Arabian Travel Market opens
ATM EXHIBITION FEATURES THE LATEST IN HOSPITALITY, AVIATION
The annual Arabian Travel Market (ATM) kicked off yesterday in Dubai, showcasing the latest trends and technologies in the hospitality and aviation markets.
The event, now in its 25th year, brings together over 2,500 companies, including key players such as Emirates airline, Etihad Airways, Emaar Hospitality Group, Rotana Group, and other local and international companies. Over $2.5 billion (Dh9.8 billion) in deals are expected to be signed over the four-dayrun of ATM, organisers said.
The travel exhibition was officially opened by Shaikh Maktoum Bin Mohammad Bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Deputy Ruler of Dubai and First Deputy Chairman of the Dubai Executive Council.
On day one of the show, Dubai Tourism released its annual visitor report for 2017, which highlights a number of key trends in the tourism sector.
The report details who is travelling to Dubai, and for what purpose, as the emirate seeks to attract 20 million visitors by 2020. Of the 15.8 million people who visited Dubai in 2017, three out of four visitors were families and couples, with individuals making up 14 per cent, and friends 8 per cent, while 73.8 per cent of tourists travelled to Dubai for leisure purposes, with those visiting friends and relatives making up 13.9 per cent of the total, and business travellers 11.5 per cent.
Those nearly 16 million visitors stayed in Dubai for an average of 7.6 days.
Dubai’s top 10 source markets contributed a share of 59 per cent of total tourist volumes, with the remainder made up of “highly diversified” markets across the globe, the report said. Luckily for the city’s hotels, 77 per cent of visitors stayed in paid accommodation, as opposed to with friends and relatives.
Popular tourist sites
The gender mix was fairly balanced, with 47 per cent women travellers, while the party size averaged at 2.5 persons. As for the most popular tourist sites, Dubai Mall remained the city’s most visited attraction, drawing 97 per cent of visitors, followed by the Dubai Fountain with 81 per cent, and heritage and cultural districts with 63 per cent. Surpassing 2016 ratings, 99.4 per cent of surveyed visitors said they were either happy or extremely happy with their overall Dubai experience, with 69.1 per cent in the latter category.
Similarly, 99.3 per cent of surveyed visitors said they would likely be active advocates of Dubai, recommending the emirate to friends and family.
The report showed the biggest increases in overall satisfaction were witnessed among travellers from Germany and France, with the biggest leaps in advocacy levels coming from German and Chinese visitors.
Emaar Hospitality said yesterday it is planning to fit its hotels with technologies that would make the role of checkin redundant, as it prepares to launch a far-reaching expansion throughout 58 key markets worldwide.
Targeting 20 key European cities, and a host of other locations across the Gulf, Asia, and Africa, the hospitality company says it has identified a number of new technologies that it believes will completely change its hotels.
“We are aiming to be the most innovative hotel company in the Middle East,” said Olivier Harnisch, chief executive of Emaar Hospitality, the holding company’s hotel division.
A source at the company told Gulf News that these technologies will include personalisation features, the digitisation of check-in and checkout desks, and the porting of concierge services to a mobile application.
This information was confirmed by Harnisch at the Arabian Travel Market (ATM), taking place in Dubai. According to the CEO, the company has attempted to remove all repetitive activities from their guests’ hotel stay.
“You have to reprogramme safes, set the gym equipment up how you like it, now with technology, these pieces of equipment will know your history, and your needs,” Harnisch said.
A source at the company added that once you have checked in to an Emaar hotel room, it will automatically adjust to your preferences, including lighting, the safe box passcode, the air conditioning temperature, and the default television channel.
This includes the gym equipment: Training routines and adjusted settings will be remembered
We want our services to be ubiquitous, wherever you are in the hotel. If you want to buy theatre tickets, and you’re by the pool, the pool attendants should be able to come over, and with technology, book your tickets.” Olivier Harnisch | Chief executive of Emaar Hospitality
from your last stay and immediately adapt to accommodate you.
“With the Internet of Things, installed in the safe and the shower and gym equipment, you will just need to approach these things, and they will recognise you,” Harnisch said.
“Effectively, the whole hotel will recognise you as you walk about,” a source added, asking not to be named because they were not authorised to speak publicly on the company’s plans.
Next up, Harnisch said, was Emaar’s intentions to phase out the concierge desk.
“We want our services to be ubiquitous, wherever you are in the hotel. If you want to buy theatre tickets, and you’re by the pool, the pool attendants should be able to come over, and with technology, book your tickets,” he said.
Remove clutter
Lastly, the top executive told the gathered press that he planned to remove the clutter from hotels. This would include, he added, television remote controls, guest room directory, and even the front desk in the lobby, all of which Harnisch referred to as “no longer necessary due to technology.”
“Once a guest can check in online … a reception is no longer necessary. This has implications on how we design lobbies, but it also has an implication on how we treat our associates, because then roles merge, as you’re no longer a receptionist or a concierge,” he said.
It was unclear what this development meant for job levels at the company, and Harnisch did not specify if this would lead to any redundancies.
Emaar Hospitality yesterday announced it had 50 hotels currently active or under development, as it embarks on an ambitious expansion project, identifying cities around the world that will one day play host to an Address, Vida, or Rove hotel.