Category Archives: Exhibitions

The Global Panaroma Showcase (GPS) in Kochi opened with over 700 registrations on the inaugural day at Le Meridien, Kochi. The guest for honour for the event was Ashwin Guna Sekeran, Chief Executive Officer, Penang Convention & Exhibitons Bureau. The show was inaugrated by Anish Kumar PK, President, Association of Tourism Trade Organisations India (ATTOI); Ross Masood, Chaiman, TAAI Kerala Chapter; Balu Abraham Varughese, Manager, Central & South Kerala, Oman Air, among others. The day concluded with insightful knowledge sessions by various exhibitors.

Scheduled to be held from August 8-11, the India International Hospitality Expo 2018 will take place at India Expo Centre & Mart, Greater Noida Expressway. This mega show aims at making hospitality industry a catalyst for economic growth. With over 200 exhibitors and over 8,000 visitors, this show is the first chapter of country’s largest and most comprehensive sourcing hub for the hospitality, retail, baking, housekeeping and F&B industry. Hari Dadoo, President, IHE 2018, says, “I was trying for the last few years to create an international platform for hospitality professionals where the manufacturers can showcase whatever they have to offer to this sector. Also, people from across the world are coming to sell their products in India while the manufacturers based in India are not able to do the same in their own country. So, it was a dream for me to give an opportunity to them.” Rakesh Kumar, Chairman, IEML & Executive Director, EPCH, says, “This mega congregation caters to the powerful trio of food products, F&B equipment and décor solutions along with the key decision makers including producers, distributors, marketers, service providers, restaurant and hospitality companies, and the entire gamut, who are shaping the hospitality industry.” The event will also see the inauguration by Harsimrat Kaur Badal, Union Cabinet Minister of Food Processing Industry, interaction of Suresh Prabhakar Prabhu, Minister of Commerce and Industry and Civil Aviation with the industry and a fashion show curated by Sunil Sethi Design Alliance and food menu by Chef Manjit Gill in the Banaras Evening.  

The SIHRA Convention 2018 is scheduled to be held in Madurai from October 4-6, 2018 on the theme “Together for a better tomorrow”. Bringing together all the southern states of India and providing abundant opportunities for the growth of the hospitality industry, the convention serves as a platform to showcase the contemporary trends, cutting edge technologies and international best practices in the rapidly growing hospitality industry. SIHRA looks at connecting the all the South Indian states and brings about varied opportunities in exploring the hospitality and tourism fraternity. This convention shall bring together individuals from varied sectors and aims at interlinking the common areas of interests within the mentioned industries. The sectors concentrated upon for this year’s convention are emerging trends, culture & culinary arts, new trends in the beverage industry, women leadership in hospitality, etc. Hari Arumugam is Chairman – Convention organising committee.

Over 900 registrations were recorded on the first day of the third edition of  Global Panorama Showcase in Kolkata. The inaugural day was inaugurated by Bruce Bucknell, Deputy High Commissioner, Kolkata; Anil Prashar, CEO & President, ITQ; Natihaika Msuya, Minister Plenipotentiary (Political & Consular Affairs), Tanzania Embassy, New Delhi; Devesh Aggarwal, Chapter Chairman- Eastern Region, TAAI and Anil Punjabi, Chapter Chairman – Eastern Region, TAFI; among others. With a huge footfall on the first day of GPS Kolkata, Team GPS has high hopes for the same on the consecutive two days. Bucknell, while sharing his views on GPS, said, “GPS is a great platform as it brings the entire travel fraternity together and bridges the gap between Tier I, II and III cities. India is a market with great potential.”

More than 120 travel fraternity members from across India will mark their presence at ‘Focus Philippines’ organised by Department of Tourism (DOT), Philippines, at the LaLiT Golf & Spa Resort, Goa. Over 20 exhibitors from the Philippines are showcasing their products, which include various Department of Tourism regional offices, attractions, hotels, integrated resorts, destination management companies as well as national and global air carriers. Through Focus Philippines, travel operators will witness exclusive, one-on-one meetings and gain a better insight on the destination. This will enable them to further customise their product offerings, based on exhibitor inputs, thereby taking Indian arrivals to the Philippines to the next level. MA Teresita C Daza, Ambassador of the Republic of the Philippines, said, “Focus Philippines is a good opportunity for different stakeholders in the tourism industry in the Philippines to interact with travel operators in India. It will be a good opportunity from both the sides to actually see what packages, can be presented and promoted highlighting different attractions in the Philippines.” Dakila F Gonzales, Head, Office of Product and Market Development – India, Department of Tourism Philippines, said, “The inspiration behind the creation of the event is the huge increase in tourist arrivals of Indian nationals to the Philippines. In 2017, we had reached almost 107,000 arrivals, with a growth of 22 per cent and this growth is being sustained. We have realised that there is a further potential to increase this growth. Therefore, we want to stay committed to our current partners, giving them more knowledge on new segments of Philippines tourism.”  

A total of 4,982 meetings were fixed in advance and more were conducted at the recently-concluded Rajasthan Domestic Travel Mart in Jaipur. The chief guest of the ceremony was Suman Billa, Joint Secretary, Tourism, Government of India. Also present at the inauguration were Lalit Panwar, former Secretary Tourism; Bhim Singh, President, FHTR; Kuldeep Ranka, Principal Secretary, Department of Tourism, Forest & Environment, Art & Culture, Govt of Rajasthan as well as Gyan Prakash, Secretary General FHTR. Speaking at the ceremony, Billa said, “The mart is a very important step forward because the international end of the business has its way of organising itself. Domestic market and marts like this have the saluted effect of bringing buyers and sellers towards the domestic market. So I think it’s a very good move and that is where most of the meat is going to come from. We have supported this mart because we think that the initiative should come from the states.”  

The Global Panorama Showcase (GPS) witnessed 650 pre-registrations on its first day in Lucknow. The inaugural lamp was lit in the presence of Sunil Satyawakta, Chairman, TAAI UP Chapter; Vivek Pandey, President, TTAUP; M Shoeb, President, TAFCA; Manish Marwah, Director-Sales, Indigo; SMA Sheeraz, Managing Director, Sheeraz Tours and Yogesh Aggarwal, Manager-Sales, Oman Air. Harmandeep Singh Anand, Managing Director, GPS, said, “The numbers speak for themselves; 650 is a great number to begin with in Lucknow. The industry is accepting what we are offering at GPS. GPS. The exhibition is more of an opportunity for future endeavours.”  

According to a Travel Wedding Show survey on how to generate business for weddings, 43 per cent of the business gets generated through social media; so the more one is on social media, he will get enquiries for international weddings, 25 per cent is by search engines. 13 per cent by referrals and rest is by other sources. In India, 50 per cent of the business gets generated through referrals; 20 per cent from social media; 15 per cent through search engine and 15 per cent from other sources. “Destination wedding for the next five years will be the biggest thing. Weddings are big business, and everyone wants a piece of the pie. If as wedding planners we have to survive, we need to go out, to different cities and destinations and procure more business. Indian and international destination weddings will remain, the next business thing,” says Rajeev Jain, Founder and Director, Rashi Entertainment.

Imparting knowledge through seminars and product updates is key to growing the industry and GPS is doing just that. GPS Ahmedabad opened with a full house of enthusiastic trade members from across West India eager to learn and update their skills. Inaugurated by Bijal Patel, Mayor of Ahmedabad, the show was supported by all regional and national travel associations. Accepting technology with open arms, the travel fraternity in Gujarat welcomed GPS’ paperless mission. B2B meetings are set to kick off on the second day when the buyers meet over 70 exhibitors.

Pegged at $40 to $50 billion, the Indian wedding industry is the second largest market in the world after the USA, revealed Rajeev Jain, Founder and Director, Rashi Entertainment at the 5th Travel Wedding Show, held recently at Jaipur Marriott Hotel. The event witnessed over 2000 B2B meetings between exhibitors and buyers spread across two days. Speaking on trends in the wedding industry, Jain said, “The global wedding industry is pegged at $300 billion. As far as international destination weddings are concerned, the most wanted destination initially was Thailand but now people are venturing to Turkey, UAE, Cyprus, Mauritius, Macau, Malta, Sri Lanka, Bali, London, among other new destinations.” A panel discussion was held on ‘Destination Weddings: An overview, India v/s International.’ Moderated by Jain, the session’s panelists included H Deniz Ersoz, Culture & Tourism Counsellor, Turkish Embassy, New Delhi; Hemant Mediratta, Senior Vice President – Sales, Oberoi Hotels & Resorts; Saurabh Bhargava, AVP Sales, Indian Hotels Company; Shampa Dhali, Area Director, National Sales – India, Marriott International and Abinash Manghani, Area Manager and Head Travel, ITC Hotels. A knowledge book titled ‘An Insight on Weddings in India & abroad’ was also released on the occasion.