Reed Travel Exhibitions, organiser of Arabian Travel Market, the Middle East’s premier event for the travel and tourism industry which will have its 12th showing in May next year, has appointed Chris Chackal as its new Group Exhibition Director….
Reed Travel Exhibitions, organiser of Arabian Travel Market, the Middle East’s premier event for the travel and tourism industry which will have its 12th showing in May next year, has appointed Chris Chackal as its new Group Exhibition Director.
Chackal, who holds a BA honours degree in Business Management and French from the UK’s Leeds University, succeeds Matt Thompson, who steered ATM through year-on-year growth for the past seven years. Chackal is now responsible for Arabian Travel Market, Mediterranean Travel Fair in Cairo, the International Golf Travel Market and CIS Travel Market Russia.
Matt Thompson has now been promoted to Divisional Managing Director, Reed Exhibitions, UK.
“Chris has a wealth of travel industry experience gained over the past seven years,” said Tom Nutley, Chairman, RTE. “He has joined us from ACCOR Hotels & Resorts where he was Global Leisure Sales Manager for the UK. Chris is also fluent in Arabic and French and brings with him valuable industry knowledge and experience that will facilitate the continued success and growth of the exhibitions in our overseas portfolio.”
During his stint at ACCOR Hotels & Resorts, Chackal concentrated on destination marketing and the promotion of the chain’s 3-5 star hotel brands to the City Breaks market. He was also involved in developing the leisure industry’s emerging niche markets in luxury, spa and golf. Prior to joining ACCOR, Chackal also worked for the French hotel company, Groupe Envergure as International Sales Manager for the UK and Ireland.
“Having worked for many years for travel trade suppliers, I am now looking forward to my new challenge at RTE,” said Chackal. “The exhibition industry offers huge development potential and I look forward to assisting the growth of the overseas shows portfolio.”
Arabian Travel Market 2005 will be held at the Dubai World Trade Centre from May 3-6, 2005 and RTE is bullish that the show can build on this year’s record-breaking performance when some 8,606 trade visitors attended – an increase of 25% on 2003. Consumer attendance shot up by 85% to 8,224.
Arabian Travel Market is held under the patronage of His Highness General Sheikh Mohammed Bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Crown Prince of Dubai and UAE Defence Minister and under the auspices of the Department of Tourism and Commerce Marketing, Government of Dubai.
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