Travelport, a major travel commerce platform providing distribution, technology, payment and other solutions for the global travel and tourism industry, will highlight how travel technology is driving the industry’s growth at the 2016 Arabian Travel Market (ATM) next week.

It will redefine how travel is searched, shared and booked across the Middle East — from travel agents to airlines to hotels to the Middle East’s travelers on their mobile phones.

Despite challenges facing the Middle East’s travel and tourism sector such as currency volatilities against the dollar and recession in Russia, the industry is poised for more growth with online travel bookings forecast to reach $35 billion and offline sales expected to reach $63 billion by 2017.

Travelport’s MTT, a leader in mobile and digital transformation for the travel industry, is fundamental to its ATM participation in 2016, with a seminar taking place on Monday (April 25) that will reveal current mobile trends among travelers in the Middle East and future mobile trends beyond 2016.

Speaking ahead of the event, Rabih Saab, Travelport’s president and MD for MEA, South Asia and Europe, commented: “Our industry faces challenges, but prospects for the Middle East remain positive. We are delighted to showcase how Travelport technology is supporting the growth of travel industry trends at the Arabian Travel Market.”

For example, he added, as airline offers get more complex and travelers seek more choice, personalization and flexibility to tailor their journeys according to their needs; that is, travelers on a budget or who want to earn more miles, carry extra baggage or make last minute travel changes, etc.

“Travelport Smartpoint and associated technologies are helping travel agents maximize their revenues and profitability with the capability to seamlessly integrate this type of unrivaled content into their travel agency screens,” Saab added.