Tourism Malaysia, Visit Britain and Goa Tourism Development Corporation are the latest in a long list of exhibitors to confirm their…
Tourism Malaysia, Visit Britain and Goa Tourism Development Corporation are the latest in a long list of exhibitors to confirm their participation at February`s World Travel India (WTI). According to Richard Gayle, WTI project manager, gaining the support of these exhibitors underlines WTI as THE show for travel & tourism industry in India. WTI has participants from 16 countries so far and we are expecting more.
This is the first time Visit Britain have exhibited at any event in India for some years, Tourism Malaysia have made India a priority country for their destination promotion and Goa is singly the most recognisable Indian tourist destination in the world! These exhibitors will ensure we achieve what we set out to do, that is to consolidate India`s disparate tourism events industry and create the kind of world class event India deserves said Gayle.
So far major international participants include tourist boards from the UK, Switzerland, Hong Kong, Malaysia and Dubai joined by their counterparts from Goa, Karnataka, Kerala & Maharashtra. Other exhibitors include major airlines such as Gulf Air, Qatar Airways, Swiss International and the Indian domestic carriers, Jet Airways and Sahara.
Tourism Malaysia will be sharing its stand with Malaysian Airlines and other suppliers from Malaysia. Malaysia is a popular holiday destination for Indian families as it has the main ingredients required such as good hotels, Indian food, children`s entertainment and plenty of shopping and sightseeing, said Ms Madhu, Marketing Manager, Tourism Malaysia. English is also widely spoken in Malaysia, so there are no language barriers.
The national carrier Malaysia Airlines will take advantage of the newly introduced open sky policy by the Indian Government and introduce extra flights in the 1st quarter of the year 2004. This will see both the airline and the tourism industry, working jointly to introduce new packages and destinations, added Ms Madhu.
Gayle continued to say the growing Indian middle class is estimated at more than 300m people. More and more now take organised trips overseas for their holidays to a wide range of destinations. The World Travel & Tourism Council rank India as one of the fastest growing tourism markets in the world with over 6.5 million travelling abroad in 2001 which is expected to rise to over 10 million by 2004.
Conference set to inform & challenge
A travel conference will be staged within the WTI venue with speakers drawn from both international and domestic sectors. These include the President of the International Hotels & Restaurant Association, Eric Pfeffer, the CEO of Qatar Airways, Mr Akbar Al Baker and Mr Ian Graham, the former director of business consulting for Deloitte Touche.
From the Indian market speakers will include India`s Minister of Tourism, Sri Jagmohan, Ashish Kumar Singh, Managing Director of the Maharashtra tourism board, Ashwini Kakkar, CEO & Managing Director, Thomas Cook India, Ashok Fenn, President & CEO of Interglobe Air Transport, Saroj Datta, Executive Director of Jet Airways and Cyrus Guzder, Chairman & Managing Director, Carlson Wagonlit India.
Unique networking opportunity
The 2 day conference programme allows for a number of networking opportunities including a Power Lunch where senior executives from participating companies get the chance to meet with Indian ministers and tourism officials.
Theodore is the Co-Founder and Managing Editor of TravelDailyNews Media Network; his responsibilities include business development and planning for TravelDailyNews long-term opportunities.
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