First ever ‘India Tourism Mart’ to be hosted in New Delhi from 16th to 18th September by the Ministry of Tourism

Newdelhi:9/7/18:The Minister of State (I/C) for Tourism, Shri. K. J. Alphons announced today that the Tourism Ministry in partnership with the  Federation of Associations in  Indian  Tourism and  Hospitality  (FAITH)  and with the support of State /UT Governments  will organize  the  ‘first ever’ India  Tourism  Mart (ITM)  from  16^th  to  18^th September, 2018  at  Vigyan Bhawan, New Delhi. The objective  of  the event  is  to  create  an annual Global  Tourism  Mart  for  India  in line with  major  international  travel  marts  being  held  in  countries   across  the world. The Mart  will   provide  a  platform  for  all stakeholders  in the  tourism  and   hospitality industries  to  interact  and   transact  business  opportunities.

Addressing the media in New Delhi today, the Tourism Minister said that India with its great potential in tourism and hospitality sector needs to dramatically increase the foreign tourist footfall and reap the benefits. The Minister added that the Tourism Ministry has been conducting foreign road shows, releasing theme based promotional videos and thus, the ITM 2018 will be a big step which will get buyers from all over the world. Shri Alphons also hoped that through ITM 2018, India can showcase its hidden destinations  to the world, especially to emerging tourism markets like China, Latin America, and Japan etc. The Minister also hoped that with this event, the Government’s aim of bringing the Tourist footfall to double in next three years shall be fulfilled. The Minister thanked the entire Tourism Industry for coming together and for their active involvement in materializing this global event which has been due for a long time. The Tourism Minister, during the Consultative meeting with States  held prior to the briefing, urged all the states to come up quickly with unique promotional videos etc. so that it can be showcased for better publicity.

Speaking at the event, the Tourism Secretary, Smt Rashmi Verma said that ITM will be the best platform for the States to showcase their products to international buyers, opinion makers and bloggers and attract more tourists to their respective states. The Secretary added that till now only few states like Kerala, Rajasthan were conducting the Tourism Marts and only a few states have participated in International Marts.  Therefore, ITM 2018 will be a great opportunity for other states who neither have their own Marts nor ever participated in any International Marts to showcase themselves in front of the International buyers. Smt. Verma also conveyed that the Overseas Tourism Offices will make the list of buyers which shall be verified and finalized by a Committee which has all the Tourism/Hospitality associations so that only genuine buyers take part in the Mart.

The Chairman of the organizing committee and FAITH Secretary, Shri Subhash Goyal said that it has been for the first time that the Tourism industry stakeholders are coming together for such a large scale event and with Ministry’s support and quick decision the ITM 2018 has now been realized. He conveyed that FAITH is the   apex organization of all the important trade and hospitality associations of the country with all the 10 major Tourist organizations like FHRI, HAI, IATO being involved in this mega event and India Convention Promotion Board (ICPB) shall coordinate the whole event. Shri. Goyal also said that a dedicated website shall be there for the event as follows: http://www.indiatourismmart.com/

Buyer  delegates  for ITM 2018 are  being  invited   from  important and   potential  source  markets  such  as  North America,  West  Europe, East  Asia, Latin  America,  CIS  countries  etc.  Approximately, 300+ international buyers, influencers, bloggers etc. are expected to attend the event.  The international   delegates from overseas markets   will   interact with Indian seller delegates and the buyers  will   include  current buyers  who  are  already  selling  India  as  well  as  potential  buyers  who  are  not  selling  India at  present  but  have  shown interest  in  the  country. The  event   will   also  provide  an  opportunity  to  the  buyers  to  see  the world class  tourism facilities  available  in our  country  such  as  Airports, Hotels,  Tourist  destinations,    upcoming  facilities,  MICE  facilities,  possibility in the field  of  adventure  tourism and other  niche  products.

Approximately  175-200  stalls  will  be  provided  to the  sellers  to  enable  them  to  interact with the buyers.  These  will include  pavilion  for  States & Union Territories to  showcase  their  unique  tourism  destinations  and  products.

The  event  will  be  formally  inaugurated  on  17^th September, 2018 and  B2B  meetings  between  buyer and  seller  delegates  will be  held  on  17^th and 18^th September, 2018.  FAITH and  State  Governments  will   offer  pre and  post  event  FAM  trips (Familiarization trips)  for  the buyer  delegates  from  overseas.