Kerala - Kochi   

Kerala Travel Mart to begin on Wednesday

Staff Reporter

People from 50 countries expected to participate

KOCHI: Chief Minister V.S. Achuthanandan will inaugurate the fourth Kerala Travel Mart (KTM) at the Rajiv Gandhi Indoor Stadium here on Wednesday evening. The mart is held every two years to showcase Kerala to global tourism players.

Union Tourism Minister Ambika Soni will be the chief guest at the ceremony, held on World Tourism Day. A cultural exposition of Kerala and a fireworks display will follow the inaugural function.

The mart will be on at Le Meridien till Saturday. A buyer-seller meet is being organised by the Kerala Travel Mart Society and Kerala Tourism.

Tourism sources said that 670 domestic and 470 international buyers confirmed their participation.

"One hundred and ninety four sellers (players in the tourism field) from Kerala and neighbouring States will have 234 stalls at the venue. This year, the sellers include a whole lot of home-stays from different parts of Kerala and specialty hospitals (which promote medical tourism). ."

There would be participation from all south Indian States.

A good share of buyers is from the U.K., Germany and France - there are 160 of them, including journalists from reputed tourism publications.

Chief Executive Officer of the KTM Society Mathew Philip said that for the first time buyers were expected from Argentina, Brazil, Iran and Italy.

"People from 50 countries are expected to turn up at the event. The tourism offices of the Union Government deserve credit for being the main sources of the buyers. On our part, we invited buyers from our regular database."

Kerala Tourism set apart Rs.35 lakh and the KTM Society Rs.50 lakh for hosting the show. Many airlines, including Air-India, offered travel discounts to many buyers.

A new facility on offer this year would be the provision for buyers to pre-fix appointments with sellers. Over 250 of the buyers evinced interest in pre and post function tours to tourism properties within the State. "Though we opened 50 per cent more stalls than the 2004 KTM, all were sold out within a month. The mart evoked tremendous response from the world over, since most of the buyers and sellers who participated in previous KTMs confirmed participation," said Mr. Philip.

Tourism Director B Suman said that buyers were expected from Europe, the U.S., Asia, Latin America and Australia.

New avenues

"With passage of time, Kerala Tourism is focussing on new tourism avenues, after entrusting the organising of the mart with the KTM Society. The aim is to empower private players in the field as well. But the KTM will be facilitating the event," he said.

Boat show

The annual India International Boat Show would be held from October 20 to 22 at the same venue. While smaller boats would be showcased at the hotel's convention centre, bigger ones and houseboats would be berthed at the marina behind the hotel. A host of players from within and outside the country were expected to attend the show.

Printer friendly page  
Send this article to Friends by E-Mail

Stories in this Section

Kerala Travel Mart to begin on Wednesday
Steps to improve security for women
Modernise legal education, says Minister
In Kochi Today

Copyright © 2006, The Hindu. Republication or redissemination of the contents of this screen are expressly prohibited without the written consent of The Hindu