TravTalk India Online Magazine
Ministry of Tourism (MOT) is set to organise its flagship travel exhibition—India Tourism Mart (ITM) from September 16-18, 2018 at Vigyan Bhawan, New Delhi. KJ Alphons, Union Minister of Tourism, shares insights into the preparation going behind the big show.
Nisha Verma
MOT is organising the India Tourism Mart (ITM) in association with Federation of Associations in Indian Tourism and Hospitality (FAITH) along with assistance from various states and Union Territories. KJ Alphons revealed, “For the first time in the history of India, ITM is going to bring the together global tour operators, travel agents and bloggers to the country. The aim is to double the number of foreign tourist arrivals in the next three years. Last year was extremely good for Indian tourism as the FTAs shot up by 15.6 per cent and receipts went up by 20.8 per cent. ITM is set to give a boost to tourism in the country as we are going to have the best marketing people from around the world to see, experience and promote India. We expect the PM to inaugurate the event and hoping for a huge gathering.”
Buyers and sellers
Alphons said that all the states and members from the tourism and hospitality industry will be the sellers at ITM. “Through this event, we are going to get the best buyers from around the world to meet our sellers here, which would include state governments, tour operators, travel agents, hospitals for medical tourism, hotel associations and adventure tour operators. This event will dramatically increase India’s profitability and the number of foreign arrivals. We are expecting around 300 buyers and 250 stalls at the event. The three-day event will have pre and post tours. We will also announce the dates of ITM for the next five years,” he revealed.
Alphons further added that the selection of buyers will be a priority for the ministry. “We will be getting buyers from all over the world, especially from key markets like the USA, Europe, as well as emerging markets like China, Russia, Japan and Latin America. Our overseas offices are helping us draw a list of prospective buyers who have already been marketing India. We are also putting together a list by a selection committee which would select buyers from associations, states as well as from Air India. This would ensure that we get only genuine buyers,” he insisted.
We are expecting around 300 buyers and 250 stalls at the event. The three-day event will have pre and post tours. We will also announce the dates of ITM for the next five years.
International roadshows
In an aim to attract people from around the world to India and showcase its tourism products, MOT has been conducting roadshows aggressively. After Southeast Asia, MOT recently concluded its roadshow in the USA. “We just finished our roadshow in New York, Chicago, Houston and St Louis. With exposure to the visual and social media, we met representatives of Indian communities in all these places and requested them to come back to their roots. Rashmi Verma, Secretary—Tourism, is also leading another roadshow to Russia and the Nordic countries. A roadshow in China is also in the offing because the outbound numbers from China is increasingly growing,” said Alphons.
Focus on inbound
Alphons also said that the number of unique visitors on the new Incredible India website is 6.5 million. He claimed that after the success of the Ayurveda and Yoga campaign in many countries, they will also be focusing on these popular products at ITM.
Domestic tourism
Alphons said, “Domestic tourism generates many more jobs than those created for foreign tourists. Last year, we had 1.8 billion domestic trips, which resulted in an increase in room occupancy and other infrastructure. In 2017, we contributed 7 per cent to the GDP of the country and created 14.62 million jobs in the tourism industry.”
MOT Initiatives
- MOT is undertaking initiatives like Incredible India 2.0 campaign and the introduction of Incredible India website
