UNWTO Forum at ATM spotlights technology as means to foster travel

Amadeus participated in the UNWTO Ministerial Forum during Dubai’s Arabian Travel Market, with Antoine Medawar, our VP for the Middle East and North Africa, contributing his industry expertise to the debate about travel within the region.

Medawar outlined the crucial role of technology in fostering tourism flows within the region. The main challenges he identified were travellers connecting across channels and the ability of the region’s travel industry to cater to their specific needs. In the video below Medawar offers his summary on what he considers to be the prerequisites for increasing travel between countries within the region.

The forum also featured UNWTO Secretary General Taleb Rifai, Ministers of Tourism and other industry leaders in the MENA region discussing how to advance intra-regional tourism and seize the growing opportunities emerging for increased cooperation. Rifai commented on the opportunities of intra-regional travel in the Middle East and the role of technology in this process.

Overall, the forum helped generate ideas and initiatives to further promote this type of travel and to propel the necessary cooperation between private and public sectors to benefit the travel industry in the region. Other issues discussed included open skies policies, visa facilitation, and public-private sector collaboration.