GLOBALLY, Dubai ranks ninth in terms of tech start-ups per gross domestic product and 23rd on the presence of large technology companies per head of population.

Therefore, it is not surprising that WiT (Web in Travel), which held two Middle East editions in 2014 and 2015, is returning to the region to hold its signature conference in Dubai on April 9.

“After four years away, we feel it’s time to make a comeback plus we’ve had numerous requests from key players in the region, who have attended both our events in Dubai and Singapore, to return,” said Yeoh Siew Hoon, founder, WiT.

Wego, Cleartrip and Travelstart are three leading travel brands from outside the region that have invested in the Middle East market and are committed to seeing its development and growth.

Ross Veitch, CEO & co-founder of Wego, which has successfully expanded to the Middle East from its South-east Asian base, said, "The Arab world is approximately 400m people and the wider MENA region closer to a billion which makes this diverse, vibrant, young, tech-savvy part of the world the next big emerging market for online travel. WIT has been an important catalyst for the growth of the online travel industry in Asia and Wego is delighted to help bring the WIT franchise expanded to cover the MENA region."