More than 30 per cent of the exhibitors due to take part in this year’s Arab World Travel and Trade Exhibition (AWTTE) in Lebanon are participating for the first time.
Scheduled to take place on October 16 to19 at BIEL Center in Beirut, the show also attracted new national pavilions of France, Poland, Sri Lanka, the UAE and Kurdistan. Returning exhibitors include Cyprus, India, Iran, Jordan, Kuwait, Malaysia, Palestine and Turkey, and the organisers stated that negotiations with other countries were still in the pipeline.
Major hotel chains in Lebanon such as Intercontinental Hotels Group, Le Royal, Four Points by Sheraton, Monroe Hotel and Markaziah Monroe Suites, Le Bristol, Lancaster and the newly opened Sun Hills Suites Hotel have confirmed their participation.
In addition to Middle East Airlines (MEA), the official carrier of AWTTE, airlines registered as exhibitors include Qatar Airways, Jazeera Airways, Air France, Cyprus Airways, Egypt Air, Kuwait Airways, Turkish Airlines, Malaysia Airlines, Royal Jordanian and Iran Air.
Tour operators, many from Lebanon, Cyprus, Greece, Jordan, Turkey and Syria, will be exhibiting at AWTTE either with their national pavilions or on their own including World of Hospitality, Saad Tours, Barakat Travel, Concord Travel, Aeolos Travel, Amphitrion Holidays, Korona Travel, Louis Tourist Agency, Astro Travel and Timmy Travel. New tour operators from Sri Lanka, India and Seychelles namely Jetwings Travel, Creole Travel and Jagsons Travel will also be exhibiting.
Prominent tour operators from the Gulf participating include Alpha Tours, DNATA, Net Tours, Kanoo Travel, Al Tayer and Belhasa from UAE; Al Shamil, Abdul Jalil Travel, Al Bandar and Al Khazemi from Kuwait; Zamil and Fursan Travel from KSA, Darwish Travel and Manaii Travel from Qatar.
Over 100 tour operators have confirmed their participation at AWTTE as hosted buyers from European, American, Gulf and Asian markets such as Hotelrooms and Promo Tourisme from France; Globus Tours and EMS Travel from Germany; Servus Amigo from Austria; Mideast Travel, Tina Travel and Interdynamic from Greece; Baracuda, VIP Travel and Atlanta Tourism from Turkey.
