TAHITI SWAYS INTO ARABIAN TRAVEL MARKET FIRST-EVER MID EAST PROMOTION BY POLYNESIAN ISLANDS

The Polynesian island state of Tahiti is to make its Middle East tourism

debut at Arabian Travel Market 2000 the region’s foremost travel and

tourism exhibition this May.

The state’s official tourist board Tahiti Tourisme will be at the

fair at the Dubai World Trade Centre from May 2-5, drumming up interest

and encouraging Middle East tour operators and airlines to feature

Tahiti in future growth plans.

Heading the Tahiti delegation to Arabian Travel Market 2000 will be the

tourist board’s chief executive Ms Brigitte Vanizette.

"We want to create a demand for our destination within the Middle East,"

said Ms Vanizette. "We are confident that following our participation in

the show we will be able to formulate expansion plans for the region."

Vanizette admits tourist arrival to Tahiti from the Middle East are

currently limited.

"We strongly believe that the traffic can be increased significantly,

hence our decision to participate in Arabian Travel Market. We will go

all out to create major interest in Tahiti and her islands," she said.

"One of our priorities is to develop contacts with airlines, tour

operators and the general public. We believe that by convincing airlines

to make Tahiti and her islands more accessible we will generate even

more interest with tour operators."

A group of Tahitian musicians and dancers will be flown into Dubai to

perform on their country’s stand at Arabian Travel Market 2000.

"They will give an excellent introduction to the Tahitian spirit and

culture," said Ms Vanizette.

Tahiti is one of a growing number of new-to-market exhibitors joining

the Arabian Travel Market portfolio. Others include the New Zealand

Tourist Board, Romanian National Tourist Office, Air Gabon, the Austrian

National Tourist Office, Indonesia’s Bali Gardenia Resort, Egypt’s Jolie

Ville Movenpick Golf Hotel & Resort, Mehr-E-Khavar Int. Air Tours of

Iran and Bulgaria’s Ministry of Trade and Tourism.

"Arabian Travel Market growth is being fuelled by the expansion of

regular exhibitors and the continuous addition of newcomers to the

exhibitor profile," said Matt Thompson, Exhibition Director, Arabian

Travel Market, which is organised by Reed Travel Exhibitions (RTE).

"With exciting new-to-market products such as New Zealand and Tahiti,

the show promises to be livelier than ever.

"The recruitment of first-time exhibitors is also testament to the

spreading reputation of Arabian Travel Market as a genuine business

forum which produces returns on investment."

Arabian Travel Market 2000 will be the largest yet in the exhibition’s

seven-year history, taking up some 6,500 square metres with registered

exhibitors, to date, from 50 countries.

According to Thompson, the biggest increase is from Asian markets.

"Destinations such as Malaysia, Singapore and Thailand returned in force

last year after the economic crisis had settled down and now they are

adding more space, along with a number of regular exhibitors, such as

India and Brunei.

"Germany too is back after it pulled out last year because of a clash

with a domestic event ? inbound traffic from the Middle East to Germany

increased by more than 21 per cent last year, hence the decision to keep

the momentum going. Bahrain has also decided to exhibit again after

missing last year’s event," he said.

Visitor marketing efforts for ATM 2000 are focussing on Europe, the Gulf


and the USA.

"An innovation this year will be the mailing of double tickets, so those

receiving them can pass one on," said Kay Adye, Marketing Manager,

Arabian Travel Market.

"We will be direct mailing around 25,000 travel trade buyers, both

established visitors and potential clients. Our advertising is split

with two themes ? one focussing on inbound travel for international

buyers and the other on outbound markets for regional visitors."

In addition, the ATM web site has been enhanced allowing

pre-registration for visitors and the media as well as advance

publication of the floor plan.

And ByeByeNOW.com, one of the largest Internet providers of leisure

travel packages is to provide communication services as part of a deal

covering all RTE events.