Arabian Travel Market (ATM) has announced its theme for the 2027 edition: “Travel without boundaries: Shaping global travel through experience.” The show runs from May 3–6, 2027 at Dubai World Trade Centre.
The theme reflects a broader shift in how people choose where to travel. According to the ATM Travel Trends Report 2026, produced with Tourism Economics, an Oxford Economics company, 56 per cent of consumers are more interested in exploring new destinations than they were two years ago.
That figure rises to 68 per cent among prospective visitors to the Middle East, North Africa and South Asia. Half of respondents report greater interest in local food and drink, and 40 per cent are more interested in meeting local people.
The report identifies a pattern of travellers building itineraries around specific interests rather than conventional factors. Culture, gastronomy, adventure, wellness, music and sport are increasingly shaping destination choices. Event-related travel has also risen, with 30 per cent of consumers reporting more interest in it compared to two years ago.
“Travellers are looking more closely at what a journey allows them to experience, whether that is discovering a culture, pursuing a passion or sharing something memorable with the people around them. For destinations and businesses, the opportunity is to understand those motivations and build an offering that gives people a compelling reason to visit. Travel without boundaries’ reflects how these opportunities extend across the industry. The same journey can combine business and leisure, wellness and adventure, or premium experiences and everyday value. Through ATM 2027, we want to explore what businesses can create together when they look beyond traditional categories and consider the experience as a whole,” Danielle Curtis, Regional Portfolio Director – UAE, RX Global said in a statement.
ATM 2027 will be structured around four pillars: Experience without boundaries, Opportunity without boundaries, Innovation without boundaries, and Possibility without boundaries.
These will cover how evolving traveller motivations affect tourism products, where commercial opportunities are emerging, how technology is reshaping the journey, and what cross-sector collaboration can achieve.
The ATM Travel Tech co-located event will return, with a focus on AI’s growing role in travel planning alongside the continued relevance of human expertise. The Global Stage, Future Stage and Experience Hub will host discussions, roundtables and networking across the four days.
On the demand side, the research forecasts international arrivals to grow 8% worldwide and 17% across MENASA in 2027, following disruptions in 2026. Worldwide visitor nights are projected to exceed 29 billion by 2030, with in-destination spending reaching US$10 trillion.
