10 am: The World Travel and Tourism Council unveils its latest tourism economic figures.
There’s good news and bad news to report.
The good news is that the tourism sector rebounded more strongly than was originally expected this year leading the WTTC to revise its 2010 growth predictions from 0.5% to 2.5%.
However, there looks to be more doom and gloom on the horizon in 2011.

Jean Claude Baumgerten, CEO WTTC summed it up by saying: “The good news is that 2010 was better than we thought it would be; but the bad news is that 2011 will not be as good as we hoped. There is still a great deal of uncertainty in the world economy.”

It’s concerning to hear this, especially given that this time last year everyone was pegging 2011 as the ‘year of recovery’ – what’s happened to that then?

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11am: I go and check out the massive Abu Dhabi stand, complete with live falcons, henna painting and a huge model of Abu Dhabi and its various tourism projects.
Bump into Richard Riley, CEO of Abu Dhabi National Hotels (ADNH). Riley is gearing up for two huge ADNH property openings next year - the Ritz Carlton and the Park Hyatt Saadiyat Island – set to be two of Abu Dhabi’s most luxurious hotels.
Intriguingly, Riley said he is now looking at developing ‘niche’ hotel products in markets that remain “as yet untapped” in Abu Dhabi – but he refused to divulge further details.
In terms of filling all the extra rooms coming into the market, Riley said greater communication between Abu Dhabi and Dubai was needed to bring more tourists to the UAE. He suggested a ‘think thank’ could set up for all key stakeholders to join and share ideas – watch this space.

12pm – I pop in on a cruise expert panel debate. Representatives from the Baltic and Caribbean are there, but no one from the Gulf despite its emerging nature as a cruising hot spot. I ask Peter Shanks, president, Cunard Cruise Line if he has any plans to homeport a Cunard Ship in the Gulf, but he says no - mainly because flights to Dubai are too expensive for passengers.
Shanks adds that people are free to pay a visit to the QE2 (a Cunard ship) which is still stuck at Port Rashid in Dubai.

1pm: Yemen’s tourism minister Fatima al-Horibi calls a press conference and asks governments to reconsider travel advice warning people not to travel to Yemen. Despite the terrorist attacks and kidnappings in Yemen, Al-Horibi said there are safe places where people can holiday in Yemen. Al-Horibi made the point that by people not visiting Yemen and effectively destroying its tourism sector, this was playing straight into the hands of the terrorists.

2pm: I have a coffee with Peter Lilley, a former journalist and executive director of tourist board body Antor. Lilley has come to WTM to launch the first ever travel association for the Middle East and North Africa: Menata (Middle East and North Africa Travel Association). The body will aim to drive tourists to the Arab world as well as “foster better understanding” of the Arab world and “dispel negative prejudices” that may exist among UK holidaymakers towards Middle East destinations.

3pm: World Tourism Organisation (UNWTO) secretary general Taleb Rifai reveals figures from the latest UNWTO World Tourism Barometer which show that international tourist arrivals are back at pre-crisis levels. Arrivals in the first eight months of this year were the same as the pre-crisis year of 2008.

But Rifai sounded a note of caution as growth in tourism receipts - more importantly - still lag behind, and growth is expected to see a slowdown again in 2011.

4pm: Incredible India holds a press con to talk about developments in the destination. RH Khwaja, secretary for tourism, government of India says the outcome of the Commonwealth Games was “satisfactory”. He admitted there were problems but in the end said the athletes “had not received such warmth and hospitality anywhere else in the world.” India had expected to see a growth in tourist arrivals of 10 - 15% , over the Games but in the end only saw a 5% increase.

5pm: The Japanese tourism board is giving out sake for people to try – it’s rather potent. The tourism board execs tell me that with Emirates, Etihad and Qatar Airways all having launched a new route to Tokyo this year, there are plans in the pipeline for a big Japanese marketing push in the GCC coming later next year, especially targeting GCC travel agents.

On that note its time to head home for another day. See you tomorrow.