Category Archives: Exhibitions

Mid-market travel, which is a key growth segment for the region’s hospitality and tourism sector, has been selected as the official show theme for Arabian Travel Market (ATM) 2016, which will take place at the Dubai International Convention & Exhibition Centre from April 25-28, 2016. “Data released by Jones Lang LaSalle (JLL) revealed that up to 50% of the 3,600 new hotel rooms to enter the Dubai market in the final months of 2015 have a 3-star or lower rating, while competitive room rates are set to rival the luxury market, as 69% to have four stars or less according to research,” said Nadege Noblet-Segers, Exhibition Manager, Arabian Travel Market. “This will add much-needed midscale room stock to the emirate’s hotel landscape, where three-star or below room supply only accounted for 29% of total availability in the first quarter of 2015,” she added. Destinations like Dubai are already putting in place programs to encourage investment into midmarket hotels such as the release of government land plots for three and four-star hotel projects, speeding up of the construction permit approval process to just two months, and the waiver of the 10% municipality room tax for four years upon completion. Dubai currently has a total hotel key count of approximately 94,000. This figure is set to rise to between 140,000 and 160,000 keys by 2020 with around 20% set to target the mid-market hotel sector. A host of global hotel brands and local UAE-based operators are targeting the aggressive brand expansion in this area, especially after the latest Knight Frank report. The study revealed that the Dubai segment showed a year-on-year RevPAR increase of 0.5% during the first quarter of the year, …

ITB China will take place as a new offshoot of ITB in the city of Shanghai from May 10-12, 2017, according to a release. The world’s leading travel trade show will provide China’s fast-growing travel market with its own platform, which is the combined product of strong partners. The corresponding agreements were signed on March 9, day one of ITB Berlin. The show will reportedly be organised by a new subsidiary of Messe Berlin, MB Exhibitions (Shanghai), and will focus exclusively on Chinese buyers meeting global destinations and service providers.

The ninth edition of Kerala Travel Mart (KTM) will be held at Samudrika and Sagara Convention Centre, Willingdon Island from September 28 to 30 and will focus on themes ‘Responsible tourism’ and ‘Muziris and Spice Route’. It is expected to attract around 1,500 buyers from around the country and abroad. Around 265 stalls of different sizes for the exhibitors within Kerala will be featured at the venue as part of the event. Abraham George, President, Kerala Travel Mart Society, says, “KTM 2016, which will coincide with ‘World Tourism Day’, will reach out to buyers from new international markets, emphasizing focus on the new arenas of tourism, including responsible tourism, and popularize the concept among the common man. To facilitate better interaction between buyers and sellers, we have initiated the process for sellers’ registration much in advance. The buyers’ registration is open till July 29. The mart will be a platform for B2B networking.”  

VisitBritain opened doors to its annual flagship event ExploreGB. Being held in Liverpool this year, the event providing 300 British & Irish tourism suppliers and destinations with an invaluable opportunity to meet and do business with up to 320 hosted international travel buyers from 40 countries. This two day event will be followed by 15 different familiarisation trips making the most exploring great Britain. A delegation of over 20 Indian buyers is also part of the event this year.

OTM 2016 was inaugurated by Thailand’s Tourism Minister Kobkarn Wattanavrangkul, along with Satish Soni, Director of Tourism, Government of Maharashtra and Joint Managing Director of Maharashtra Tourism Development Corporation (MTDC) in the presence of other global leaders of the travel fraternity. Neil Llanes from the Philippines stole the show at the inauguration with his beat boxing. OTM is being held at Bombay Exhibition Centre, NSE Complex, Goregaon (E) from February 18 to 20, 2016. It is a three-day B2B trade show, where more than a thousand sellers from 50 participating destinations will meet 6,000 buyers on the exhibition floor. Side by side the trade exhibition, there are a host of innovative events to discuss emerging trends in the travel business, such as TechForum@OTM, #StartupKnockDown and Shoot at Site@OTMsessions. These have been planned alongside OTM to specifically address topical agendas that are increasingly catching the industry’s attention. The UAE is leading their participation with all its 7 Emirates, making them the largest destination exhibitor in OTM 2016. They are joined by several global destinations at OTM 2016 with the keenness to carve a piece of India’s projected 50 million outbound pie – Philippines, Indonesia, Turkey, Sri Lanka, Mauritius, Thailand, New Zealand, China, Japan, Hong Kong, Macao, Bangladesh, Maldives, Oman, Bhutan, Seychelles, Israel, Rwanda, Romania, Fiji and Greece are all in place at India’s biggest travel show.

The maiden Bengal Travel Mart 2016 (BTM 2016) will be organised from February 26-28, 2016, at Hotel Mainak in Siliguri. It will be jointly organised by the Department of Tourism, Government of West Bengal with North Bengal Development Department (NBDD) and Eastern Himalaya Travel & Tour Operators’ Association (EHTTOA). A total of 100 buyers and 80 suppliers are expected to attend the three-day exhibition. Surajit Bose, Joint Director, West Bengal Tourism, has reportedly revealed that BTM 2016 will comprise exhibition of travel and tourism products, B2B meetings, panel discussions, and cultural events. While the first day will only see B2B engagements, general public will be allowed on the second and third day.

BIT 2016 Milan opened its doors to thousands of tourism experts, along with over 80 Indian Hosted Buyers reinstating the importance of the Indian outbound traveller. Business to India is also on the rise with 20 exhibitors from the country showcasing their products at the Fair from Feb 11-13. During the inaguration of India pavillion, Air India announced that it will fly four flights a week to Milan starting this summer.  BIT 2016, Italy’s number one international tourism event, held at the heart of Fiera Milano Fairs hosted over 100 nations on five continents which participated at the Fair to promote themselves and showcase a host of new developments and experiences people can try out for themselves.

South Asian Travel and Tourism Exhibition (SATTE) 2017 will be held from February 15-17. The dates for the next year’s event were announced at the SATTE 2016, being held at Pragati Maidan, New Delhi from Jan 29-31. The event is one of the biggest travel and tourism platforms showcasing India’s tourism potential to the world by bringing the global tourism market to India.

ASEAN Tourism Forum (ATF) will be held from January 16-20 next year. “Singapore is honoured to host the next ASEAN Tourism Forum (ATF) in 2017 with the theme – ‘Shaping our Tourism Journey Together’. This theme speaks to the importance of continual, collective efforts by ASEAN members to address challenges and opportunities as we jointly develop and grow the tourism industry in the region,” says Lionel Yeo, Chief Executive, Singapore Tourism Board. To commemorate its 50th anniversary, ASEAN will also launch a year-long travel campaign to promote the region’s diverse offerings. Within the ASEAN Economic Community, Tourism is one of the priority sectors for integration by 2015, and to achieve this, ASEAN had adopted the ASEAN Tourism Strategic Plan 2011-2015. ASEAN will further build on this momentum and develop the ASEAN Tourism Strategic Plan (ATSP) 2016-2025. “This will strategically transform our region into a competitive, sustainable, and more socio-economically inclusive and integrated tourism destination,” Yeo remarks. TRAVEX, a key component of ATF where sellers from ASEAN get to meet buyers from all over the world, will be held in Singapore from January 18-20, 2017.

Giving a fillip to ASEAN Tourism Forum, President of the Philippines H.E. Benigno Simeon Aquino III, in his inaugural speech, said that ASEAN integration benefits the region and all must capitalise on this. He urged the ASEAN countries to concentrate on bio-sustainability and maintain this delicate balance. He insisted that working together is the key as no single country can achieve this alone. The President called on all brothers and sisters of ASEAN to progress as one region, showcase the uniqueness of the region, and let all tourists visit each country. Welcoming delegates to his country, Secretary (Minister) of the Philippines, Department of Tourism, Hon. Ramon R. Jimenez, Jr. talked about partnership in tourism development. He mentioned that this event in the Philippines is a milestone in flowering of the ASEAN Tourism Forum. The lively and colourful short inauguration ended with a group photo of all the Ministers of Tourism from ASEAN and then with the heads of all tourism organisations.