The Hindu : Karnataka / Bangalore News : India International Travel Mart begins

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Sunday, Jul 13, 2008
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Karnataka

Karnataka - Bangalore

India International Travel Mart begins

Staff Reporter

200 participants have set up stalls at the exhibition

— Photo: V. Sreenivasa Murthy

Attracting attention: Folk artistes performing at Gujarat stall during the inauguration of India International Travel Mart in Bangalore on Saturday.

BANGALORE: The three-day travel and tourism exhibition — India International Travel Mart — jointly organised by the Travel Media Networks and Karnataka Tourism, began at Palace Grounds in Bangalore on Saturday.

As many as 200 participants, including the tourism departments from 16 countries and 20 States in India, have set up their stalls in the exhibition to provide information on travel and tourism. Travel agents, tour operators, hotels, cruises, airlines and online travel portals are among other participants. The exhibition is on till July 14.

Rohit Hangal, Director, Travel Media Networks, said that India was fast becoming one of the most interesting and productive countries for travel — both for leisure and business travel. Similarly, five million Indians visit international destinations every year.

He said that Indian travellers were attracted to international destinations in the Asia-Pacific region and that was why India had emerged as a large travel market for these countries. “According to tourism studies and trends, this year shall see more than 10 million dollars spent by Indian tourists embarking on overseas travel.

Now, international travel is no longer a luxury,” Mr. Hangal said.

Egypt Tourism, Indonesia Tourism, Thailand Tourism Authority, Dubai Tourism, Switzerland Tourism, Tourism Ireland, Sri Lankan Airlines, Star Cruises, Cosmos and Globus, Europe Incoming -UK, Ace Travels-Greece, Italy and Tourism Malaysia are among the international participants.

Speaking to The Hindu, Mr. Hangal said: “Indian tourism destinations have failed to accommodate more visitors as they lack facilities, including the number of hotel rooms. Even room tariff in many Indian tourism centres are high and that discourages tourists. We need to have more hotel rooms in India to enhance tourism industry with attractive tariff packages,” he said.

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