ATM 2017 adds halal tourism to areas of focus

Arabian Travel Market (ATM) will host the first ATM Global Halal Tourism Summit in 2017 as part of its line-up of special focus events.

The one-day summit, scheduled to take place on April 26, 2017 on the Global Stage, will feature three interactive seminar sessions covering 'the big picture', 'halal destination strategies' and 'how to sell halal travel', led by Muslim travel industry experts including: Faeez Fadhlillah, co-founder & CEO, Salam Standard & Tripfez; Nabeel Shariff, founder and director of Serendipity Tailormade and Luxury Halal Travel.

The summit announcement follows a special roundtable session about halal tourism, organised by ATM's organisers Reed Travel Exhibitions, which took place earlier this year in Dubai. Hoteliers, destination management companies and tourism professionals took part in the event, with 70% of participants agreeing that there is a need for a global convention on halal tourism. A 2014 report by Thomson Reuters valued the global halal food and lifestyle sector at US$1.8 trillion and this is expected to reach US$2.6 trillion by 2020.

Arabian Travel Market senior exhibition director Simon Press said in a statement: “90% of our panelists believed that there is a huge gap in the tourism market for halal cuisine, which is especially relevant as 80% also predicted a significant increase in the percentage of inbound halal business over the next five years."

He added: “Launching this summit therefore presents a timely opportunity for the industry to come together to discuss opportunities, share success stories and create awareness.”

Arabian Travel Market 2017 will take place at the Dubai World Trade Centre from April 24-27, 2017.