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OTM 2017 will be held in Mumbai, the largest source market for leisure and MICE travel in the country, from 21–23 February, at the Bombay Exhibition Centre.
More than a 1000 sellers from 60 countries are likely to exhibit at the OTM 2017. These include National and State Tourism Organisations, Hotels, Airlines, Destination Marketing Companies and other suppliers serving leisure as well as MICE markets.
5447 qualified buyers and travel trade visitors have already registered for visiting OTM 2017. There are 814 fully and partly hosted buyer registrations, which is the largest number of hosted buyers in any travel trade show in India. The hosted buyers will be matched with the sellers and appointments will be scheduled in advance for face to face meetings during the show.
The total number of visitors is likely to cross 10,000, as in previous years.
According to data published by India’s Ministry of Tourism, 20.38 million Indians took foreign trips out of India in 2015 (11.1% higher than 2014). The number of domestic trips within India was a whopping 1432 million (11.6% higher than in 2014). In contrast, the number of foreign tourist arrival was 8.03 million (4.05% higher than in 2014). OTM caters to all of these markets.
According to UNWTO, the number of Indian outbound travellers will grow to approximately 50 million in 2020, contributing $28 billion in expenditure.
Mumbai is the biggest source market for the outbound and domestic tourists in India. Together with its hinterland markets in the West & South India, it commands 60% of the total outbound tourists from India. It is also the strongest market of Business, Luxury and MICE travel for international as well as domestic segments.
Countries at OTM 2017 include Abu Dhabi, Ajman, Bahrain, Bangladesh, Bhutan, Cambodia, China, Croatia, Cyprus, Dubai, Egypt, Fiji, Fujairah, Greece, India, Indonesia, Japan, Kenya, Macao, Malaysia, Maldives, Nepal, Philippines, Ras Al Khaimah, Romania, Rwanda, Seychelles, Sharjah, Sri Lanka, Taiwan, Thailand, Turkey, Vietnam and country representations from Argentina, Australia, Bolivia, Brazil, Bulgaria, Chile, Ecuador, France, Germany, Hong Kong, Ireland, Italy, Jordan, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Lebanon, Mauritius, Mongolia, Morocco, Russia, Singapore, Slovenia, South Africa, Tanzania, United Kingdom, USA.
Indian destinations are equally aggressive as their international counterparts. Tourism departments along with private operators from Andaman & Nicobar, Andhra Pradesh, Assam, Chhattisgarh, Gujarat, Haryana, Himachal Pradesh, Jammu & Kashmir, Jharkhand, Karnataka, Kerala, Lakshadweep, Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra, Manipur, Meghalaya, Odisha, Punjab, Sikkim, Uttar Pradesh, Uttarakhand, West Bengal and state representations from Daman & Diu, Delhi, Goa, Puducherry, Rajasthan, Tamil Nadu, Telangana are participating in the show in a big way.
OTM 2017 shall be co-located with the Mumbai edition of BLTM – India’s definitive show on Business Travel, Luxury and MICE segments, where qualified hosted buyers meet the sellers by appointments.
Fairfest was the first mover in India in the space of travel marts. It was established in 1989. Its OTM is now India’s largest travel trade show on the basis of number sellers as well as buyers.
OTM is supported by Incredible India, Pacific Asia Travel Association (PATA), Travel Agents Association of India (TAAI), Outbound Tour Operators Association of India (OTOAI), Indian Association of Tour Operators (IATO), Association of Domestic Tour Operators of India (ADTOI), Association of Domestic Tour Operators of India (ADTOI), Network of Indian MICE Agents (NIMA), IATA Agents Association of India (IAAI), Maharashtra Tour Operators Association (MTOA), Travel Agents Association of Pune (TAAP), Travel Agents Association of Nashik (TAAN), South Gujarat Association of Travel Agents (SATA).
In addition to buying and selling opportunities on the show floor, exhibitors from various countries and states will also make colourful cultural presentations. There will be an equally interesting line up of panel discussions conducted on the sidelines of the mart. Eminent experts and leaders from the industry will deliberate on the latest issues and prospects related to Domestic, Inbound, Outbound, MICE, Niche Tourism.
Films play an important role in promoting tourism. Mumbai being one of the biggest global hubs of film production, OTM is partnering with Film and TV Producers Guild of India to organise an exclusive event on the opening day of OTM focused on promoting tourism through films shoots, which will be attended by international and state tourism boards and leading film production companies.
Sanjiv Agarwal, Chairman & CEO, Fairfest Media Ltd (organiser of OTM and Publisher of Travel News Digest): “Tourism industry in India will show off as the next big thing at OTM 2017, with the largest ever gathering of buyers and sellers, from around the world. We are especially excited because OTM has emerged as the largest travel trade show in India in terms of exhibit area, number of sellers and buyers.”
For more information on OTM 2017, visit http://otm.co.in/
Quotes:
Guldeep Singh Sahni, President, OTOAI: “OTOAI is proud of its association with OTM right since the inception of OTOAI. The quality of suppliers that OTM brings along with new products attracts OTOAI to bring in quality buyers who have demonstrated quality and quantity in outbound tourism industry.”
Pronab Sarkar, President, IATO: “Every year the travel trade fraternity looks forward to OTM because it has an exceptional ability to bind the tourism industry under one roof. As the national apex body of the tourism industry, IATO will continue its support to OTM in the years to come.”
P P Khanna, President, ADTOI: “ADTOI supports OTM as Partner Association as it gives impetus to domestic tourism. OTM is one of the sought after travel marts where buyer-seller meets take place and generate good business for the industry players.”
Gajesh Girdhar, National Coordinator, NIMA: “OTM is the largest ever show being organised in India for the travel fraternity. Moreover the exhibitors are increasing every year which is making OTM more popular event for travel agents. OTM provides a big opportunity for agents doing MICE business.”
H.E. Mohammed Al Mheiri, Undersecretary, Minister Advisor– Tourism Affairs: “OTM is the most effective platform to market to the Indian travel industry catering to over 20 million outbound travelers spending over $10 billion and growing over 10% per year. It is really important for us to showcase UAE as a tourism destination in which Indian visitors can enjoy a wide variety of unique products and tourism services.”
Gülara Alkaçır, Culture & Tourism Officer, Turkish Ministry of Culture and Tourism: “We have been attending OTM for seven years. Every year we are expecting more tourists from India. We are planning to arrange special area for wedding tourism in Turkey and promote the other popular destinations like Istanbul and Cappadocia.”
Soraya Homchuen, Director, TAT Mumbai: “We are delighted at the prospect of being associated with OTM, which is one the biggest B2B trade fairs in the tourism industry. Like every year, we are anticipating OTM to be a successful affair considering India is one of the fastest growing outbound markets for Thailand.”
Dimitrios Tryfonopoulos, Secretary General, Greek National Tourism Organisation (GNTO): Having GNTO taking part in OTM 2017 signifies the dynamic perspectives of cooperation between Greece and India in the tourism field. GNTO is focused on promoting all thematic forms of tourism that are appealing to our visitors from India.”
Shelly Chandhok, Country Manager, Visit Indonesia Tourism Office: “OTM will be a unique opportunity for Indonesian travel industry partners to meet, network a good number of prospective travel professionals from different segments of the travel industry pan India.”
Ismail A Hamid, Egyptian Tourism Counsellor, Egyptian Tourism Office: “OTM is one of the most prominent travel trade events in India. Yearly, Egypt participates in the show and this year I can see even more interest from the Egyptian private sector to participate at the show.”
Valsa Nair Singh, Principal Secretary- Tourism & Culture, Government of Maharashtra: “The objective of participation at OTM is to promote Maharashtra as the world-class tourist destination and offer opportunity to travel and tour operators to interact with foreign buyers, retail buyers, exhibitors, policy makers, investors and many more.”
Shailesh Bagauli, Secretary, Uttarakhand Tourism Development Board: “OTM plays a very important role for the State Tourism Boards like UTDB and other private stakeholders to gather under one roof to promote their products and get business.”
Farooq A Shah, Secretary Tourism, Government of Jammu & Kashmir: “Mumbai and the Western Region are the biggest source markets for J&K, which is why our participation in OTM is the biggest of any travel show in India, with a large number of private stakeholders.”
Navjot P S Randhawa, Director, Punjab Heritage and Tourism Promotion Board: “We had previously participated in OTM and have found it to be a great platform to meet the best and most promising travel agents and tour operators. Thus, we are looking forward to another great year at OTM 2017.”
Shikha Mishra, PR & Media Manager, Maldives Marketing and Public Relations Corporation: “OTM is a key industry exhibition and we are regular participants in this exhibition. It gives MMPRC and its industry partners a chance to come on board and meet all the major tour operators of India as well as network with the industry players.”
Noel Saxena, Country Head, Taiwan Tourism Bureau, India: “Our main aim to participate in OTM is to make more and more Indians aware of Taiwan and to increase our sales. Taiwan Tourism Bureau has been actively taking part in B2B meetings and roadshows and has got tremendous response each time. We are expecting the same from OTM as well.”
Chiranjib Biswas, Destination Manager, Kenya Tourism Board: “OTM is one of the oldest shows in the market. We are expecting world-class ambience and decision makers from top agencies as well as pan-India presence of tour operating companies, travel agencies and MICE planners.”
Akhtaruz Zaman Khan Kabir, CEO, Bangladesh Tourism Board: “OTM is the largest travel trade show in India and for the last couple of years, Bangladesh has been participating regularly. OTM provides a proper platform that helps us to connect with other foreign markets.”
Mohd Hafiz Hashim, Director, Tourism Malaysia, Mumbai: “AT OTM, we look forward to interacting with corporate houses and MICE specialists and familiarising them with the latest developments in terms of infrastructure and facilities and the various promotional schemes for the year.”
Belise Kariza, Chief Tourism Officer, Rwanda Development Board: “The Rwanda Development Board is delighted to be a part of OTM 2017 for the second consecutive year. Representatives from the Rwandan tourism industry, including tour and travel operators and hotels are representing Rwanda’s tourism offerings.”
SanJeet, Tourism Attaché, Philippines Tourism- Marketing Office, India: “We hope that OTM will prove to be a good platform to meet new buyers. India being an important source market for Philippines Tourism, participation in such esteemed conventions and also our first of 2017, will provide an excellent platform to showcase the destination’s products and services.”
Damcho Rinzin, Head- Tourism Promotion Division, Tourism Council of Bhutan: “We have participated in OTM for more than five years now. When we participate in OTM every year means OTM is proving to be a very good platform for us to promote Bhutan and generate business to Bhutan.”
Vaijayanthi Kari, India Representative, Tourism Fiji: “OTM is one of India’s high value travel trade events. As a result of our participation from the previous years, we understand that people we meet at OTM always reach out to us when they need any information or support from us. This encourages us to participate in the event every year.”
Source: travelnewsdigest.in