Over 30,000 discerning visitors attended a successful Mumbai edition of India International Travel Mart

MUMBAI – This year’s Mumbai edition of India International Travel Mart (IITM) saw a massive downpour of around 30,000 trade visitors at the Bombay Exhibition Centre.
 

Sphere Travelmedia & Exhibitions Pvt Ltd had organized its 79th edition of India International Travel Mart from 11 –13 September at BEC, Mumbai. This was inaugurated by Namrata Dixit, Model turned Bollywood actor in the presence of many eminent dignitaries from the travel and tourism trade.
 

With this year’s edition of ‘IITM’ in Mumbai, Sphere Travelmedia & Exhibitions completed fifteen years of providing the travel industry and discerning buyers from the travel – trade and corporate sector an opportunity to do business. With organizations and tourism boards from Malaysia and over 15 Indian states, ‘India International Travel Mart’ will showcase a variety of destinations from different spheres such as pilgrimages, adventures, culture & heritage, beaches, hills, luxury travel and many more. The participants included Travel agents & Tour Operators, DMC, Hotels & Resorts, National Tourist Organizations, Online Travel Portals etc.

 

The key partcipants were:

• Focus Country : Malaysia 

Host State: Maharashtra Tourism

• Partner State: Gujarat Tourism

• Feature States: Delhi, Chhattisgarh, Jharkhand, Himachal Pradesh, Kerala &  Madhya Pradesh

• Focus States: Karnataka, Goa & Madhya Pradesh, 
 

Highlights:

• This year India International Travel Mart witnessed several new products in the Hospitality and Travel sphere being unveiled. 

• The India International Travel Mart provides an ideal marketing opportunity and excellent backdrop to enhance the participant’s ‘brand-equity’ in the eyes of the discerning end consumer and the travel-trade. 

Boost for Domestic Tourism: Domestic Travel being India’s biggest travel segment, this year shall see participants from over 15 different tourism specialties.

• The events are supported by major associations such as Association of Domestic Tour Operators of India, Indian Association of Tour Operators and Outbound Tour Operators Association of India, etc

• Entry is Free
 

Speaking on the inauguration, Namrat Dixit said “The ‘India International Travel Mart’ provides an ideal ‘marketing opportunity’ and ‘excellent backdrop’ to enhance the participant’s ‘brand-equity’ in the eyes of the discerning end consumer and the travel-trade. I am highly delighted to be a part of this impeccable show.” 

 

Speaking on the event, Mr. Sanjay Hakhu, Director, Sphere TravelMedia said, “India in spite of the present business environment is fast emerging as one of the most interesting and productive countries for the travel trade industry both for leisure and business travel. A combination of factors is responsible for the growth and demand of travel trends from India. The visitor profile is on a B2B & B2C format like and will have over 20,000 visitors for three days”. 
 

Tourism Studies and Trends indicate that the year 2014 – 15 will see more than 18 million tourists embanking on overseas travel. With the advent of low cost international airfares, holiday packages that are available on monthly instalments are payable over a period of time, and thus International Travel is no longer a luxury. 
 

Mr. Rohit Hangal, Director, Sphere Travelmedia added “India is one of the fastest-growing outbound travel markets in the world. International tourism departures from India, have grown from 3.7 million in 1997 to 9.8 million in 2007 and to 14 million in 2011, and are further expected to grow over 18 million by 2015. International tourism expenditures have increased from US$ 1.3 billion in 1997 to US$ 8.2 billion in 2008 and are expected to touch USD 15 Billion by 2015. With more than 1.1 billion inhabitants and GDP increasing by more than 8% every year, the country offers enormous potential for future growth in outbound travel”. 

 

Rohit Hangal also added “With the present ongoing recession, International Arrivals in India has dropped and India International Travel Mart provides the right impetus to the Indian domestic tourism industry. With a base of over 200 million discerning domestic travel seekers, it is a yearlong market, no hospitality and travel organization can ignore”.