5th edition of Bengal Travel Mart concludes today in Siliguri

The fifth edition of the Bengal Travel Mart, aimed at showcasing tourism destinations in the state, commenced on 22^nd February, 2020 and will be concluded today in Siliguri. The three-day event, being organised by the Eastern Himalaya Travel and Tour Operators Association, is being held at Montana Vista, Siliguri. Around Representatives of tourism departments in different states and prominent travel houses and delegates from Nepal, Bhutan and Bangladesh attended the mart in big numbers. Sandipan Ghosh, General Secretary of the association, said, “We have been organising the travel mart for promotion of tourism in Bengal and Northeast. We are hosting 80 to 90 Domestic and 40 to 50 International buyers from Nepal, Bhutan & Bangladesh. Around 113 sellers displayed their products at the Mart. We had two segments of the mart – B2B and B2C. What is encouraging is that for the first time, we have participation in big numbers from Nepal and Bangladesh. This would further give a boost to cross-border tourism promotion.”

He added, “The mart allowed the stakeholders of the tourism industry in the region an opportunity to interact with those associated with travel trade in different states. The tour operators from outside the region were also informed about new tourism products, destinations, hotels and other infrastructure.”

Major Hotel Chains like Marriott, Mayfair, Sterling Holidays, Summit Hotels, Waxpol, Golden Hotels, Pride Hotels, Jagjeet Hotels & Resorts, Yangthang Group of Hotels, Pine Tree Group, Anand Palace, were present at the event. Bengal, Gujarat, Tripura, Madhya Pradesh & Odisha, Sikkim were the state participants. Nepal Tourism Board, Pokhara Tourism Council, TOAB were the International partners. IATO, ADTOI, ETAA, JTWA were the association partners of the event.

The mart focused on promotion of homestays, which have mushroomed across north Bengal and Sikkim in the past few years. New tourist attractions in and around Siliguri, like the Bengal Safari Park, Ewam Buddhist monastery and Bhorer Alo, were also highlighted at the event. The mart allowed the visitors to learn about tourist destinations in other states like Gujarat, Madhya Pradesh, Odisha and Tripura. Also present at the event were tourism industry stakeholders from Nepal Tourism Board, Pokhara Tourism Council and Tour Operators Association of Bangladesh.