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Dates announced for new editions of BLTM to be held across Mumbai, Hyderabad and Delhi NCR in 2017
– Over 4700 appointments conducted between the Sellers and Buyers
– 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 launched
Business & Luxury Travel Mart (BLTM) at Hyatt Regency Gurgaon on 24-25 October 2016 has changed the face of MICE-focused travel shows in India. BLTM was 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.
For the first-time ever in a travel mart, over 150 corporate organizations from all over India attended the BLTM as qualified Hosted Buyers. In addition, international Hosted Buyers were also flown in from countries like South Africa, Thailand, USA, Taiwan, France and Malaysia.
Each Hosted Buyer was committed to conduct 30 meetings with Sellers every day. The 1:1 Hosted Buyer to Seller ratio at BLTM was in line with global standards of shows in this category.
There were 150 individual Sellers from 50 organisations from India and abroad, in their colourful booths and pavilions.
Nepal, Taiwan and Korea were the largest international participants, while China, Fiji, Dubai and South Africa were participating as the Feature Countries. There were Sellers from Liberia, Thailand, Turkey, United Kingdom, Russia as well.
Among Indian states, Bengal Tourism 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 were the Feature States who participated in a big way. Sellers from all parts of India were represented.
Premium hotel chains at BLTM included FRHI Hotels & Resorts showcasing Fairmont, Raffles and Swissotel, Ottila International, Royal Orchid Hotels, InterContinental Hotels Group and Hyatt Hotels. Other leading hotel brands like Taj Hotels Resorts & Palaces, Starwood Hotels & Resorts, Radisson Blu Hotels, Lemon Tree & Red Fox Hotels, Banyan Tree Hotels & Resorts, Clark & 1589 Group of Hotels, The Ambassador Group of Hotels, The Pride Group of Hotels, DS Group of Hotels, Mahindra Hotels, The Tamara Coorg and several others were present.
Hyatt Regency Gurgaon was the Venue Partner for BLTM and Hyatt Hotels had a corporate pavilion at the BLTM, with participation from several properties.
The online meeting diary of BLTM for making appointments between the Buyers and Sellers registered over 2200 confirmed appointments prior to the show. Additionally, 2500 meetings were scheduled onsite during the Tea sessions between the Buyers and Sellers.
In addition to the Hosted Buyers, there were 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.
Akbar Holidays was the official Travel Partner of BLTM and Eco Rent A Car was the Transportation Partner.
Institutional Partners included SITE, OTOAI, NIMA, IATO, TAAI, TAFI, ETAA, ADTOI, The Film & Television Producers Guild of India Ltd and WedWise.
In another first, the MICE CLUB was 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 was an equally interesting line up of Panel Discussions conducted on the sidelines of the exhibition. The eminent panelists at the sessions deliberated on the latest issues related to Incentive Travel, MICE, Luxury, Destination Weddings, and destination promotion through film shoots.
The session on Incentive Travel was organised by SITE, followed by that on MICE by NIMA. Back-to-back discussions were conducted on the emerging opportunities and destinations in the destination weddings market by WedWise. Another interesting session was dedicated to destination promotions through film shoots, curated by The Film & Television Producers Guild of India.
“BLTM filled 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,” remarked Sanjiv Agarwal, Chairman of Fairfest Media Ltd.
Recording spectacular success in the very first show, BLTM has announced new editions in 2017 in major markets like Mumbai (21-23 February), Hyderabad (14-15 July) and Delhi NCR (26-27 October).
Mumbai, Hyderabad and Delhi are major business hubs of India, with decent buyer potential of Business, MICE and Luxury Travel spending.
India, being a continent size country the market is huge and distributed in different geographical regions. That is the reason why BLTM is organised in three cities in 2017, to tap the top markets of West, South and North India. The marketing campaign for the BLTM 2017 series has already received good initial response, with all the exhibitors showing confirmed interest in multiple cities.
For more information on BLTM, visit http://bltm.co.in/
Source: travelnewsdigest.in