Arabian Travel Market 2023 launches sustainable stand award

ATM introduces a ‘Best Stand Build Incorporating Sustainability Initiatives’ for the 2023 annual exhibitor awards to recognise exhibitors that have made exceptional efforts to reduce their environmental impact and support the UAE’s net zero commitment

Arabian Travel Market (ATM) 2023, the leading travel and tourism showcase in the Middle East which is being held at the Dubai World Trade Centre from 1–4 May 2023, will feature a sustainability category at its annual exhibitor awards next year for the first time.

The decision was taken to recognise exhibiting organisations that have considered the impact that their stand will have on the environment and the efforts they have made to reduce and or offset their carbon footprint.

Danielle Curtis, Exhibition Director ME, Arabian Travel Market, said: “We are aware of the incredible amount of effort and investment that goes into designing, building and manning exhibition stands at Arabian Travel Market.

“Since its inception, the ATM exhibitor award programme has not only recognised those efforts, but has also encouraged exciting, fresh and creative ideas.

“For our 2023 event, we wanted to include a category that provided synergy with our official theme, ‘Working Towards Net Zero’ and furthermore one that supports the UAE’s broader net zero commitment as well as RX’s mission to deliver Net Zero Carbon events by 2040.”

“The sustainability award will be open to all exhibitors who can nominate themselves with a justification against certain criteria that will be clearly laid out in the ATM operations manual,” added Curtis.

The criteria will include the use of bio-degradable, reusable and recyclable materials for the stand build & features, digital marketing materials, limited single use plastics, reduced freight and logistics emissions, waste management, as well as recycling and or reusing the stand for multiple events, plus carbon offsetting initiatives.

The award will be judged in advance of the show by the ATM operations team, with advice and support from an independent sustainability expert and the winner will be announced onsite along with the other award category winners. These will include Best Stand Design, Best Stand for Doing Business, Best Stand Feature and Best Stand at ATM Travel Tech.  

The Best Stand Design award has also been revamped and is now more inclusive with two awards, one for stands above and one for those less than 150 square metres. For stands over 150 square metres ATM has added additional criteria that will consider pre-show and onsite promotions to attract visitors.

The judging for these awards will take place as usual on day two of the show (Tuesday 2nd May), with all winners announced on day three (Wednesday 3rd May), with a panel comprising of trade journalists and industry commentators.

“As usual, the judging panel will have an exceptionally difficult job, comparing creative design, people skills and business-friendly appeal. So, for the 2023 awards along with the winners, we will publish up to five shortlisted stands in each category to recognise their considerable efforts,” added Curtis.   

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 experts from around the world, creating significant business opportunities over the course of the four-day event.

Each year, ATM highlights specific aspects of travel that will be pivotal in determining the direction the industry will take moving forward. The show will explore how innovative sustainable travel trends will evolve and identify strategies for growth within specific key vertical sectors.

The ATM 2023 conference programme is being specifically developed to address sustainability issues across the travel and tourism industry, with commentary from leadership figures representing a variety of sectors such as Destinations, Travel Technology, Airlines, Cruise, Hospitality, Car Rental and Hotels.

ATM 2022 attracted over 24,000 visitors and hosted over 31,000 participants, including 1,600 exhibitors and attendees from 151 countries, across ten halls at Dubai World Trade Centre.