in as many carriers and opening clients as much as possible and as quickly as possible,” he said, adding that Emirates and flydubai in particular have been “plugging in the gaps” to keep travel flowing even as some international carriers have scaled back or suspended routes.
The tourism authority has also been running continuous sentiment tracking — what Kazim described as “pulse checking” different traveller segments — to understand how perceptions of the destination are shifting in real time and to identify where targeted marketing or connectivity efforts might have the most impact.
Why ATM Matters This Year
Against that backdrop, this year’s ATM carries added significance as a platform for the wider travel industry to reconnect and, city officials hope, to demonstrate Dubai’s continued openness to the world. More than 80 destination participants have committed to taking part, according to organisers, while more than 300 hosted buyers are expected to travel to Dubai specifically to experience the destination firsthand and conduct business during the show.
Danielle Curtis, Executive Director for the Middle East at Arabian Travel Market, said the event would still offer a strong mix of international and regional participants despite the disruption of recent months — a framing that positions ATM itself as evidence that Dubai’s travel ecosystem remains functional and engaged, even amid regional headwinds.
Underpinning Dubai’s recovery case is a packed events calendar, with more than 100 exhibitions scheduled across the final four months of the year, alongside the city’s traditionally strong winter tourism season and a steady base of repeat visitors, including the “visiting friends and relatives” segment that has historically proven resilient during periods of disruption elsewhere.
A Longer Road, But One With a Clear Direction
Independent forecasts suggest the road back to pre-disruption levels may take a couple of years rather than months. Industry projections cited by regional analysts suggest UAE-wide international arrivals, which reached roughly 30 million in 2025, could fall to around 26.4 million in 2026 — a decline of roughly 12 percent — before rebounding sharply to 32.1 million in 2027 and continuing to climb in the years after that.
“Dubai will come back,” Kazim said, “and ATM will be a good milestone for that comeback to happen.” Whether that confidence translates into a swift rebound in visitor numbers will likely become clearer over the coming months, but for now, the city’s tourism leadership is treating this week’s gathering as a deliberate, public statement of intent.
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