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Over 2000 appointments scheduled between the Sellers and Buyers prior to the show
– 50 Seller Booths and Destination Pavilions with 150 Individual Sellers
– 150 qualified Hosted Buyers from all over India
– 150+ Invitees from travel trade associations and members of the media
– India’s first MICE CLUB to be unveiled
Business & Luxury Travel Mart (BLTM) at Hyatt Regency Gurgaon on 24-25 October 2016 is all set to change the face of MICE-focused travel shows in India. BLTM has been very well received as India’s first full-fledged travel mart focused on Sellers from Business, MICE and Luxury Travel all over the world, in its first year itself.
There are over 150 qualified Hosted Buyers attending the BLTM from all over India. In addition, international Hosted Buyers are also being flown in from countries like South Africa, Thailand, USA, Taiwan, France and Malaysia.
Each Hosted Buyer is committed to conduct 30 meetings with Sellers every day. The 1:1 Hosted Buyer to Seller ratio at BLTM is in line with global standards of shows in this category.
There are 150 individual Sellers from 50 organisations from India and abroad, in their colourful booths and pavilions.
Nepal, Taiwan and Korea are the largest international participants, while China, Fiji, Dubai and South Africa are participating as the Feature Countries. There are Sellers from Liberia, Thailand, Turkey and United Kingdom as well.
Byungsun Lee, Director of Korea Tourism Organisation- India Office, said, “The main reason for our participation is to capture the MICE business from North India. BLTM belongs to a reputed travel trade brand and KTO expects a good first inaugural show. We are positive that the event will have healthy participants of buyers and sellers.”
Among Indian states, Bengal Tourism has supported BLTM in a big way, by hosting the networking lunches and dinners for the Buyers and Sellers. Goa, Himachal Pradesh, Gujarat and Jammu & Kashmir are Feature States participating in a big way. Sellers from all parts of India are represented.
Premium hotel chains at BLTM include FRHI Hotels & Resorts showcasing Fairmont, Raffles and Swissotel, Ottila International, Royal Orchid Hotels and InterContinental Hotels Group. Other leading hotel brands like Taj Hotels Resorts & Palaces, Starwood Hotels & Resorts, Radisson, Lemon Tree, Banyan Tree Hotels & Resorts and several others are present.
Hyatt Regency Gurgaon is the Venue Partner for BLTM and Hyatt Hotels has a corporate pavilion at the BLTM, with participation from several properties.
“At BLTM, we are looking forward to good networking opportunities with the large hospitality, travel and MICE brands in the sector. It will be worthwhile to know international trends being followed by global MNCs in MICE,” mentioned Kaushik Sinha, Hosted Buyer from Magma Fincorp Ltd.
Hosted Buyer Gary Pillai, CEO, Africa Vision Tours, said, “What attracted me to BLTM was its focus on Business and Luxury Travel, which I am keen to explore and implement in our business.”
The online meeting diary of BLTM for making appointments between the Buyers and Sellers has registered over 2000 confirmed appointments prior to the show and an additional 1400 meeting requests have been received.
Tanmay Khare, Hosted Buyer from Infrastructure & Services division of Mahindra & Mahindra Financial Services Ltd, said that BLTM is a single stop solution provider with a forum which is highly interactive and market oriented.
Amol Prasadi, Hosted Buyer from Red Bull commented, “Our participation at BLTM is motivated by an ongoing search to provide new destinations and experience to internal & external stakeholders. With many of the decision makers confined to their offices mostly, such platforms as BLTM offers opportunities to explore the world around plus the changing dynamics of travel and MICE industry.”
Hosted Buyer Jayesh Ashar, Managing Director, Pearl Travels is expecting something different at BLTM in comparison to other popular trade shows that happen in India. While Ali Ankleshwaria, Administration, Adani Wilmar Ltd, feels that it is a privilege to be associated with India’s first full-fledged business travel mart, BLTM.
“Our expectations from BLTM are very high as Fairfest Media is very well known for its TTF and OTM which are the biggest platforms for travel agencies to market their products,” said Arjun R Doshi, Hosted Buyer from Classic Holidays.
In addition to the Hosted Buyers, there are an equal number of invitees from travel trade associations like Society for Incentive Travel Excellence (SITE) India, Outbound Tour Operators Association of India (OTOAI), Network of Indian MICE Agents (NIMA), Indian Association of Tour Operators (IATO), Travel Agents Association of India (TAAI), Travel Agents Federation of India (TAFI), Enterprising Travel Agent’s Association (ETAA), Association of Domestic Tour Operators of India (ADTOI) and members of the media.
Anup Nair, President, SITE India Chapter, said, “The SITE India Chapter is very pleased to have been asked to be the Knowledge Partner of BLTM in October 2016. SITE has curated an interesting discussion, which we hope will encourage and help more of our fraternity.”
Akbar Holidays is the official Travel Partner of BLTM and Eco Rent A Car is the Transportation Partner.
Institutional Partners include SITE, OTOAI, NIMA, IATO, TAAI, TAFI, ETAA, ADTOI, The Film & Television Producers Guild of India Ltd and WedWise.
Gajesh Girdhar, Founder Member and National Coordinator, NIMA, commented, “BLTM is a MICE oriented event and therefore supported by NIMA. We expect India to be in Top 5 MICE markets by 2020 and we anticipate BLTM to raise the bar to next level in terms of a quality and productive business networking. NIMA strongly believes that BLTM will be the most sought MICE show parallel to any other MICE event in the world.”
“The concept of BLTM, being organised by Fairfest Media Ltd is very important. India’s business and luxury travel industry is maturing and increasingly seen as a specialised market with differentiated needs, in keeping with global trends,” said Rajan Sehgal, Chairman, TAAI Northern Region.
In another first, the MICE CLUB is being launched at BLTM, with an objective to facilitate interaction and networking among a community of Buyers and Sellers from Business Travel and MICE segments. The missions and objectives of the club include organising the Buyer and Seller communities serving the Business Travel and MICE markets in India, facilitating ongoing interaction and networking, sharing knowledge and creating standards and accreditations.
In addition to buying and selling opportunities at the show floor, there is an equally interesting line up of Panel Discussions (details enclosed), to be conducted on the sidelines of the exhibition. The eminent panelists at the sessions will deliberate on the latest issues related to Incentive Travel, MICE, Luxury, Wedding and destination promotion through films and film shoots.
The session on Incentive Travel is being organised by SITE, followed by that on MICE by NIMA. Back-to-back discussions will be conducted on the emerging opportunities and destinations in the wedding market by WedWise. Another interesting session will be dedicated to destination promotions through film shoots, to be curated by The Film & Television Producers Guild of India.
“BLTM fills a vacuum in the evolution of travel trade shows in India, by introducing a sustainable large-format show focused on Business Travel and MICE Buyers in a format where fully Hosted Buyers meet Sellers based on pre scheduled appointments. Smaller table-top shows have been organised in the past,” remarked Sanjiv Agarwal, Chairman of Fairfest Media Ltd.
The show dates of 2017 have already been announced as enquiries have started pouring in. There are plans to replicate this show in other major markets of West and South India.
For more information on BLTM 2016, visit http://bltm.co.in/
Source: travelnewsdigest.in