Kerala Travel Mart 2018, focusing on Malabar Tourism, will kick-start on Sep 27
The 10th Kerala Travel Mart, which is to held from 27 to 30 September 2018 at Bolghatty Grand Hayatt, Kochi, will focus on Malabar Tourism. The four day programme aims at making the tourism sector of the state to be a sustainable source of income.
The main attraction of KTM-2018 will be the Buyer-Seller meet, which is to held from 28th to 30th September. There will be B2B meetings held in coordination with Kerala Travel Mart Society and the Kerala Tourism Department, which will provide the opportunity to meet and discuss with the exponents of tourism and enhance business relationships to the comprehensive development of Kerala tourism industry.
Around 350 international and 890 local buyers have already registered for the meet. Other than USA and Russia, buyers from the neighborhood countries will also participate in the meet. So far, 320 sellers have registered for the event.
There will be 300 stalls with varied products and packages in the meet and the registration will be closed by 28th July. The specialty of the meet is the Public-Private sector participation. Tour operators, hotels, resorts, home-stays, house boats, Ayurvedic resorts, arts and cultural institutions etc., will be part of the meet. It will be a great opportunity to expand Kerala’s reach to an international level in the travel and tourism industry.
Bringing the world-class buyers and sellers under a single roof, the programme aims at making Kerala a place for stable growth in the tourism industry. Comprehensive waste disposal programmes, encouragement of organic cultivation, efficient utilization of energy, usage of indigenous products etc., will be the main subjects of the meet. Rainwater harvest, reduction in use of plastic products and enhancement greenery will also be discussed.
Eurasian Beauty Queen Yana Philippova has agreed to become the Goodwill Ambassador of the meet, representing Russia. It will strengthen the ties between both countries in the tourism sector. It is the continuation of the joint decision taken by the leaders of the countries last year to celebrate 2018 as the Tourism Year in India and Russia.
Once Kannur airport is functional, more tourist traffic is expected in the Malabar region. In order to improve the infrastructure in the tourism sector and to explore new tourism destinations, a number of programmes have been introduced by the state. The ambitious Malabar Cruise project, which connect the nine rivers of northern region, is under way and the government has already sanctioned Rs 1 crore for the same. Once completed, it will contribute in a great extend to the development of tourism industry in the Malabar region.
