As Arabian Travel Market returns to Dubai in September 2026, eTurboNews celebrates more than 25 years of reporting on the event that has become a symbol of global tourism resilience. From the unveiling of Palm Jumeirah to COVID recovery and today’s geopolitical challenges, ATM continues proving that tourism’s greatest strength is bringing people together.
For more than three decades, one event has mirrored the extraordinary rise of Dubai as a global tourism powerhouse: Arabian Travel Market (ATM).
For more than a quarter century, eTurboNews has had a front-row seat to that story. Today, as Arabian Travel Market prepares to welcome the global travel industry to the Dubai World Trade Center from September 14-17, 2026after rescheduling the event due to the continuing geopolitical crisis affecting the region, one thing is clear:
The show must go on.
It is a statement that has defined Dubai’s tourism industry for decades—and one that has become even more relevant today.
A Region Under Pressure—A Destination Looking Ahead
The Middle East is once again facing one of its most challenging periods in recent history. Ongoing geopolitical tensions have affected airspace, traveler confidence, and business planning across the region.
Some would have expected cancellation. Instead, Arabian Travel Market chose resilience.
Moving the event from its traditional May dates to September gives the global travel industry something it desperately needs in uncertain times: confidence.
Tourism has always been one of the world’s great peace industries. When governments disagree, tourism often continues building relationships between people, businesses, and cultures. That is precisely why Arabian Travel Market matters.
Growing Up Together
Arabian Travel Market | Travel & Tourism Trade Show
Arabian Travel Market is an international travel trade show unlocking business potential within the Middle East for inbound and outbound tourism professionals.
When Arabian Travel Market first opened its doors in 1994Dubai was already thinking bigger than most cities. Back then, few imagined it would become one of the world’s leading tourism destinations.
Fewer still imagined that the city would eventually welcome tens of millions of international visitors every year.
eTurboNews first visited Arabian Travel Market in 2001.
It proved unforgettable. That year, Dubai unveiled perhaps the boldest tourism development ever imagined—the Palm Islands.
Many observers questioned whether such an ambitious project could ever become reality. Today, Palm Jumeirah is not only real—it has become one of the most recognizable tourism landmarks on Earth.
Looking back, that announcement symbolized something much bigger than a construction project. It reflected Dubai’s philosophy.
- Dream big.
- Build bigger.
- Never stop moving forward.
That same philosophy has transformed the city into a global aviation hub, home to one of the world’s busiest international airports, one of the most recognized airlines, and one of tourism’s most influential meeting places.
More than an exhibition
Arabian Travel Market is often described as a trade show. It’s much more than that.
- Every year, ministers meet investors.
- Airlines are negotiating new routes.
- Hotels secure partnerships.
- Technology companies introduce innovations.
- Destinations launch campaigns.
- Tour operators discover new markets.
- Friendships begin.
- Business relationships lasting decades are created in the exhibition halls of Dubai World Trade Center.
- Many tourism initiatives that later changed regions and economies started with conversations at ATM.
That is why its importance extends far beyond the Gulf.
COVID Changed Everything
No period tested tourism more than 2020.
- Borders closed.
- Aircraft stopped flying.
- Hotels empty.
- Entire tourism economies shut down almost overnight.
- Many international trade exhibitions disappeared.
- Arabian Travel Market refused to surrender.
Instead, ATM rapidly embraced hybrid formats, virtual networking, and later became one of the first major international travel events to return safely in person.
It proved something important. Tourism could adapt.
At almost exactly the same moment, eTurboNews launched an initiative that would become one of the industry’s most remarkable grassroots movements.
In March 2020, eTN started Rebuilding.travel.
- There was no business model.
- There was no conference budget.
- There was simply one objective:
Keep the tourism family talking while the world stopped traveling.
Over the following months, eTurboNews hosted more than 200 global Zoom discussionsbringing together tourism ministers, former heads of state, UN officials, CEOs, airline executives, destination leaders, hotel operators, tour guides, journalists, educators, and thousands of tourism professionals from every continent.
Every discussion asked essentially the same question:
How do we rebuild tourism?
Those conversations became a meeting place for an industry searching for hope.
They inspired numerous virtual tourism forums that continue today and demonstrated that while airplanes had stopped flying, ideas never stopped moving.
From those discussions emerged World Tourism Network (WTN).
World Tourism Network (WTN)
WTN is the Voice for Small and Medium Size Businesses (SMEs) for the Global Travel and Tourism Industry in more than 130 countries.
Today, under Steinmetz’s chairmanship, WTN has grown into a network representing approximately 36,000 small and medium-sized travel and tourism stakeholders across 135 countries.
Its mission remains exactly what it was during COVID:
Ensure that small and medium-sized businesses have a voice alongside governments and global corporations.
Looking back, Arabian Travel Market and Rebuilding.travel represented two sides of the same recovery story.
- ATM kept global tourism doing business.
- Rebuilding.travel kept global tourism talking.
- Both helped ensure that tourism never lost its momentum.
Why Dubai Matters
Few cities are better positioned to host the world’s travel industry than Dubai. Within eight hours of flying time lies nearly two-thirds of humanity.
- Its airports connect continents.
- Its hotels welcome every market segment.
- Its leadership has consistently recognized tourism as an economic engine rather than simply another industry.
Dubai understands something many destinations learned only recently:
- Tourism is infrastructure.
- Tourism is diplomacy.
- Tourism is investment.
- Tourism is resilience.
That understanding explains why the city continues attracting international events, investors, airlines, innovators, and entrepreneurs even during uncertain times.
Looking Forward Instead of Looking Back
The 2026 Arabian Travel Market will not ignore today’s realities.
Conversations will inevitably include regional security, aviation disruptions, insurance costs, economic uncertainty, artificial intelligence, climate resilience, and changing traveler expectations.
- But that is exactly why the industry needs to meet.
- Business relationships become even more valuable during difficult times.
- History shows that tourism rarely waits for perfect conditions.
- It adapts.
- It innovates.
- It rebuilds.
The Travel & Tourism Show Must Go On
For eTurboNews, returning as an official media partner is not simply another assignment.
It’s coming home.
eTN Publisher Juergen Steinmetz said:
We have watched Arabian Travel Market grow from a regional exhibition into one of the world’s most influential travel marketplaces. We have watched Dubai redefine what a tourism destination can become. And we have witnessed, time after time, how this industry responds when faced with adversity.
Wars have not stopped tourism. Economic crises have not stopped tourism. COVID didn’t stop tourism. Today’s geopolitical tensions will not stop tourism either. They will simply remind us why coming together matters. That is what Arabian Travel Market has done since 1994. That is what eTurboNews has reported since first walking through its doors in 2001.
And that’s why, once again, we will meet in Dubai. Because tourism has always been at its best when the world needs connection the most.
The show must go on.
