Arabian Travel Market (ATM), which is set to take place at Dubai World Trade Centre from May 1-4, 2023, will celebrate its 30th annual event by unveiling its sustainability pledge: “Working Towards Net Zero.”
According to a World Travel and Tourism Council (WTTC) report, travel and tourism account for between 8-11 percent of the world’s emissions. It also revealed that 42 percent of the travel and tourism businesses analyzed in the study have publicly announced climate targets, with 61 percent of travelers saying that they want to travel more sustainably in the future and over 80 percent planning to prioritize sustainability in their travels in the coming year.
Furthermore, research by Skift and McKinsey has found that globally, more than 3,500 organizations across all industries have set emission-reduction targets, including airlines, hotels, restaurants and those providing leisure and tourism services. Air travel alone is predicted to account for 12-27 percent of global emissions by 2050, while 40 percent of travelers said that they are willing to pay at least 2 percent more for carbon-neutral flight tickets.
Danielle Curtis, exhibition director of ATM, said: “If the UAE and the wider Middle East are to achieve their net-zero ambitions, the travel and tourism industry will play a vital role, given its share of regional economic activity and of course its growth potential. With COP27 being held in Sharm El Sheikh this year and COP28 in Dubai in 2023, it is essential that hotels, airlines, leisure resorts and all associated companies start to put their sustainability strategies in place. While unveiling our strategic path to net zero, ATM 2023 will also provide an ideal platform for industry players to engage with sustainability experts and their peers to address the challenges of achieving net zero. Compounding the challenges of reaching net zero, travel activity is expected to soar by 85 percent from 2016 to 2030.”
ATM 2023 will offer global travel trade professionals a vision of how the travel and tourism industry will look in the coming years by sharing new and insightful commentary from international experts, thereby creating significant business opportunities over the course of the four-day event. The program is being specifically developed to address sustainability issues across the travel and tourism industry, with commentary from leading figures representing a variety of sectors.
