06 Welcome


Keeping the faith Continued from page 1


New research by online halal- friendly city guide Irhal.com released on Monday found high-spending Middle East travellers, who spend an average of US$6,453 per person on trips to the US, 67 percent more than European visitors, are now looking to alternative destinations in Asia, Africa and Eastern Europe. Top picks include Singapore,


Malaysia, Vietnam, South Korea, Thai- land, the Philippines and Japan, while Nairobi, Dar es Salaam, Casablanca and Tunis are “gaining market trac- tion”, according to the Irhal Traveller Insights 2017 survey, an annual barom- eter of the travel aspirations of some 1.5 million Middle Eastern travellers. “Our survey also reveals most


Middle East residents wish to travel to short-haul destinations, with Amman, Beirut, Bahrain, Doha and Dubai the top five cities of interest, demonstrat- ing a gold mine of opportunities for the region’s tourism sector,” said report author and Irhal.com Founder and CEO, Irfan Ahmad, who will also attend the inaugural ATM Global Halal Tourism Summit. The three panels of speakers at


today’s event will not only provide the Middle East travel industry with


The cruise effect


Continued from page 1


this year, and ATM’s 2017 theme, expe- riential travel, was identified as vital to attracting even more passengers. “There is much more to cruis- ing than big ships – it’s about luxury, expeditions and unique experiences,” said Larsen.


Helen Beck, Vice President, Inter-


national Sales & Marketing, Crystal Cruises, echoed the idea, adding that the luxury cruise line’s custom- ers look for “unique and authentic experiences”. She said: “We have started the


process of segmenting our cruise offering according to themes, from family to romance, and one that allows guests to design their own tailor- made cruise, handpicking experiences in different destinations.” “Cruisers want local flavour and


the Gulf destinations here could work on theming their offering so, across a Gulf itinerary, visitors would experi- ence something unique in each loca- tion they visited.” Beck congratulated Dubai Tourism and its Gulf cruise alliance initiative, Cruise Arabia, now in its third year, on establishing the region as an exciting cruise destination that in the 2016- 2017 season, attracted more cruise


compelling evidence as to why they should tap into a market that is currently underserved, but will offer ideas as to how they can best cater to the sector and establish a strong framework for growth. Mr. Zulkifly Md Said, Director


General of Malaysia’s Islamic Tourism Centre (ITC), a global authority on the Muslim travel sector, will provide hints and tips on establishing halal tourism policies, as well as on how best to train key industry stakeholders on halal standards and certification. Destinations that have already


executed successful halal tourism strategies will also reveal their tactics, including Malaysia and Indonesia. “Halal tourism can now be consid- ered a mainstream market and to


achieve Indonesia’s ambitious tour- ism arrivals targets of 20 million by 2019, we are capitalising on our DNA as a Muslim-friendly destination,” said Riyanto Sofyan, Head of the Team for Accelerated Development of Halal Tourism, Ministry of Tourism Indonesia. “Of our top 10 source markets for


Muslim travellers, the Middle East ranks top, and following a promotional drive with a focus on halal tourism in 2016, arrivals from this market outpaced international growth, up 32 percent year on year to 240,989.” Both Indonesia and the ITC will


reveal how setting new standards of compliance within the industry will be essential, as well as public-private sector collaboration. ATM has seen a raft of halal tour-


ism related launches at this week’s show, another sign of the industry’s growing importance. On Monday, Malaysia’s Minister of


Tourism & Culture, Dato’ Seri Mohamed Nazri bin Tan Sri Abdul Aziz, launched The Salam Standard Premium Hotel Classification system, designed to improve quality standards and trans- parency for Muslim travellers and boost the global visibility of accommo- dation that meets this demographic’s faith-based needs. On the same day, Celebrity Cruises announced it had introduced halal cuisine on all ships deployed globally.


28 06 News


18 Seminar schedule 20 Hitting a high note


The official ATM 2017 show party 22 Exhibitor interview


Chinese travel marketplace PKFARE.com 24 Business as usual?


The changing face of corporate travel


28 A healthy outlook The rise of wellness tourism 30 Tailor-made travel


Modern luxury’s personal touch 32 Destination profiles 38 Vox pops


passengers than ever before. Offering more destinations and one-off expe- riences and heavily promoting cruise as a chance to sample Arabia should be high on the agenda going forward, she suggested.


Hamad Mohammed Bin Mejren,


Senior Vice President, Dubai Tourism, who heads up Cruise Arabia and Dubai Cruise Tourism (DCT) said the alliance had helped put the Gulf on the global cruise tourism map, with destinations across the region now taking the cruise segment seriously. “What we now need to do is


educate the travel industry in each destination to drive home the economic value the cruise sector offers,” he said. “Each destination has its own


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unique offering, but industry part- ners need to understand how they can benefit from cruise tourism and the business opportunities it brings.” Larsen suggested that Cruise


Arabia work with an independent asso- ciation to conduct an economic impact study on how the region benefits from cruise and on potential growth. “It requires collaboration between


every destination, with each becom- ing transparent about its passenger numbers,” he said.


“Not only does it inspire the indus- try to make the most of its potential,


it creates healthy competition between each destination and between the Gulf and other global cruise regions, as true performance comparisons can be made.” Lakshmi Durai, CEO, Travel Matrix,


representative for Celebrity Cruises in the Middle East, said new ports of call, as well as a GCC visas for cruisers would also help boost cruise tourism in the Gulf. “There’s also a big opportunity to


get new-to-cruise travellers based in the GCC to try Gulf itineraries,” she said. “That’s why Celebrity Cruises offers shorter itineraries in the region.” Durai also said that streamlined


immigration processes would attract more ships and passengers, while Mejren confirmed that Dubai Tourism and Cruise Arabia were lobbying for such measures. All the panellists highlighted the


potential for Expo 2020 Dubai to bring even more cruise passengers into the region. Meanwhile, Larsen stressed how


the industry could better leverage public and business events, which gave travellers more reasons to visit a destination or cruise in that region. “But what the cruise lines need


is events calendars in advance, so we can plan,” he said.


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