DUBAI: The 33rd Arabian Travel Market opens at Dubai World Trade Centre on September 14, running through September 17, as the international travel and tourism industry gathers to confront the consequences of nearly seven months of regional disruption stemming from the US-Iran war.
The event, organised by RX Global, brings together airlines, tourism authorities, hotels, destinations, technology companies, travel buyers and industry professionals across four days of business, networking and strategic discussion. It arrives at a moment of genuine reckoning for the sector. Travel patterns have shifted markedly. International booking windows have compressed. Hotels have faced intensified pressure to balance occupancy, room rates and profitability at the same time.
The central question facing the industry is no longer whether travellers want to travel, but what recovery will look like, how quickly confidence will return and how businesses will adapt to fundamentally altered market conditions. Danielle Curtis, Regional Portfolio Director for UAE at RX Global, acknowledged the sector had endured “its share of challenges in recent months”, emphasising the value of convening the travel community in person to address those pressures. “It is great to be back, and I’m looking forward to seeing the conversations, partnerships and opportunities that emerge over the course of the show,” she said.
Technology is one of the dominant themes at this year’s event. ATM 2026 will debut ATM Travel Tech, a dedicated co-located exhibition featuring more than 180 exhibitors from 30 countries across two halls. An 850-square-metre Tech and Innovation Hub will concentrate on artificial intelligence, virtual and augmented reality, robotics, fintech and green technologies. The Future Stage will examine AI and automation, data and digital transformation, fintech, immersive technology, robotics and next-generation travel platforms.
Dr Marwan Alzarouni, CEO of AI at Dubai’s Department of Economy and Tourism, will open the stage with a session exploring AI’s role in reshaping travel. Senior representatives from Sabre, Trip.com, Tripadvisor, Wego, MakeMyTrip, RateGain and Visa will participate in discussions covering agentic AI, online travel agencies, digital discovery and the evolving travel supply chain.
Meanwhile, the Global Stage will open with a Ministerial Debate titled Building A Resilient Industry Through Collaboration, bringing together senior tourism leaders to discuss rebuilding traveller confidence, strengthening the GCC’s global position and creating a more resilient tourism industry. The UAE’s tourism proposition is expected to feature prominently as the industry assesses how destinations can maintain attractiveness despite geopolitical uncertainty elsewhere in the region.
ATM organisers have positioned the event around the theme Travel 2040: Driving New Frontiers Through Innovation and Technology, with emphasis on strengthening partnerships, restoring confidence and shaping future growth. Research organisations including Tourism Economics (an Oxford Economics company), Euromonitor International, STR and Dragon Trail International will present insights on changing travel demand and emerging opportunities.
Curtis characterised the sector’s outlook as significant. Research from ATM’s partners continues to demonstrate the “underlying resilience of travel demand”, she noted, while innovation is creating new mechanisms for destinations and businesses to respond to evolving traveller expectations. Whether that resilience translates into a genuine structural reset, or simply a return to pre-disruption norms, is the question the industry will spend four days in Dubai trying to answer.