ITIC-ATM Middle East Tourism Investment Summit Takes Place in DWTC on the 9th and 10th May, 2022 as Top-Notch Tourism Chieftains Converge to Speak
The Middle East is increasingly becoming a vibrant region with bubbling opportunities to raise or channel capital for tourism projects all over the world.
Jointly hosted by Arabian Travel Market (ATM) and International Tourism Investment Conference (ITIC), this year’s Middle East Tourism Investment Summit will be held on Tuesday 10th May 2022, shining a spotlight on access to project financing in the post-Covid Era.
Ministerial Roundtable will kickstart the summit on the 9th May, at 13:15 with the confirmed participation of HE Dr. Ahmad Belhoul Al Falasi, Minister of State for Entrepreneurship and SMEs & Chairman of Emirates Tourism Council of the UAE; Ministers of Tourism; H.E Nayef Al Fayez, Minister of Tourism and Antiquities, Jordan; Hon. Edmund Bartlett, Minister of Tourism, Jamaica and Hon. Philda Nani Kereng, Minister of Environment and Tourism, Botswana.
The main summit on the 10th May, 14:00, has also lined-up an impressive array of high profile speakers who will enlighten different panel discussions, among whom are: Paul Griffiths, CEO, Dubai Airports; Ghaith Al Ghaith, CEO, flydubai; Haitham Mattar, Managing Director, India, Middle East & Africa, IHG Hotels & Resorts; Dr. Taleb Rifai, Chairman ITIC and Former Secretary-General, UNWTO; Sandip Walia, Chief Operating Officer, Middle East, Marriott International; Badr Alherbish, Executive Director, Strategy Tourism Development Fund, Saudi Arabia; Khadija Mohammad Turki, Acting Director General, Ajman Tourism Development Department; Marloes Knippenberg, CEO, Kerten Hospitality; Alison Grinnell, CEO, RAK Hospitality Holding LLC; Scott Livermore, Chief Economist, Oxford Economics.
They will act as catalysts on topical issues, challenges and future trends such as: reenergizing air connectivity to support tourism growth in the Middle East; financing of future tourism projects; the economic integration of women through the tourism industry; unlocking new modes of payment in the sector and enhancing tourism resilience to mitigate the impact of future crises and improved financing through better preparedness to close the day.
ITIC & ATM have also congregated some of the best moderators, namely: Sameer Hashmi, the Middle East Business Correspondent of the BBC News; Gerald Lawless, Director ITIC, Ambassador WTTC and Former President and CEO of Jumeirah Group who will interact with these leaders of the travel and tourism industry.
Before the outbreak of the Covid-19 pandemic, the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region accounted for approximately 6% of worldwide tourist arrivals, representing more than 60 million international travellers of which 15.8 million visited the United Arab Emirates which captured more than 21 billion U.S. dollars of receipts.
Research undertaken by the World Travel and Tourism Council (WTTC) indicates that the Middle East’s travel and tourism sector’s is expected to generate US$ 246 billion of revenue in 2022, which is only 8.9% behind pre-pandemic level.
According to forecasts by financial analysts, the total contribution of the travel and tourism industry to the GDP of Middle East countries is expected to reach around US$ 486.1 billion by year 2028.
Several Middle East countries are attracting hefty investments in their tourism industry, and according to the fDi Intelligence Tourism Investment Report 2021, Bahrain topped the list of Middle East and Africa (MEA) countries that attracted the highest tourism capital investment in 2020, especially from property developers based in the United Arab Emirates.
Out of a total of US$1.6 billion of capital investment flowing into the Middle East and Africa, US$ 492 million of tourism capital investment were secured by Bahrain in 2020 mainly from property developer, Emaar Properties and the real estate developer Eagle Hills.
Furthermore, other countries are directing their funds to the future of their tourism industry and to impart a new momentum to that driver of growth.
“I feel confident that the synergy that will be created during our summit among different key stakeholders of the tourism industry of the Middle East will contribute to accelerating the global investment landscape of the sector to the next level of its development”, Ibrahim Ayoub, CEO, ITIC stated.
ABOUT THE ORGANISERS: ITIC UK
The London UK based ITIC Ltd (International Tourism and Investment Conference) acts as an enabler between the tourism industry and leaders of the financial services to facilitate and structure investments in sustainable tourism projects, infrastructures and services that will benefit to the host countries and the local communities through social inclusion and shared growth. ITIC team undertakes extensive research to shed new light and perspectives on tourism investment opportunities in the regions in which we operate. In addition to our conferences, we produce high-quality documents and publications and add value to the brands of our clients by devising cutting-edge marketing strategies.
To find out more about ITIC and its conferences in Cape Town – Africa; Bulgaria -CEE & SEE; Dubai -Middle East; London UK, and elsewhere please visit www.itic.uk
