Category Archives: Exhibitions

Co-hosted by Lufthansa India and the Delhi-NCR chapter of The Indus Entrepreneurs (TiE), the third edition of Start-up Expo held in Delhi witnessed over 19,000 delegates from various cities across India, including 100 investors, over 100 recognised business experts and nearly 500 start-up exhibitors. The single-day event also hosted the grand finale of the first season of ‘Elevator Pitch’ contest, launched in August by Lufthansa. Manasi Kulkarni, Co-Founder, Innoweave Biocare, emerged as the winner by outshining over 500 contestants. Making a sharp 3-minute pitch and displaying sharp business acumen, Kulkarni won the prize of sponsored seat at a global entrepreneurship programme at the prestigious Cambridge University in the UK, a Lufthansa business-class ticket to Europe as well as coveted mentorship from TiE Delhi-NCR. Wolfgang Will, Senior Director – South Asia, Lufthansa, said, “The overwhelming response to Start-up Expo has led to its exponential growth over the past three years into what is today India’s largest ecosystem for start-up success. It is also an affirmation of the fact that young entrepreneurs in India are chasing new dreams, exploring new possibilities and we feel absolutely privileged to enable them in taking the leap from dreams to reality.” Geetika Dayal, Executive Director, TiE Delhi-NCR, said, “Start-up Expo is an important catalyst in the entrepreneurial revolution in India. Together with Lufthansa, we are proud to have created this platform for driving start-up success in India.”

The 2018 edition of IFTM Top Resa recorded an increase of 4.83 per cent over last year with the participation of 34.048 professionals. Next year, the prestigious event will be held from October 1-4, 2019 at Pavilion 1, Porte de Versailles. Every year, the show continues to develop its offer to propose more transversality, along with a favourable response to the expectations of the industry professionals.

The Travel Trade Association of Uttar Pradesh (TTAUP) organised the second edition of Travel Trade Mart (TTM) 2018 at Hyatt Regency, Lucknow. Around 161 travel trade professionals from Lucknow, 22 from Kanpur, 18 from Varanasi, 44 from across UP and 85 metro cities attended the event. As many as 36 exhibitors showcased their products to travel agents and tour operators of UP. The exhibitors encompassed all segments of tourism and hospitality. Awanish Kumar Avasthi (IAS), Additional Chief Secretary and Director General, Department of Tourism, Government of Uttar Pradesh, inaugurated the mart. In his address, he said, “These regional travel trade shows are integral to the overall growth of the tourism sector in the state of Uttar Pradesh and should be organised more often.” Vivek Pandey, Pesident, TTAUP along with other office bearers of the association welcomed the chief guest and travel tradae partners from across the country.

With its theme “Together for a Better Tomorrow”, SIHRA Convention is taking place from October 4-5, with participation from nearly 600 delegates. The convention looks at connecting all the south Indian states and brings about varied opportunities in exploring the hospitality and tourism fraternity. The event is expected to be a perfect mix of technology, emerging trends in the beverage and food industry, innovations in hotel projects and women leadership in the hospitality industry, among others. It is being supported by the departments of tourism, governments of Tamil Nadu, Karnataka, Kerala, Andhra Pradesh, Telangana and Puducherry.  The event will be inaugurated by Vellamandi N Natarajan, Minister for Tourism, Government of Tamil Nadu, in the presence of SP Velumani, Minister for Municipal Administration and Rural Development; KA Sengottaiyan, Minister for School Education; Shri Sellur K Raju, Minister for Co-operation; RB Udhaya Kumar, Minister for Revenue and Disaster Management and Dindigul C Sreenivasan, Minister for Forests Department. Edappadi K Palaniswami, Chief Minister, Tamil Nadu, said,  The state continues to hold the leading position in tourist arrivals, both domestic and international for the fourth year in a row. I am sure that SIHRA, which has over 1100 hotel and restaurant members playing a major role in providing comprehensive logistic support to all our tourists.” S K Hari Arumugam, Chairman, Organising Committee, SIHRA Convention 2018, said, “It is our objective that each and every fellow member is an integral part of this movement, empowered with a forum to voice concerns and have problems redressed and, to facilitate every member in  enabling them to take advantage of this event and enterprise.”

The tourism industry in Kerala has showed its strong character post the devastating floods and the way it made the revival is astounding, said K J Alphons, Union Minister of State (I/C) for Tourism at the inaugural ceremony of the tenth edition of Kerala Travel Mart (KTM) held at Samudrika and Sagara Convention Centre, Willingdon Island in Kochi. “I give emphasis on Kerala Tourism’s ability to recoup after a severe natural calamity as an epitome wherever I go. We bounced back defeating all the never-seen-before challenges. It gives the positive sign that tourism has regained its vigour post the flood,” he remarked. On the occasion, he also inaugurated the pavilion of Responsible Tourism put up by Kerala’s Department of Tourism. Later, he made a round of the various exhibition stalls and pavilions. Rani George, Tourism Secretary, Kerala; Baby Mathew, President, KTM Society; M Vijayakumar, Chairman, KTDC; E M Najeeb, Senior Vice President, Indian Association of Tour Operators (IATO); and Abraham George, Former President, KTM, accompanied the minister. The four-day event inaugurated by Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan has its focus on the Malabar as a core theme. KTM 2018 features 1,600 buyers, one-third of them from 66 foreign countries. KTM, with 325 sellers in 400 stalls, has 1,635 buyers who are top functionaries of firms in tourism industry within the country and outside. The number of foreign buyers is 545, and they come from 66 countries, including USA, Russia, Japan, China, Australia and Britain.

Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath recently inaugurated India Travel Mart (ITM) Lucknow in the presence of Rita Bahuguna Joshi, Tourism Minister, Uttar Pradesh and other senior dignitaries, delegates, exhibitors, hoteliers, travel agents, tour organisers and media from various parts of the country. Many tourism departments like Host State – Uttar Pradesh Tourism, Partner State – Gujarat Tourism & Rajasthan Tourism, Himachal Tourism, Jharkhand Tourism, Uttarkhand Tourism, Madhya Pradesh Tourism, West Bengal Tourism, Delhi Tourism, Spiceland Holidays, Globewel Holidays Dubai, Club Mahindra, Country Inn Group of Hotels & Resorts,  Travel Mail, Hoteliers, travel agents and tour organisers participated at the event.   

The 26th IT&CM Asia and 21st CTW Asia-Pacific kicked off in Bangkok, Thailand and welcomed some 3,000 delegates, including over 500 hosted buyers and media, from more than 50 territories and countries. Over 50 industry thought-leaders from government bodies, related associations, corporate organisations and industry professions delivered knowledge sessions. The main keynote presented by Martin Nydegger, CEO, Switzerland Tourism; Oscar Cerezales, COO, MCI Asia-Pacific; Nichapa Yoswee, Senior Vice President – Business, Thailand Convention & Exhibition Bureau (TCEB); and Daniel Chua, Vice President – Meetings & Incentives, Singapore Associations of Conventions and Exhibition Organisers (SACEOS), set the tone towards the transformation of audience engagement as the demand to stand out and being top-of-mind becomes more competitive. TCEB hosted the Official Opening Ceremony & Welcome Reception themed ‘Thailand Limited’ that rounded off Day 1 of activities at the GMM Live House at CentralWorld, featuring a colourful night of uniquely Thai entertainment, local cuisine and hospitality.  

The four-day Tourism EXPO Japan (TEJ) 2018 is underway at Tokyo Big Sight on the theme ‘New Forms of Tourism and Travel’. The India pavilion at the exhibition was inaugurated by Padmini Brahma, Assistant Director—East Asia Region, Indiatourism; Satya Pal Kumar, First Secretary (Trade), Embassy of India, Tokyo; Raj Kumar Srivastava, Deputy Chief of Mission, Embassy of India, Tokyo; Apurva Varma, Additional Chief Secretary to Government—Tourism, Culture & Religious Endowments Department, Tamil Nadu; and V Palanikumar, Commissioner of Tourism and Chairman & Managing Director, Tamil Nadu Tourism Development Corporation. The TEJ Ministerial Roundtable has attracted the participation of tourism ministers from 14 countries and representatives of tourism-related international organisations, the Japan Tourism Agency and the governor of Tokyo. In the exhibition business meetings, business talks with some 1,300 buyers and sellers will be held at exhibition booths with 200,000 visitors expected. Anita Mendiratta, Moderator at the TEJ Ministerial Roundtable, said, “Through tourism and travel, people worldwide are opening their minds and hearts to understand, respect and celebrate differences across countries, cultures and communities.”

Madhya Pradesh Tourism Board (MPTB) highlighted the state’s historical monuments and cultural heritage through its participation at India Tourism Mart (ITM) recently held at The Ashok New Delhi. The focus was to showcase and revive the fast-growing tourism sector of Madhya Pradesh. The stall of MPTB was visited by industry influencers, travel enthusiasts, corporate, business heads, travel operators and media professionals from different corners of the city to exchange views and opinions on Madhya Pradesh Tourism. MPTB is going to organise two major events in Bhopal this year – Madhya Pradesh Travel Mart from October 5-7 and Adventure NEXT from December 3-5. The former is organised by ATTA in collaboration with MPTB in association with ATOAI. ATTA has chosen Madhya Pradesh because of its adventure-friendly destinations and efforts of MPTB to promote adventure tourism in the state. As quoted by the officials of MPTB, “Madhya Pradesh is flourished with historic marvels, home of wildlife animals and warm people. It is also called the tiger state of India. We expect major inbound tourist footfall mainly from UK. If you look at the statistics, a lot of international destinations like Switzerland, Singapore are now filled with Indian tourists. So if Indians are willing to go abroad and see destinations of the world, why not explore our own country. So we are having a balanced approach in all the sectors of tourism such as adventure, wildlife, heritage and many more.”

With around 250 foreign buyers and 150 exhibitors, the first-ever India Tourism Mart (ITM) 2018 was inaugurated by chief guest Piyush Goyal, Minister of Railways, Coal and Corporate Affairs, Government of India, along with Mohammed Sajid, Minister of Tourism, Air Transport, Handicraft and Social Economy of the Kingdom of Morocco, KJ Alphons, Minister of State for Tourism (I/C), Government of India; Navjot Singh Sidhu, Minister of Local Government, Tourism, Cultural Affairs and Museums, Government of Punjab; Kadakampally Surendran, Minister for Tourism, Government of Kerala and other officials.