Pictures from the exhibition

The first picture. Bridge to the future
Today it is already hard to imagine how the first Arabian Travel Market was held in early May 1994, which became the source of such a popular annual event of international importance. The fact is that more than half of the 300 exhibiting companies located on the territory of 4000 square meters of the Dubai Center for International Trade came from countries outside the Middle East region. It is important that this event not only affected the more intensive development of the country in economic terms, but also served as a catalyst for the tourist boom that followed. The exhibition showed that the Emirates is a three-in-one country: the sea, the sun and unique shopping.
The organizers and participants of the first ATM exhibition were real pioneers who proved that this country has a great future on the world stage, that the Middle East region can be of interest not only as part of the mainland, rich in oil, but also as a worthy object of international tourism.
Today we see among the participating countries of Saudi Arabia and Iran, making interesting proposals, Oman significantly strengthened on this stage, working in tandem with the Emirates. But only 14 years ago, Oman courageously tried not to go unnoticed and undeservedly forgotten against the background of its southern neighbor, who makes powerful investments in the tourism business. The income from the tourism industry of the UAE is 30% of the total gross product, increasing from year to year. And this is not surprising if you take into account the pace of development of this industry: along the entire coast from Bahrain to Qatar and from the UAE to Oman, a lot of luxury hotels, resorts and Spas have been built, hosting businessmen and vacationers from Australia, China, Japan, America year-round , India, Europe and the Gulf countries.
The 14th exhibition ATM2007, held at the International Exhibition Center in Dubai from May 1 to 4, was visited by about 15 thousand representatives of the tourism industry. More than 2,600 participants from 60 countries and regions, including 114 new exhibitors who first made their name in the Middle East region, came to the annual meeting from all five continents. Exhibition halls were conveniently divided into categories according to the type of company activity and regional location; a separate hall was allocated to UAE construction companies.
Asia and Africa, Australia and Oceania, the Gulf countries, Europe presented health resorts, Spa, new travel routes, various vacation packages and weekend excursions. Among the debutant participants, tour operators at the stands represented countries such as Macau, Nigeria, Palestine, Croatia, Switzerland, Taiwan, Zimbabwe, China and Peru. The delegation from America and Canada also visited the exhibition with the aim of determining plans for participation in the next anniversary year for the tourist show.

The second picture. Dream islands
Seminars, presentations, press conferences - for the representatives of the media, the organizers have prepared an extensive rich program. The schedule of events was so tight that I had to sacrifice visits to some events in favor of others. But to miss a trip to the "Palm Island Jumeirah", organized by the largest developer Nakheel, was not even possible! Before heading to the bulk island, we were presented with a short film demonstrating in finished form those projects whose construction process we had to witness firsthand. The grandeur of the construction plans was amazing. To begin with, the construction list for Nakheel includes the construction of the arena for the world-famous circus Du Soleil on The Palm Jumeirah Island. Permanent venues for performances by circus artists of this unique show are currently available in only three countries of the world - in the USA, Japan and China. But already in December 2010, Cirque Du Soleil artists, who were already loved by the Dubai audience after their two-month tour in Dubai last winter, will be able to perform in the new 1800-audience circus built by Nakheel Corporation.
The development of the island is in full swing. Piles and piers of the monorail swiftly stretch with a straight arrow through the entire trunk of The Palm Jumeirah, cutting through its crown, towering above the water and ending at the station at the giant Atlantis hotel construction site. The monorail will help the "islanders" without traffic jams and nervous tension maintain a constant connection with the mainland.
Creative work is boiling on the island, without stopping day or night, along the tunnel leading to Palma from Sheikh Zayed's Dubai highway, heavy laden cars and buses are transporting workers to the construction site or taking them home to rest after the shift. Idle cars are not yet visible, and this is not surprising, because today you can drive to the island unhindered only to a certain place at the base of the "trunk of the Palm", then the passage is closed, because this is not a place for walking and relaxing, but an important strategic object - construction site. Therefore, the minivans are already ready to hand over multi-story residential areas, each of which is marked with a digital designation and named, the bus slows down in front of a kind of roadblock, and a pretty-looking guide girl accompanying us by the name of Brioni Peters presents accreditation to the watchful guard as an authorization document. The barrier is raised, and we, in clouds of dust from ubiquitous work being carried out and trucks passing by, drive into the "crown of the Palm". Here, at the crossroads of all roads, the island’s business and shopping complex will rise, including bank branches, post offices, offices, a shopping center, restaurants, cafeterias and sports and entertainment complexes. On the branches on the right and left are the holiday villages of private villas. The villas are made in various architectural directions and the design decoration inside the buildings is also not repeated. The peculiarity of the location of the villas on the "Palm" is such that each of them is not only complemented by an internal swimming pool, but also has its own private beach on the coast.
Most of the hotels, many of which are being built on The Palm Jumeirah, have only been outlined by the contours of pits, piles, fittings and cranes, but one of them is worth talking about separately. This is not just a hotel at the terminal and eponymous station of the island’s own railway, the Atlantis resort complex is the embodiment of a dream and an amazing creation of the future. As standard dry statistics, it can be noted that the hotel owns almost 1.5 km of a sandy beach, 17 hectares of water fun, more than 16 restaurants and 1,539 guest accommodation options. But all this is physics, and the lyrics are that the legends of the disappeared Atlantis will again arouse the consciousness of millions of people who at least once hear about it in Dubai. Atlantis really will be executed not as a separate modern hotel building, but as a whole tourist multifunctional complex with buildings and structures of various purposes. Kerzner, which, together with the government of Dubai, is building a unique complex worth $ 1.5 billion, is the leading operator of world resorts and luxury hotels. The main building of the hotel includes three towers - Western, Eastern and Royal. The glass and concrete gallery connecting the East and West towers is nothing more than luxurious apartments. Two 75-ton steel trusses, more than 42 meters long, were raised by a 500-ton crane to the height of the 20th floor above the main lobby of the hotel. The presidential suite, as it were, soars in the air, clad from glass to ceiling in glass walls.
The complex will complement the giant aquarium, which will be collected 65 thousand marine animals and tropical fish, including sharks, piranhas and barracudas. Underwater corridors will lead guests through the ancient Atlantis and connect with a shark pool to a water amusement park: downhill through a giant waterfall will add adrenaline, so it will pass through the shark pool in its final phase. A unique hotel complex would be incomplete without the "Village of Entertainment", a children's club and a collection of excellent branded shops and boutiques. Atlantis is scheduled to open in November 2008.

The third picture. Flights in a dream and in reality
We all once dreamed of becoming astronauts. Now this dream can become a reality not only for the richest of this world, who are able to pay millions for a flight into space. Space travel today can become a mass destination in the field of tourism.
Sharaf Group’s division - Sharaf Travel, together with Virgin Atlantic, have prepared a new surprise for extreme sports enthusiasts who will fly high in the sky from a cosmodrome in the state of Florida (USA) on a specially equipped aircraft delivered to space by a carrier ship, will experience zero gravity conditions, soaring in free space in tight elastic suits, they will examine our blue planet from a height of celestials, study the astronomical map directly from the windows, in close proximity to the vast universe.
The simulator stand was located on the street at one of the entrances to the exhibition complex and consisted of a space cockpit with six streamlined seats, entering which one could feel like a real space pioneer.

The fourth picture. These are paint fairs
It was bright, noisy, fun and crowded. Dressed ladies in crinolines and men in powdered wigs, strange aliens in latex costumes and stilts, butterfly girls, gymnasts and acrobats walked around the halls. Music played, and the aromas of tropical flowers hovered. The stands of exotic countries were represented not only by posters with enticing photos of nature and architecture, but also demonstrated the traditions and culture of the country through national dances, songs and products of craftsmen. At the site of a health resort in Thailand, two lovely smiling girls were doing massage on the head, neck and shoulder girdle for anyone. Literally in 5-7 minutes, they took off all day fatigue and smiled gratefully in response to eulogies addressed to them. The Malaysian in a variegated robe cleverly made colored kite kites and presented them to visitors. Elderly Moroccans worked in pairs - a woman painted henna with the traditional patterns of girls' hands, and a man showed the wonders of owning carpentry tools. Using a chisel aimed at a shapeless wooden block with his big toe, he carved filigree figures and caskets with a secret. Everyone liked his arguing work so much that every completed detail was accompanied by loud applause from the audience. As a gift, I got one of his works - an amulet for happiness, similar to a chess pawn.
The huge stand of the Emirates Group was made as part of the fuselage of a snow-white airliner, rising to a height of 9.5 m, where the awarding of winners using Emirates services was held. As prizes - a romantic weekend in the five-star desert reserve Al Maha Desert Resort & SPA. A huge round stand right in the center of one of the exhibition halls immediately contained several projects that are part of Dubailand, with a dinosaur theme park, an amusement park with attractions, a planetarium, hotels, theater venues, cinemas, a sports academy and more. Life-size mock-ups of monsters from the Jurassic period looked impressive and intimidating. Against the backdrop of the Shuttle space shuttle, young dancers performed. And London-based artist Simon Cassini painted friendly cartoons on everyone in a matter of minutes. Here is such a friendly cartoon, which added a good mood to my visit to the ATM-2007 exhibition, and I put it at the end of this article instead of a signature and as a bullet.

/ Elena Balina /

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